A million dollar day at the fair

We bit the bullet and decided to take the kids to the state fair.  The fair started in mid-October and closed  on November 2nd, which just happens to be the day we went.  Elliott was free to get in because he was under age 5.  The rest of us were $2 each to get in because we got there before 2 pm.  That is where the deals and discounts ended.

The first thing we did was to buy a ticket card for rides.  Spencer wanted to go on the BIG ferris wheel and there was no line so we headed over.

It wasn't until we were already on it and headed up that we noticed how many tickets per person it took to get on.  Basically we spent $20 for the 4 of us to ride.  Gulp.

It was a nice view.  Not $20 nice though.

Kicking ourselves for not noticing the ticket sign earlier, we headed off to see some free animals.

 

How flipping cute are these piglets?  They just turned one.

We bought two cups of food to let the kids feed the animals in the petting zoo.

Spencer was totally into it.

Elliott was scared out of his mind, refused to touch the food and made Michael feed all of the animals.

I was physically assaulted by this goat.

A baby llama

This mama piggy gave birth to a litter of piglets on October 2nd.  This was their one month birthday.

Elliott and Michael didn't last long in the petting zoo.  They spent a lot of time playing with these "animals" and in that tiny little "barn" in the background while Spencer and I were petting our way through every animal we could.

Then, even though we had already spent all of our tickets on the ferris wheel we decided to let the kids go on some rides.  We bought another ticket pass.

They both voted to go on the planes.

We checked out some of the cakes that had been submitted for judging.

Then Spencer went on this big slide.  Elliott refused.

We skipped the cotton candy, but I had to take a picture of the sign.

We let them pick between motorcycles, monster trucks and  jeeps.  They picked jeeps.

After a morning of animals and rides we could think of nothing better to do than drop $475 on lunch.

First, a $6 lemonade.  We mixed cherry and watermelon.

Elliott got a $7 soft pretzel that was worth *about* 50 cents.

Spencer got a $6 hot dog.

Michael and I each got a $6 corn dog.

And then there was dessert. A $7 regular funnel cake.

And a $10 red velvet funnel cake with whipped cream and chocolate syrup that ended up being just totally over the top and kind of gross.

After lunch there were some more rides.

We didn't go on the skyride/ski lift (it was more expensive than the BIG ferris wheel!) but we did enjoy looking at the giant bear.

As their last ride of the day both kids wanted to go on the plane again.

Then we went back to see the animals one more time.

The year old piglets were awake now.

I think this is my favorite series of pictures of Spencer ever. 

The newborn baby piglets were awake by now too.

They were very feisty and were chasing and wrestling each other.

I felt sorry for their poor, tired mother.

Especially after they ganged up on her and forced her to wake up from her nap to nurse them.

Finally, about 5 hours after our arrival, and with significantly less money in our bank account, we headed home.  Maybe we will return in a decade......after we save up enough funds.