State Fair Time!

I love the Illinois State Fair - the tradition, the butter cow, the fried foods, the rides, the people watching.  Lucky for me the kids also love to go to the Fair, mainly to use their mega pass for the rides.  It has become a tradition for the kids to pose with the Lincoln statue before entering the Fair grounds.

As everyone in Springfield knows, you have to get a Vose corn dog at the Fair.  We walk by all other booths selling their corn dogs and head straight to the Vose stand.

Conservation World is always fun for the kids - Ethan decided to try rock climbing this year, and both kids took a turn at archery.

Visiting the swine barn has become another tradition for us ever since Olivia was a toddler and was amazed at the actual sounds that a pig makes (not "oink").  This pig was especially loud!

Milking a cow is another tradition for the kids.

This year both kids decided to ride the more grown up rides and they did a great job riding them together.

Olivia and Ethan both fed parakeets, although Ethan did not last long since he did not like them pecking at him.  These birds were mostly trying to eat Olivia's toes.

Visiting the fantastic petting zoo in Happy Hollow.

The yearly picture with the butter cow.  This year was a scene of a young boy milking a cow and his mother taking his picture.

Ethan posing with Abe Lincoln.

Joe and Olivia on the Sky Ride.

Our second day at the Fair was with grandpa, who also likes to ride the carnival rides.  This was a very good year since the kids were willing to ride almost everything with him.

Grandpa is a sucker for the carnival games.  The kids know to wait to play the games at the Fair with him since I won't pay for the games.

Lemonade shake up and elephant ear break.

The kids ending their State Fair fun with a ride on the big slide.

Joe and I went to the Steely Dan concert at the Fair and sampled the fried PB&J (YUM) and the twinx (YUCK - a twinkie stuffed with a twix wrapped in bacon and fried).