State Fair

Last week was the big climax to summer for Laura and Karl. On Tuesday, we all went to the State Fair. To Karl’s disappointment, nobody ran the Milk Run this year, but Laura and I were happy—we’re not fans of getting up at 5:00 AM on one of the last Sundays of the summer.

Here we are arriving at the fair at the ungodly early hour of 1:45 PM.

The first stop was the Kidway. The Tilt-a-Whirl has been a favorite since the kids started going to the fair. Laura took her first ride in 2006:

And Karl joined her in 2007:

Now they ride without the adults, and I think they have more fun than ever. This shot looks posed, but they were really smiling like that the whole time the ride was going.

Another favorite, the “Superman” ride.

This combination Tilt-a-Whirl and Kiddie Coaster is a recent addition to the Kidway.

I was surprised when Laura and Karl wanted to go on this ride.  They look like they’re having a good time… …but they were really exorcizing some old demons.This is how I remember the last time they rode this one (2008):

After the Kidway, the kids had a list of fair food they wanted to eat. Of course mini-donuts and cheese curds were on the list, and so was this stop at Netterfield’s for brats, corn dogs, and hot dogs

Laura was way too busy eating a State Fair brat to be bothered with looking at the camera.

The Giant Slide was next up.

Then we walked around to a few booths and strolled down to the horse barn. Deborah was very disappointed, though—there must have been a horse show going on and the stables were nearly empty.

By this time we had put in two whole hours at the fair. The kids’ wishes were fulfilled and they were ready to go home (no complaints from me, I’m not a huge fair fan. But Deborah the fair-lover was not pleased).

The last stop was the Space Tower. Deborah took the kids up to the top while I stayed firmly on the ground enjoying a hopelessly out-of-tune country-western singer on a nearby stage.

And here is the obligatory parting picture with Fairchild, the State Fair Gopher. Laura is distracted because an 8-foot-tall “robot” riding a Segway scooter was fast approaching and she didn't want to get run over…

So it was a quick trip to the fair this year, but we packed a lot of fun into two hours.