It's not fair

We didn't get very far into the fair before everyone was hot and thirsty.  Two quick rides and a snow cone later the natives were pacified.  

Jessie's favs at the fair were the "huge, creepy swings with Mom" where she felt like her swing was going to fall off.  I'll give it to her, once those swings went up and got going fast it was a little disconcerting.  I'm glad she wanted to go with me though.  J also liked the huge slide.  

Dang this girl is getting spunky!  She has always had sass, but we see the tween years coming fast.  I try to remember she is still a kid, needs Mom time just as much as the young chillies, and helps out so much that she deserves extra-special rewards now and then.

After mutton busting we saw lots of animals and conquered a couple monster corn dogs and giant lemonade.  Logan's favorites of the day were "going on the huge slide two times, getting a silver medal, and eating junk food.  The kids were really good about deciding on the few things they wanted to see or do, and we were able to hit them all.  I knew our resident animal lover would be in heaven with all the animals available to touch and watch.  Sydney touched every living thing possible, and I'm glad she didn't come home with any disease or sickness.  

Check out the poor baby goat trying to grab a meal while Mom forages for food.  The poor little one couldn't catch up with Momma darting in between all the people in the petting zoo.  Syd thought it was the funniest thing, especially when baby accidentally got pooped on by Momma goat.  

 When Syd was happy she was a riot to watch.  She would squeal and wave every time a ride took her around to see Daddy standing on the side.  She was the last one of us out of the small animals area because she was so curious and excited to see all the different creatures.  As soon as she learned there were "real alive ponies" at the fair she didn't stop asking to find them until she was on that saddle.  Her other highlights were talking to the clowns and the animals.  Bless her little dare-devil heart; she was so sad when she was too short to go on the roller coasters.  She's going to be fun at Disneyland when she grows tall enough for Space Mountain. 

 Toby's highlight was the dragon roller coaster NOT the spinning roller coaster in the first picture.  Our Toby is not the adventurous type when it comes to flying, spinning, or riding on crazy things.  We made him go on those two roller coasters and he ended up loving the dragon one.  

This sweet boy learned a hard lesson at the fair too.  We were nearing the end of our day there and each kid had three tickets left to spend how they wished.  We tried to warn the kids that if they chose to spend their tickets on one of the games they wouldn't have any left for rides they wanted to go on.  Toby and Logan especially were sucked into the games from the beginning, but after explaining that they would get one game or three rides everyone made their choice.  Toby was the only one that chose to play those worthless games.  We tried to warm him that he could buy the dippy prize he would win for half the money, but he was determined.  He walked away from his game with a dollar store stuffed rat after less than a minute of throwing darts at balloons.  Off the other kids went to go down the big slide when Toby exclaimed, "I want to ride the slide too!"       

It finally sunk in that he really did trade more rides for his lame game prize.  Poor guy.  I felt so bad for him, yet wondered why he didn't really listen to what we were trying to tell him.  He had to find out on his own.  Isn't that how we all learn hard lessons?  At first he thought we were being unfair, until we explained that we tried numerous times to warn him.  Toby sulked while the other kiddos finished using their tickets for rides.   

 Daddy loved his monster corn dog and lemonade, and had fun helping Logan get ready for his mutton busting.  I loved the swing ride, splurging on corn dog yumminess and watching the kids have so much fun.  

The only downers of the day were that Miss Squid picked the one day we were out to be grumpy, and we had to leave early. Squid was a pickle off and on all day, and really could have used an afternoon nap. I guess we are not quite out of a stroller for her, and I was sorry I didn't bring it.  Four and a half hours went by too fast.  When it was time to leave we all wanted to stay longer.  My Man had a swim team meeting and we had family night planned to celebrate sis-in-law Kristy's birthday, so we had to cut our visit a little short.  We still had a great time as a family seeing all the animals, crafts, rides and eating the junk food!!  Although, I just realized we did not eat, or have the kids try, a funnel cake.  I can't even remember the last time I ate a funnel cake.  That might be a travesty we will remedy next time....