State Fair

Although it means the end of the summer is here, we always look forward to going to the State Fair.  This year, Grandma and Grandpa joined us in the fun.  We did a few new things and ate some new foods this year.  We headed to the Fair after Buddy's naptime and had planned for Daddy to meet us there after work.  

Just like last year, the bus ride was a highlight of the day!

We started at the Little Farm Hands exhibit, which was a big hit with Punky and Buddy last year.  They did have fun this time, but they were a little confused about why they were pretending to be farmers.  Buddy wasn't sold on the fake sheep, chicken and cows.  He wanted the real thing!

 

Grandma thought it would be fun to let Punky and Buddy go on a few rides.  Punky chose the carousel and some big trucks.  Buddy saw a dinosaur ride and wanted to go on that one too!

Buddy started the ride in the middle of the seat.  I was a little worried as he kept sliding towards the edge.  Good thing for the seat belt! 

We had some snacks before heading to the barns.  We like to share the food we get; so this year with Grandma and Grandpa with us, we were able to try some new things!  We had pronto pups, pork chop on a stick, cheese curds, deep fried pickles, big fat bacon, malts, pepperoni pizza and corn on the cob.

That's my Coke, not Punky's!

  
We, of course, knew the highlight of the day would be seeing the farm animals in the barns.  We were a little disappointed this year because we decided not to visit the pigs because of the swine flu scare.  Seeing the biggest pig has always been one of my favorite parts of the Fair.  We told Punky that "the pigs are sick" and she seemed satisfied with that answer. 

Just as Buddy leaned in to pet the cow, the cow let out the biggest "MOOOOOOOOOO" I've ever heard!

After visiting the DNR fish pond, Daddy took the kids to see the crocodiles at a Reptile Exhibit.  Crocodiles are one of Buddy's favorite animals and he had been talking about seeing crocodiles with Daddy all week.  I think Daddy was pretty excited to have a special outing with the kids too since he had been out of town all week for work. 

 

At this point my camera battery died (boo!).  We took both kids down the Giant Slide.  Buddy chanted "GI-ANT SLIDE! GI-ANT SLIDE!" as we climbed up the stairs.  And as soon as we got to the bottom of the slide, Punky asked to do it "again and again and again".  Sorry, only once a year.  

Before heading out for the night, we also stopped by the new microbreweries exhibit.  It wouldn't have been a trip to the Fair if Daddy wasn't able to drink some beer!

We didn't make it home until close to 10pm, so we had two very sleepy little kids.  The next day was Buddy's Choo-Choo Party, so stay tuned to that post tomorrow!