Fair Fun

On Saturday, we went to the State Fair of Virginia. Richard was disappointed that it was called this - because Virginia is not a State, but a Commonwealth. But regardless, it was a fair either way.

We made our way past the booths filled with sweet tea, lemonade, and fried goodness. And began discussing what we were going to eat for lunch. Obviously, we didn't want to fill our tummy with fried and greasy stuff if we didn't have to. So we began the long walk around the loop to get BBQ.

We made several stops along the way, tried out some Brunswick stew (with our donations of course, because nothing is FREE anymore).

I tried to keep the photos to a minimum here....so not to bore you with photos of giant pumpkins, corn, and random animals, here are the highlights.

Welcome to Oregon Trail! The game I so loved in middle school. You could take a five minute ride on the Oxen for $5. We declined....as with the pony ride, and reptile farm....you get the picture.

Instead, we broke the rules and let the kids play in the wagon....while the oxen waited for some poor fellow to come and do more than just rub his horns.

Hello!
Drums from civil war band members were available for fun.

which could have entertained the kids for a long while if we had let them.

But then we found a Tee-Pee - Okay, I know this looks funny, but that is really how you spell it, I just googled it to make sure.

Our very own crouching dragon.
Hidden Tiger!

The midway was next on track.

Lucas took a ride on his first method of major danger. (I am totally not a fan of fair rides).

And Richard, being the smooth Dad he was, not only found the one man who would let Lucas on a ride (he was too short by an inch), but also let Meredith ride.

Someone is obviously not a rule follower.

I was okay with it because the strap was sooo tight on her and he agreed to stop it if she freaked out.

She had a blast!

I know, this is like the biggest loop ever to try to get food. But seriously, this place was so huge.

We stopped to give Smokey the Bear a hug along the way.

Then I needed a snack break since we were stopping in all the buildings to look at crafts or booths or what have you.

This is one fried goodness I couldn't pass up!

We eventually made it to one of the many photo op places that were set up around the fair grounds. We tried so hard to get a good photo.

Lucas willingly participated in all shots.

Meredith cheesing for Daddy before the rest of us were ready.

Lucas ran way so he could "Cheese" us.

But then decided to come back in and hug Meredith during the shot.

She was VERY unhappy and screamed bloody murder the whole time.

We eventually gave up.

And made way to the Live Stock loop. We used the crap out of hand wipes and sanitizer.

Hi baby piggy!

Lucas got in line to milk a cow.

He was very excited about his "I milked a cow" Ribbon -- even though he wanted nothing to do with milking while at the cow.

We finally found Tractors that the kids could crawl on!

(No) Smiles with Daddy.

Cheese!

Meredith spent a good amount of time like this.

We finally made it to the BBQ booth after this. So we took a pit stop before looking at more animals!

Meredith scared the goat with her screaming. She freaked out when he licked her hand.

Lucas wanted to pet EVERYTHING and didn't understand why we couldn't let the goats out, or get in the cage with them. He attempted to open all the cages as we went by.

It began to sprinkle after a while and Lucas wanted to carry the umbrella.

One last photo op before heading out!

We lucked out - for a day forecasted as rainy - it didn't move in until dinner time. We headed out just in time.

The kids were soaked walking back to the car, but happily changed into warm jammies for the ride home!