Friday, August 20, 2010

A "Fair" Day

232/365

We went to the Indiana State Fair today.

Aunt Erica had a great idea. Let's take the Fair Train to the fair. Sure, we could've driven to the fairgrounds faster that it took us to drive up to the train station, moreso because the train trip was 45 min - 1 hour each way. But the boys were in Awe...



Aunt Erica got Sam smiling...well, that and a few goldfish crackers. ;)



Sam does a little light reading on the ride.



Once we arrived, we went into the Swine building, where we got to see the biggest Boar (and second biggest) and the Biggest sow with her litter. The boys LOVED the piglets. We even let them get down to pet them. They were so sweet all sleeping in a hot little pile of piglets.



From there we traveled down to where they were dressing up the Draft horses. Oh. My. Goodness. I tell you, seeing horses this big was so Awesome to me. I literally gasped at some of their size. I know, I'm but a little city girl, the kind who was nearly taken "Snipe hunting"; and these things just Amaze me.



So Pretty. This pretty boy was probably the biggest guy we saw, I was on my tippy toes, and his head slightly lowered. When he lifted himself full up, his eye was at the top of the gate. So Big. And his coat so velevety soft, but I didn't get to pet him too much; he was a little skitchy with all the noise and people, and kept watching us. We made sure the kids didn't get too close, and they didn't touch any horses. Love the Beauty, Respect the Beast.



Another pretty horsie getting done up, their toes were so pretty. Erica had to explain to me, they spray painted their feet, and that all the dark marks (you can see them in the background) on the concrete are from their hooves getting painted. Who'd have thought? I didn't know. But they were HUGE! Huge and Pretty. Talk about a Serious Pedicure!



I don't think I could've been much happier after seeing the draft horses, but we had to sample the Fair food. Time for a Lemon Shake Up! I love them. While I was grabbing that and some kettle corn, Aunt Erica found just the right place for Chris. Twinkie indeed!



We took our snacks into the Purdue Extension building, normally where I've seen the vets doing stuff. This time was cool they had the "Largest Sculptures" of sand and another of cheese. So of course, we HAD to see them. We also found an exhibit on Eggs, and the boys got to meet the chicks.



Chris loved admiring their fluffiness. (IT'S SO FLUFFY!) But whenever we tried to put one in his hands, he's see those claws and Flip Out. So he didn't get to hold one. I did though, so soft, and I tried to get Sam to pet one.



However, Sam had just inhaled, Literally Stuffed, and entire stroller cupful of kettle corn. That'll teach me for just giving him a bunch and turning my back. He gagged for a second and threw up everything he'd eaten all day. In the Stroller. Ugh.

So Sam got a bath. In the State Fair bathroom sink. I'm sure that the people in there thought I was crazy taking him directly into the sink instead of attempting the changing table first. And Maybe so. But I was able to get him clean, my first priority, and all the gook into one location, said sink. And I didn't throw up either. Also fabulous. Eric hosed down the stroller for good measure when we got home, cuz Dang.

But Sam felt fine. I don't think it was puke because he was sick, or dehydrated; we simply thought he stuffed the popcorn in too fast. (FYI, the rest of the trip, he only got 1 bite at a time.) So we perused that building, and Chris found a part about identifying animal skulls by their teeth that ooked me out, but that he found very interesting, we practically had to drag him to move on. But on to the next building, we got asked by a survey gal to check out the Agriculture building if the boys liked to color, they could get a free shirt. WELL, that ended up being a Great Deal, because they had fancy crayons that the boys colored their own shirts and they'd iron them on so the color set. I gotta tell you, Sam is becoming Quite Adept at coloring, lots less eating of the crayons. Both boys enjoyed that. Erica and I found it pretty nifty that lots of the veggies weren't all wilty and gross as I thought they'd be; just lettuces and flowers. Of course, we did see the Biggest Pumpkins and Watermelons. Good State Fair stuff, isn't it to find the World's Largest Pumpkin etc.

The theme this year was Pigs. So they had a can stacking competition where company's would create something piggy with cans. We of course had to visit 'Hamm' from Toy Story (1,2,3 whatever.) Pretty funny, he was made of canned chicken. :) Though Chris spotted the Peanut Butter jars in his belly.



We had a little lunch, consisting of our own peanut butter sandwiches, and I bought a dessert deep fried Snicker bar, successfully getting both something deep fried, and something on a stick, both qualifications for some of my favorite fair foods. Sam helped me a bit with the breading. He'd have been happy with Deep fried dough...which we did actually see for sale. We opted not to try this year's new fair food addition the Krispy Kreme burger, a cheeseburger (with whatever toppings you want, we saw bacon, lettuce, tomato, fried egg) between 2 Krispy Kreme donuts. We saw, but did not try.

Since we just ate, and it was hot, and Chris was making demands for rides. We obliged. First we all hopped on the Ferris Wheel. Erica and Chris on one side.



Sam and I on the other. That thing can really get moving, made for a nice breeze, and nice ride.



Chris told us he also wanted to ride the cars. So we let him do that too. Those things looked like they'd hurt my back, following a traditional oval track, with the two straightaways, but then they WHIPPED Around the curves. Chris LOVED that part. I hadn't seen such a genuine hardy shrieking laugh like in a while.



After we dispensed with our ride tickets, we moved on to Aunt Erica and I's favorite building the Home Arts, specifically the Yarn Arts. It was refreshing to have someone who understood stitching and was as equally amazed at the quiltwork as I. Eric tolerates going in there with me, he looks and nods, but I don't think he LOVES them like we do. Somehow we lost our water bottle with topper between the rides and the afghans, so we opted that was our cue to get some ice cream (From the Diary Barn!) and head out. And by head out, I mean take the train, back up to the far north side, so we can drive another 45 minutes west.



Chris was very proud of himself for hanging on to his ticket the full ride. But Sam didn't appreciate the ride back as much. He pretty much screamed the whole time. The childless 20 somethings around us did NOT appreciate it, and we got some glares from people who obviously didn't understand that the child was Hot, Wet, and Tired. I changed him at the Train Station, into his new t-shirt and clean diaper, and he was out as soon as we hit the highway. That was all the nap he got, and he NEEDED it. When we got home, it was too late in the afternoon for us to nap, and Chris and I were too excited. Daddy came home immediately behind us.

It was a Great day for the State Fair!

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