Saturday, August 2, 2014

"Fair"ly Crazy Day

222/365

Remember when Christopher was in ICC day camp, and they had that great concert to end the week.  Well, they told us, that the Day Camp ICC kids could come to the Indiana State Fair  to sing on their opening weekend.  Now at first, I thought this was not going to happen, because school started before the Fair did.  But Mommy is a sucker, and frankly, the experience of singing before an audience at the State Fair at age 8 seemed worth a late night to me.  Eric's company had been trying to plan a trip to the Fair for the whole crew, but it wasn't working for them, so they just gave out free tickets to anyone that wanted to go.  Um, Yes Please!  Though once I started calculating how long it would take to get Chris down there after school, it became clear, we were going to need to grab him out of school a little bit early.  So I picked up Chris and Sam about 3:15, and grabbed Daddy on our way into town, so we could get Christopher to his rehearsal by 4:30.


All my Boyz at the Indiana State Fair. 
Turns out this year's theme was Year of the Coliseum.  
But I didn't know that when I took this picture of the boys with the Coliseum fair sign in the background. 
Just lucky I guess. 

Christopher had to rehearse for a while, so we took Sam around for some Fair time.  By the time we got there, we were thirsty.  Sam asked for Root Beer. So we got the giant jug of root beer, the one with the 2$ refills.  And we made the most of those refills, splitting that cup of root beer 4 ways!  


Root beer makes Sam very happy. 


They revamped the inside of the Coliseum. 
The Beatles and Elvis performed here back in the day. 
They put in new seats, repainted, it looks very bright and shiny. 
And yet it still retains it's classic looks. 


Sam could have cared less that they revamped the Coliseum. 
He was just happy we let him ride a pony, and since it Did Not cost 1 penny, he should be. 


Well, no trip to the Fair is complete without Fair Food. 
So we grabbed some snacks while Chris was in his hour rehearsal.  
Sam didn't want his picture taken, but I'm like my Grandpa, I enjoy taking pictures of food. 


One of the new treats of the fair this year, that I hadn't seen before was the meat parfait.  The first I saw was lamb, but I didn't want lamb.  So when I saw this Chicken Parfait at the chicken tent, I snapped it up.  It's barbecue sauce, chicken, and mashed potatoes, layered to look like an ice cream parfait.  Tastes more like a meal than the dessert.  What a treat!

Eric also got some mozzerella sticks, and a grilled cheese sandwich from the cheese barn.  And we shared some deep fried green beans.  I got Chris turkey on a stick, for a snack, and Sam ate about a third, but it was huge, so there was still plenty for us to take to Chris.  



We stopped into the Purdue Pavilion to check out the giant block of cheese. 
Imagine my surprise, when we found that it was still being carved!  The gal takes the first whole weekend of the fair to complete it.  This was my first time coming on opening day.  

I really enjoyed it.  


I really enjoyed hearing Christopher sing with his group again. 
They gave us two shows, one at 5:30 and another at 6:30.  They didn't have much of a break in between, just enough time for some root beer, water, and a bit of turkey leg and granola bar. 



That seemed to pep him up to focus! 
He makes me so proud to see him happy and singing.  


After their last number, Sam had to go to the bathroom, and I was desperate to fine the Maple Cream we found years ago at the maple hut by the little old schoolhouse.  It was Still There!  We bought 2 tubs of Maple Cream, froze one, and and dug into the other for breakfast today.  Maple Cream is whipped maple syrup, thick and stiff like butter.  It's perfect for putting on waffles, to give to kids so they don't make a huge mess everywhere.  Plus, since it's made of homemade local maple syrup, it's So Good!  I scoped out where they are, and am hoping to plan a road trip to Greencastle when I run out instead of having to suffer until we make it to the State Fair! 


Meanwhile Chris wanted to go into the little school.  He did that last time we came to the fair, a couple years ago, but the school was closed by the time we got there.  

We took a break to powder noses, and for me to nurse Jake in the Nursing Tent.  I love the Nursing Tents, they used to be sponsered by MCHD WIC, then the Milk Bank, now it's the State WIC program sponsering, and I don't care who started it, I just love to go nurse in there, even if Jake is nearing too big for such stops.  I love rocking by a fan, they have changing tables, and they are just so nice in there.  I like stopping by every time.  I think once the boys are older, I'll be one of their volunteers.  

When I returned, I found the boys in the Boy Scout exhibit, learning how to shoot.  No really, they were trying on guns and firing at targets.  Oy.  


Chris got his safety goggles on, and ready aim fired! 
He did great. 



Sam's ears were too low for the safety glasses so Eric had to help him wearing goggles too.  
The two of them were pretty cute taking their turns at shooting together too.


Jake could have cared less. 
I let him have the mostly empty root beer bottle.  
But now Sam can't wait to be a Scout too. 


My boyz at the scouting bridge. 


Then the boys Begged to go to the kiddie mid-way.  
OK.  If we must.  This year, Chris was old enough to stand in as an accompaniment for Sam on the Bumblebee ride.  Jake just checked it all out.  They 


Mommy's favorite ride.  The Ferris Wheel. 
I love to ride this with my boys! 
I don't remember them having a kiddie wheel in the past, at the other end from the mid-way.  Because this stretch was mostly aimed at little kids, we were avoiding the crowds, so we got right on to ride the wheel with minimal trouble. 


It was a little tricky to fit Jake in there in his carrier, so I just help him on my lap as we rode around and around.  He was ok there.  It made me nervous that he was just on my lap.  But turns out he was Fine.  


Daddy and Sam were haivng a very good time, getting all the way to the top, and all of us being the tallest sweetboys around.  I love riding these rides as a family.  


This selfie, was the boys and I riding in a spinning dragon, in theory it was supposed to spin like the teacups as the whole wheel was going.  Eric tried, but had to look away, he couldn't watch this ride.  But we had fun.  Afterwards, Sam rode one last boat ride, and Chris did as slide thing to use the last of our tickets.  When the tickets were gone, Chris lost his mind, making our departure eminent and very necessary.  Still, even with that last few minutes being completely awful, overall, we had a Wonderful Night.  The choir gave us the gift of a family evening out.  It was Exhausting, but Wonderful.  

1 comments:

Elizabeth said...

How fun! My food choice this year was the shredded beef parfait...SO GOOD! And we took your suggestion and bought some maple cream. We haven't dug into it yet though. The sample was delicious!