We look forward to our annual trip to the Washington State Fair all year long. This year we teamed up with Katie and planned to go on her birthday. We also met up with our good buddies the Coberly's for the first half of the day. Between our three families we had 13 kids; we are always a spectacle!
The night before our planned adventure I was playing volleyball and rolled my ankle pretty severely. I wasn't sure how it would hold up to a day of walking, so I borrowed a pair of crutches just in case. Thankfully, I was able to hobble along well enough and left the crutches in the car. When I got home late that evening, however, my ankle looked pretty angry.
You would think that my gimp foot would have encouraged us to be mindful and intentional about planning our activities to minimize how much we had to walk. You would be wrong. That was arguably our least efficient trip to the fair. We zigzagged back and forth over and over trying to see all our favorite exhibits and events.
Many of the old favorite stops remained favorites. Pioneer Farms always has great, hands-on exhibits.
The entertainment offered in their corner of the Fair, however, was significantly sub-par; we ended up bailing halfway through the "1800's Variety Show."
We briefly stopped by another entertainer who did impressions of famous singers and actors. Graham's dancing might have been just as entertaining to us as the paid performer!
Our littlest kids are getting big enough now that they can ride the tractors almost independently. Our older kids are too old to ride. Our middle kid enjoyed what might be his last ride.
One benefit of going on a Friday is that the Pacific Northwest Building is open with always highly anticipated activities like archery and fishing.
The kids like the fishing, but what I like best is seeing the faces they make in the pictures!
I actually have a whole series of hilarious Nellie photos, but for this post I narrowed it down to just one.
Getting the kids to cooperate for a picture after getting their faces painted was an exercise in futility. We finally bribed them with snacks and managed a semblance of order.
At the exhibit halls, Thane found a Monopoly collection and was thrilled. Seeing all the different collections is always a favorite fair pastime.
In addition to our old favorites, the Fair opened a new and really impressive exhibit this year. It's basically an interactive farm-to-table experience. At the beginning, each kid gets a lunch box and moves from station to station doing activities to fill their lunch boxes with healthy food. For example, they collect eggs from the hen-house, pick apples off trees, and pick fruits and vegetables out of the ground.
Don't let these faux-sleeping girls fool you; everyone loved this exhibit! It didn't hurt that they all got a juice box at the end when they turned in their full lunch boxes.
All things aside, the two favorite Fair events are probably ice cream and mutton-bustin'. We didn't get ice creams last year, so the kids were over-eager this time around.
Last year Piper won 2nd place (and a GIANT trophy) in the last-day-of-the-fair mutton-bustin' finals. This time around, while initially excited to participate again, she got extremely nervous when it came time to get on.
Right after the National Anthem at the beginning of the event, Nellie cried out, "I have to go potty!" Mark was back with Graham, so I left Aubree in charge of the other kids, and Nellie and I tried to quickly and frantically find a bathroom (both so she wouldn't have an accident and also so we wouldn't miss seeing Graham and Piper ride). Of course, I was still hobbling, so the best we could do was a semi-quick limp. There was a line at the bathroom and I considered begging our case to get to the front of the line, but in the end we were able to make it back in time to see the kids ride. Phew!
Graham had absolutely no hesitations or fears about hopping on the back of a woolly, stinky sheep. When he fell off, he likewise hopped up happily and claimed his ride was "so much fun!"
Oh yeah, we also found a hidden escalator and treated the kids to a few rides. Ha! That's probably the part of the fair the little ones will remember best.
After the fair we went out to eat for Katie's birthday. It's harder than you'd think to find a restaurant where 12 people can eat on a Friday night without having to wait upwards of an hour. We struck out at a number of places before ending up at IHOP.
The service was abysmal, but the company was exceptional. We do love our Katie and it was wonderful to spend her birthday with her.
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