State Fair Time!

The Illinois State Fair! I have been going to the Fair every year since I was a child. I love it! Yes, it is cheesy, greasy, usually hot, and always ends in a tummy ache, but I don't care. It is once per year and I look forward to it every time! Being that we live in Springfield, I made it to the Fair three times this year. Above is Olivia and Joe enjoying the Sky Ride - Olivia was begging for this even before the Fair began!

This year, we waited in line in Conservation World for the canoe ride. As we were all on the canoe (Joe and Olivia paddled while Ethan and I relaxed) I was not able to take any pictures of us on the ride. So, we took this picture instead.

The second trip to the Fair was with friends. On the top left are Olivia and Ethan going down the giant slide, in the middle is Nicole and Jack, and leading the pack is Ava. Ava and Jack are each within one week of age with Olivia and Ethan, so they are very good friends.

Milk a Cow! Olivia and Ethan have to do it every year. And then the two of them plus Jack and Ava ran through the cow barns yelling to the cows "thank you for the milk!" Pretty cute.

The butter cow. Yes, it is extremely silly, and if you haven't been going to the Dairy Building every year since you were a child, you may not understand the point of it. However, you have not really been to the State Fair if you have not checked out the butter cow.

The kids rode on the rides for two straight hours while Nicole and I tagged along behind. We were both thrilled that they are old enough to go on the rides without us. I'm assuming that that means I am getting old.

Jack on a motorcycle. Enough said. (he is obviously motorcycle crazy)

The four kids on this ride were hilarious to watch! They were all both thrilled to be on the ride, and yet a bit terrified at the same time.

The last trip to the Fair was a no holds barred fried food fest. I won't apologize for it - once per year I will go to the "Fried What" stand with no guilt. Let's see...we sampled the deep fried kool aid (delicious), fried green tomatoes, beer battered deep fried bacon (see picture below), deep fried brownies (very rich), Vose's corn dogs, Krupp's cheese curds (see picture below as well), fried cheese on a stick, and mini donuts. Before people start really freaking out over all of that, let me point out that it was all split 6 ways, so I only basically got one bite of many of the items. And of course washed it all down with lemonade shake ups!

Olivia won a fish at the State Fair. Who actually wins at those games? Well, Olivia did. And the fish (named "Silver") has thus far lived for 2 days. What Fair fish actually lives beyond one night? So, we had to go buy fish food and a little toy for it's fish bowl. I refuse to buy it some friends, though.