I grew up in Connecticut and there wasn't a state fair; there was a super state fair called The Big E. The Big E is basically a state fair for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island all in one, yah know 'cause they're the mini states. My parents took us every year on Yom Kippur and I believe that is where my love of all things carny originated. ("Once a carny always a carny" [name that movie!]) No but I actually have really vivid memories from The Big E - riding on an elephant with my sibs, eating mini cinnamon donuts while watching the Border Collie dog show, a clown putting his head in a horse's butt, and the giraffe (but only Lauren and Jennifer will get that part. It's much too inappropriate for the blog but I will say that it has damaged me for life). Anywee, when Fair time comes around I can just smell the fried weenies and dough in the air. I look forward to the Fair for weeks and this year we got to go to the Utah State Fair and the Texas State Fair.
First up was the Utah State Fair. Jack and I drove up to the fair grounds with my sister Hannah and her roommate Gracie. Jack was really looking forward to seeing the animals so we made sure to do that first. Also the barns smelled like death so the sooner that was over the better. Right outside the barns was a pony ride which Jack insisted he wanted to do. Well once it was time to actually get on the horse Jack quickly changed his mind and entered into a wrestling match with me. I won. But I mean, I had already paid and I knew I wasn't getting those five dollars back! But Jack did have fun (after the pure terror wore off) and we could tell that he was pleased with himself when it was over.
It's fine, I was obviously way more excited than Jack.
After walking around and looking at the weird people everywhere we came across the "Utah State Fair Science Room," which was awesome. Jack ran around the room from activity to activity - his favorite were the drums but he also made sure to beat Hannah in a game of chess and play inside a bubble.
Who knew science at the State Fair would be so fun?
After walking through all the rooms of prize winning produce, quilts, eggs, and butter sculptures (seriously) we went straight for the food. I don't even want to talk about what we ate but we did find some locally grown watermelon for Jack, which he looooved.
These pictures are just my favorite.
The fair was awesome, as per ush, and we will totes be back next year.
About a month-ish later, we hit up the Texas State Fair. After my ten days with the girls Garrett flew to Texas since it was his fall break. Originally his trip was planned around us going to the Texas Rangers playoff game, which if you've never met Garrett that was like his dream coming true (after going to a Rangers World Series game of course), but unfortunately it didn't happen. For those who do not know, the Rangers were basically a shoe-in for the playoffs and then they blew it. Big time. It's a sore subject and I don't want to talk about it. But since we were totes bummed about the baseball game I made sure we went to the Fair to cheer us up. Plus Jennifer got us free tickets from work. Holla!
We got to see Big Tex before he caught on fire. True story.
My most favorite thing at the Fair was this mini farm, it was seriously so adorable. Like I was obsessed with it. Like I'm getting re-obsessed with it just thinking about it. The whole idea behind it was to give kids a chance to take a mini tour of a farm and to see all the work that goes on. (Although lesbehonest, Jack doesn't think that deep) It started out Jack getting an apron and a pail with a baggie of dried corn kernels. Next we walked through an "orchard" and Jack grabbed a plastic peach from one of the trees and put it in his pail. Then there were the different barns with cows, chickens, and sheep. Once Jack gave the animals some of the corn kernels he was given an elementary school style milk carton, a few plastic eggs (which he tried to crack open on the side of his pail because he's awesome), and a bunch of wool. Next was the garden and after he planted a seed he was supposed to chose his favorite vegetable and add it to the pail, but Jack just took one of each. Last was the "Farmer's Market" where there were baskets for each item and once Jack put everything away he was given a "dollar" to spend at the General Store - where he could choose from a bag of pretzels, granola bars and chips. Jack chose chips. Duh.
Seriously it was so adorbs.
Like I've mentioned before, Garrett is weirdly good at carnival games. I honestly think that's the main reason why he wanted to go to the fair. Usually Garrett's favorite games are anything that includes a basketball, but at the Texas State Fair they had a 9-ball pool game and Garrett was thrilled. Yup you guessed it, another random thing Garrett is really good at is pool. (Maybe when we were dating he played in the "Utah State Pool Tournament." It's fine.) Well G beat the game at the Fair four times in a row. Jack was totes thrilled with all the stuffed animals we pilled in his stroller... too bad they all got thrown away. Also let's not talk about how much money we spent on games.
Jack's fav of the stuffed animals.
The Texas State Fair was perfect for Jack this year because it is full of animals. After watching the Dog Trick Show we went to the children's barn where you can feed all the animals - which included normal farm animals, a giraffe, zebras, capybara (yes like in Amazon Trail), an albino buffalo and the hugest effing pig I've ever seen.
This is also how I felt after we had lunch.
The Fair was really great but totally overwhelming for Jack. He fell asleep not long after lunch and Garrett and I got kinda bored. We felt too old to ride the rides with all the high school kids (the day we went every high school's FFA was there) and we weren't interested in all the shops selling infomercial crap. We of course made sure to go see Big Tex and then headed home. I love me some state fairs.
Until next fall!
