Since our impromptu trip to the fair was so successful on a Friday last year, we decided to go again on our Friday off. The weather looked absolutely horrible this morning, but I really didn't want to go on the weekend and figured there was enough indoor activities to make it worth the drive up. Hopefully...
They had these giant block letters just inside the gate and I was so confused what FAR meant. It finally dawned on me that you were supposed to stand there and be the "I" in FAIR, but as short as Thomas is - it still looks like FAR. So I am just imagining it with a heavy southern accent. "We really enjoyed our trip to the far." Ha!
I'm so glad that our favorite food is so close to the entrance. Thomas refused to eat the fried cheese curds at first, but then gobbled them down. Not sure why I was so insistent that he try them. Silly me had to share way too many of them!
Henry is probably frowning here because we ran out of cheese curds. He's still got ranch dressing on his face. I promise he was happy overall about the fair!
Matt and Thomas waiting for the lumberjack show to start. We've not seen it yet and managed to get there right before it started. Seemed like fate wanted us to watch some lumberjack fun!
I didn't get great photos of the lumberjack events because I brought my wide angle lens and they weren't really close enough for it. My zoom lens struggled in the barn area last year since it was indoors and I knew the wide angle would do better there. Given the rain threat, I thought we would be mostly indoors.
Yadda, yadda, my far away pictures aren't great. But you can still see the throwing axe hurtling through the air and that is awesome.
The boys really enjoyed the show - even the part with the loud chainsaws. Matt and I covered up their ears when the lumberjacks warned us the chainsaws would be super loud and after that, the boys covered up their own ears any time it started to get noisy. That's normal behavior for Thomas, but it was the first time I've seen Henry do it!
Then we headed off to the animal barn to see the prize winning chickens, geese, sheep, cows and rabbits! This guy was the "Best in Show" for the rabbits and my first thought when I saw him was "Brown-Noser!" Hahaha - I pointed that out to Matt and he laughed. So I figured I would share it with you guys. Although it does appear that he really cleaned up with the awards!
Matt and Thomas heading over to the big side of the barn. I think the two of them are adorable. Mostly because of Thomas in his vest and rain boots. For some reason the combination just makes me think he looks super Alaskan. We aren't known for our stylish elements, but we do have fun cool weather getups.
Henry seemed pretty stoked to meet another Henry! The two of them were about the same age as well - though Henry the cow was just a tad bit heavier...
Thomas was a petting zoo champ this year. It's about his 4th time at a petting zoo and he seems just fine around all the goats and sheep. He even fed a few of them after I showed him how to hold the food in his hand. After a few times though, he decided I could feed the rest. Fair!
Did I mention how adorable I think he is in that vest? He is adorable.
Henry wasn't sure about this whole petting zoo thing. He was probably on eye level with most of the animals roaming around looking for food, so that's pretty understandable. But I tried to get him interested in the tiny sheep and he was having nothing to do with them either. Though once he saw his brother feeding the animals, he seemed to not mind them as much. Obviously he already wants to be cool just like his older brother!
And he's also adorable in this photo. Made me so glad I brought my wide angle lens since he never got very far away from me. ;)
We got to use the cool hand washing station again this year! The rest of the day, Thomas kept telling me how he washed his hands with water from the milk. It left quite the impression on him - he thought it was too neat!
He also used the chicken coop hand dryer, but he wasn't quite as enthralled with it. The chickens were "too noisy!" I still think the whole set-up is a brilliant idea to encourage kids to wash their hands after the petting zoo. And you can just see the beehive on the far side of the chicken coop - it has "Bee-Clean" hand sanitizer. Ha!
Our next food find was a mini doughnut stand. The kids loved the mini doughnuts we grabbed before hopping on the ferry to Valdez, so I thought a bag of those would be a hit. I was right - Henry might have a concerned look on his face, but he just had his first bite and I interpret it to mean "Goodness gracious, this is amazing and I must have many, many more!" Between the boys and myself, I am not sure Matt got any...
I was also enthralled by the contraption to make these heavenly little fried dough rings that they had sitting right in front of the pick-up window. It's a countertop sized appliance - I could theoretically have one of these in my house?!? Good lord, I did not need to know that!
It took some coaxing for Thomas to even try the corn fritters, but once his dad promised they were delicious, he finally went after one. I think he liked them ok, but I noticed he was much more enthusiastic about the donuts.
Henry was equally excited about both - I can probably claim those genetics. Also, I can neither confirm nor deny that he is covered in cinnamon sugar. "/
We headed over to the ride section of the fair. We had intended on letting him ride in the trucks like last year, but one of us would have had to sit on the side of the truck to drive and thanks to the rain, the trucks were throwing mud everywhere. I managed to avert a meltdown by promising him fun rides like he had at Fur Rondy earlier this year.
Of course on our walk over there, he was more excited about this rain puddle once I told him he could splash through it if he wanted since he was wearing his rain boots. It's the simple things in life with little kids...!
Finally made it to the rides - first stop was, of course, a train!
Henry was super bummed that he was too short to join his brother on any of the rides. But he was happy for Thomas anyhow and waved to him every time he went by. It was sad / adorable.
I tried to keep him entertained while we waited in line for the next ride. I think he is secretly trying to ruin the photo by sticking out his tongue so I won't post it. Ha - not so easy little man, you still look cute!
Thomas is ready for his helicopter ride! Seems pretty fitting how excited he was since he was named after a helicopter pilot, huh? Here he is giving his dad a thumb's up before the ride starts up.
Once the ride gets going though, he is all business. No smiling or waving at us - he is focused on keeping his bird flying. Ha - I don't think he saw us at all in the 15 or so times he went past us. The boy is serious about his rides!
We finally found a ride that Henry could do - the super big slide! (With me, of course.) And I had to carry him up all those stairs - what a work out! I didn't realize how tall it was or how fast we would be sliding down it until we were actually going down...
I wouldn't have been surprised if Henry hated it - it was a pretty fasride. He didn't cry, but then again he didn't smile either... Maybe he was in shock?
You can tell I enjoyed it though! :)
One last ride to finish off our stack of tickets and Thomas decided for a ride in the dump truck. He chose to ride in the cab - it obviously has the better view, but the back part goes up and down as the truck goes around. Oh well, he didn't seem to notice he was missing part of the fun. And, as usual, he was super serious until the ride was over!
Overall, it was a great trip to the fair and we managed to wear ourselves out by the time we had planned on leaving. Matt actually had to go in to work tonight to do an after hours change, so we wanted to make sure we left in time to get him to work on time.
After Matt left, we decided to do a run to Target to get milk and in the process ended up picking up some new games and Aunt Heather! After dinner, I put Henry to bed at his normal time and let Thomas stay up late to try out one of the new games. And he promptly trounced the both of us on Hi-Ho Cherry-o!
He spent most of the game ahead of us for Chutes and Ladders too! He was super excited about everything - he would get just as excited with a spin of "1" as he was of a "6" or a ladder climb. He didn't cheer for losing ground on the chutes, but he didn't seem to care either. He was just so happy to be playing a game with us!
In the end, Heather won Chutes and Ladders by getting that lucky ladder on spot 80! Thomas was a super sport and gave her a high-five. I lost every possible game, but I think realizing we can play games with him was a win anyhow.
Game night with the kids? Oh, it's on! :)