Take Time for a Great Time

We took the girls to the NC State Fair today. They went last year, but this was the first time that they were 36" tall and could enjoy the rides.

We went with our same strategy as last year. Eric and I both took a day off during the week for them to go. We took the park and ride bus and left on the first bus of the morning (8:30). We started off our visit with a biscuit at the Methodist biscuit kitchen.

It was pretty chilly today, but I learned my lesson from the pumpkin farm over the weekend and had brought mittens.

As for the animals, Lily liked the cows best, especially the milking cows the NC State kids had available for milking. We watched the showing of the goats and some cows as well.

It was too cold for all the little chicks to be out, but they brought one out of the incubator for them to touch. The little chick was just born this morning. Lily spent the rest of her time in the poultry tent with her hands over her ears yelling "cock a doodle doo! cheep cheep!"

And then we hit the kiddieland midway. Their first ride was the bumper boats, and by far their favorite.

Then we did the cars, a dragon roller coaster, a hot air ballon ride, and a jet-ski like ride that went in a circle. I was the most nervous about the roller coaster dragon, but they loved it. Lily got a little nervous on the hot air balloon ride as it went higher and higher, but we cheered and waved until she kind of had a smile frozen on her face.

They played two games. The duck pond where you pick the duck out of the pool and choose a prize. They both picked trumpets. Then a fishing game where you use a fishing pole to grab a shark out of the water. They got little pumpkins. Lily wasn't interested in the prize at all. She just wanted to keep fishing.

After the rides, we went looking for lunch. Mom had mozzarella sticks, Dad had pizza, Madeleine had a hot dog, and Lily had some french fries. It was the first time I've actually seen Madeleine eat a hot dog in a bun. Usually she eats the hot dog in pieces or eats only the bun. She's happy to tell anyone that "it was a little hot." We also got chocolate milk from the dairy board.

We checked out the rabbits and then headed back for one last ride on the bumper boats. We made it home just before 1 pm for nap. Overall a successful trip. Not much crying. Both girls used the restrooms even though I'd put pull ups on them. No one got lost (we used the harnesses). I'm already looking forward to next year when maybe we'll do the ferris wheel as a family.