Fair Time!

Yesterday evening we ventured out for our first family outing to the Howard County Fair.  It's been a few years since either Erik or myself have been to a county fair.  I think the last county fair I went to was the Venango County Fair, up in Northwestern PA, back when my dad used to be one of the announcers for the shows.

Jacob was really excited to see the animals, but he wasn't too excited to touch them.  That's okay.  Less disinfecting ;-)

And of course, once he saw the tractors, little excavators, front loaders, and bulldozers, he thought he was in heaven.

But what REALLY took the fair over the top for him were the rides.  He absolutely loved standing and watching the rides.  Not the kiddie rides.  We're talking about things like the "fire ball" (a rollercoaster loop kind of thing), the "crazy chopper" (a helicopter that went up and down and spun around), the swings, and the ride that picks people up in the air and then drops them.

Asking dad what the ride is doing.

This really was his pose for most of the evening.

After checking out the rides, he wanted to go back and see animals again.  Then go back to the rides.  Then the animals.  We finally called it a night around 8pm, wandering pas the cows one more time, then through the chickens and rabbits.  On the way out, we paused a few minutes to watch the 4-wheelers race.

We snacked on french fries and funnel cake.  Jacob loved both.  He danced a little to the band that was playing.  And you would have thought that the late night, the walking, and the fresh air would have made Jacob fall asleep on the ride home.  Not so.  He stayed awake for the entire drive, chattering away about the animals and the rides.

I think this is something we'll be keeping on our list of summer things to do.