If you stay in the Fairgrounds....

The Fair may just come to town. What are the odds? We are actually here for the County Fair, and my kids just happen to have never, I know never been to a Fair. This one even happens to be .....free gate! How do I get so lucky?

We went to the stock car races on Friday night and quickly learned that I DO NOT like the races. Besides the fact that they were excruciatingly LOUD, it's B.O.R.I.N.G. Then my butt revolted against the metal benches. Going home and doing dishes sounded like more fun, and Jewel was right there with me. We left the boys on their own.


Saturday was actually the first day of the Fair, we didn't check it out until Monday, but were treated to a concert by Trent Wellman on the first night, without even leaving our yard. I don't know who he was, but he sounded really good. We also saw some of the beauty pageant winners, and since Jewel has been saying lately she wants to be in a pageant, I asked her if she wanted me to put makeup on her. Of course she wanted to! It was a little tricky getting the mascara on, but she was happy with the results.


Monday while the boys were swimming Jewel and I decided to check out the Fair to see the animals. First thing we see when we get there is this Wildlife Encounters presentation going on. It ended up being a not for profit organization that takes rescues exotic animals, and they brought a bunch of them with them. We barely sat down to watch the show when I got called up on stage to be a volunteer......I was not volunteering, but I couldn't say no, so I put down my camera and went up. Then they brought out a bear cub, and I was to feed him! It was pretty neat feeding the bear, but I hated being on stage. Then when I got back down the teenage girl next to me said

I hope you don't mind but I took some pictures of you with your camera while you were up there.

Mind? I wanted to adopt her.



They also brought with them a swimming pool full of alligators and for just five dollars they'll take a lovely polaroid of you with the gator after you've caught it. We've got to get the boys for this, so we leave and wander to the kids barn where Jewel loved up on some more baby chicks. If you ask her what her favorite activity is she'll tell you it's "petting baby animals". In fact if you meet her, don't be surprised if she asks you what your favorite activity is...Just so she can tell you hers.

We came back later with the boys and headed straight for the gators. The boys got right in and quickly caught their gators. They were a little hesitant at first because they all scattered to the bottom of the pool which meant they were harder to get to. Jonas went for the only one that didn't have it's mouth taped up, and Jake went for a mid sized one.

They were ecstatic! They were high for hours after that and immediately want to do it again. Instead we walk around the midway and buy a family pack of tickets for the rides. That family pack got us all on ONE ride. One. One ride that nearly gave me whiplash and almost resulted in tetanus shots for the boys. It was fun, but what a rip off.

The next day is Kids Day so we go a little earlier because Jewel wants to wrestle a gator now, and we want to beat the crowds. That's funny if you've ever been to a small town fair. Beat the crowds, that's about 20 kids. Anyway, Jewel wanted a gator and since I'm paying for the lovely polaroid, all three kids can go in at once, and I'm allowed to take as many pictures as I want, and they'll take their one polaroid. Good deal if you ask me. Jewel catches her gator after just a short time.

He may look tame here, but he was a wiggler. She held on tight though and wouldn't let him go. The boys went for the biggest alligators in the pool.


The only problem withthat was they were too heavy for them to pick up once they caught them! Gator Jim helped them lift one up so they could get their photo.

We watched another one of the animal shows, and this time Jake got called up on stage.

To have an African Serval stand on his back.
For another donation the kids had their picture taken with the world's smallest fox, one that not one of us can remember the name of.


We waited an hour and a half to get Jewel's and Jonas' faces painted.

To just go to the pool afterwards and have it all wash off.

Today's the last day of the fair so we'll be going back to use up all the free ride tickets they gave us on Kids Day. What a nice way to enjoy the fair. We can go for just thirty minutes to see something, instead of being there all day really wearing ourselves out. We get to enjoy it a little at a time, that's nice.

Life is good.