Free Fair Day!

On Sept. 9th we headed on down to the Puyallup Fair to save ourselves a load of money because it's the only day the fair is free! Of course by free I mean you don't have to pay to get in, you still get to pay a ton for food and rides. Actually we didn't come away that bad with our 1 ride, 1 treat per kid plan. (First, we went to McDonald's to get the kids free mango smoothies, because it was a Free Sample Friday!) We spent most of our time in the petting zoo, looking at animals and doing the Pioneer Farm, old timey, free activities, section. The kids got to shave Dada, chop wood, saw, churn butter, grind wheat and do the laundry. These would all seem like great things to do at home too, except the shave Dada part.

Oh and we don't have an old fashioned, hand ringer washing tub. So I guess, we'll just have to continue with our boring old shove the clothes in the washer plan.

All of us at the Pioneer Farm section, in the hot, hot sun. I guess I set the camera up in a very bright spot. I wanted the ferris wheel in the back. Not the greatest family shot. Oh well.

We were able to watch a cow be milked and eat ice cream at the same time. Something that's never timed out before. So that was a plus! But I think the kids were more focused on the ice cream than the cow milking. They all took turns sharing one cone.

For a treat the girls chose to share an elephant ear. They shared it with Bergie and Dada too and they still couldn't finish it.

And the boys each chose a carmel apple. Actually Jasper chose only the carmel and then gave me the whole apple when he was done.

Opal, after much indecisiveness, chose the helicopter ride!

Jasper and Kivi chose mutton bustin'. Actually, they didn't really have much choice, it was like a right of passage of some sort for Bubba. We kept telling him he could do it now that he was four. So they knew way before fair day, they would both be mutton bustin'.

He was so excited until it was actually his turn. Then he got really scared. But there was so much whooping and hollering, the guys running the show didn't even notice. Plus Peter was cheering him on so enthusiastically, they just set him on and he was out the gate. He held on tight and then he was off 2 seconds later.

Kivi was ready to beat her time from last year. She held on super tight, but then slid off after a second and a half. It was ok though because she got a super cool bruise on her leg in the shape of a hoof print. The sheep had stepped right on her and it made a perfect imprint.

They did so good and were so brave! They even had to wait forever in those hot vests and helmets because it was the first day of the fair and everything wasn't quite ready and Nightline was there filming it so they had to get all their camera equipment in just the right places. But they mutton busted and had the dirt and bruises to prove it. Now I'm curious to see if Nightline is doing an expose on the horrid parents who make their young children ride a sheep at horrifying speeds only to have them fall off a second later and be trampled and covered in dirt. What kind of parents would do such a thing to their kid?

Eben, who is too old now to mutton bust, chose a huge roller coaster. And he went all by himself!

I tried to get a shot of him in action on the ride, and this one was pretty perfect with the "hold on tight - watch for sudden drops" sign. It summed up all three of the big kids ride experiences pretty well.

Then around 1:30 we left. No quilts or hobby hall for me this year. I didn't even get cotton candy. But it was enough. It was getting very crowded and was probably the hottest day in WA to go to the fair. So we were all fine with going home and taking a nap (after a stop at McDonald's for some chicken nuggets because we completely forgot to feed the kids lunch).