A day at the fair

WARNING: LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICTURES, AND BLOGGER AND I WERE FIGHTING DURING THE POSTING!

It is getting closer to when Jason and this new baby are scheduled to arrive, and I am going a little crazy with anticipation. I have to find ways to keep myself busy and with the opening of the state fair I had the perfect opportunity for a day of "super fun.

So I packed up the boys and invited my mom, nana, to come with us. The first thing we saw when we got to the fair was the pony rides. Dyson thought they were so awesome and we took a minute to pet one of the ponies that was tied up to the fence. Ridge however would not. He was a little afraid of them.

Dyson took a ride on Rocket. He had an awesome time. He got to ride around on the pony all by himself. Mom didn't even have to hold on to him and he thought that was pretty cool.

We walked around and saw lots of other animals. We saw the pigs, which have a smell all their own. It was the worst smell! I don't mind cow, horse or sheep stink, but if I never smell another pig it will be too soon!

When we got to the sheep pens we saw several of them getting hair cuts and baths. We took a minute to pet some of them. The big white sheep loved attention and would follow our hands around and push on them like a puppy would to try to get us to pet her...or him. It was really fun. Again Dyson loved it but Ridge was a little scared. We did finally get him to pet one, but it was only once and for just a second.

We spent some time watching a cattle judging and we got to pet some of the tiny baby calves. Once again Dyson loved it and Ridge did not.

The fair had a children's exhibit called Little Hands on the Farm. It takes you through the process that food takes to get it to the store.

You start off by filling a baggie with some feed corn and putting in your basket, then you take it and feed a plastic cow. You also get to "milk" the cow. then you get to put a small empty milk carton in your basket.

You then get to pick an apple off an apple tree, and plant a vegetable seed. You could pick from peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, or onions. They weren't real seeds, just wooden tokens with a picture of the vegi on them. Then you took your seed to the garden and got to plant it. After you were done planting it you walked around to the other side and picked the vegi you planted and put it in your basket.

The next adventure was filling a tractor (which was a green John Deere tri-cycle) with gas and loading a small bale of hay into the trailer so you could go feed the sheep.

At the sheep stop you got to feed the sheep, brush the wool and collect a small sample of wool for your basket.

The last place to collect an item was at the hen house. And you guessed it, you got to get an egg for your basket.

When you were done collecting all your items you stopped at the Farmer's Market and "sold" your goods. You put all your items in the right baskets and returend your apron and basket and you got a pretend dollar.

And the very last stop was the store. Where the kids got to take their pretend dollar and buy a real item. They had all sorts of treats. From fruit snacks and cookies to apples, cheese, or milk.

The kids had a wonderful time!