Good Old State Fair

Today we went to the Wisconsin State Fair with Mark and Abby. You can always count on State Fair for wonderful smells, a little danger and a lot of fun! The first thing we noticed was the great smell of fried food. Sadly, we did not have the honor of tasting the fried mac and cheese on a stick, but we stopped by Saz's for some great sandwiches. We also enjoyed the livestock barns, pig races (along with goats and ducks!) and the boys all went down the giant slide while the girls stayed below to take pictures. (Shelly acted grumpy most of the time, I think she was too hot and couldn't decide if she wanted to be independent and walk or shy and be carried.)

Now for the real adventure - almost getting trampled by the clydesdales! We happened to be passing by the colesium when some people in yellow shirts started whistling and announcing to get out of the way. The teams were coming out of the colesium to return to the barns and we were right in their path. Now, most people cleared out of the way and stood by to watch, but Archer didn't take the direction, I had been briefly distracted by something else, and David was carrying Shelly. I realized that tiny little helpless Archer was now the only person standing in the horses' path and they were coming up quickly! I grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him (along with the stroller he was pushing around all day) to the edge with only seconds to spare those huge hoofs clomping on by! I looked down at his small feet, his small body and looked up at those huge horses and felt awe and respect for those animals, but even more so for the people in the wagons who so carefully and precisely control those huge animals. Ok, so it wasn't quite as close as I made it sound, the horses were maybe 30 feet away when I dragged him off the road, but that was close enough!

After we all caught our breath from the close call and waited for the giants to pass, it was time for the pig races. This is something I haven't seen for years but really wanted to go back to enjoy again, and to share with my husband and kids. And the pig races (along with goats and ducks also racing) made me realize something - adults do these things for their kids, and then say afterwards, "Wasn't that so much fun?" And the kids grow up remembering it being really great. And then they go back as grown-ups and realize how it really wasn't as great as they remember. Thanks Mom and Dad for doing that for me. I'm passing along the tradition to my kids, "Archer, wasn't the pig race so much fun?" Ugh. It actually wasn't that exciting. Honestly, I felt sort of bad for the ducks, do birds really like to run? Oh well, it was free, and they passed out free sausage sticks on the way in.

Now we can talk about the adventures of the State Fair for a couple years to the kids, before we return again to refresh their memories of the great food, great animals, and exciting pig races!

Don't forget to check the link on the side for more pics