The Fair

For the first time since we moved to the Raleigh area in 2009, we finally made it to the State Fair.  It's actually the first time I've gone to a fair in almost 10 years.  (Pitiful, I know.)  One of the things that I was most excited about was the whole fair feeling--the yummy smells and the cool fall air with people milling around... so naturally it was the hottest day since late August.

We bought our tickets in advance so we were able to just walk right in, which was awesome.  Rory was so incredibly excited by everything.  As soon as we got there, she started on a rant about how she was going to ride all the rides including the big Ferris Wheel.  We just wandered around for the first little bit just to see what there was to see (and smell what there was to smell) and try to find a map.  I eventually found one on the ground, brushed it off and took it with us (never did find a legitimate one).

The girls were both very excited to see this little train.  Quinn loved it so much, she actually rode it again later on in the night. In fact, according to her, it was her favorite part of the fair (despite what the picture shows).

As soon as Rory got off of the train, she wanted to go on a "faster" ride.  I was pretty sure that once it got started she would spend the rest of the ride screaming to get off.  She got my goat.

In fact, she eventually asked to ride the little roller coaster.  I don't have a picture because Nathan had taken Quinn to the bathroom, and like the genius I am, I didn't think to at least take a picture of the ride itself before we left.  Anyway, the girl LOVED it.  She even kept her hands in the air almost the whole time (except for the "big" drop).  I was thrilled.  Now I can't wait to get her on a real roller coaster.

The girls ran into Mr. Cow and acted like they hadn't seen him in a million years.  I think Nathan and I could have told them we were going to the fair, showed them Mr. Cow and gone home heroes.

Nathan and I ate WAY too much.  Just know there was Italian sausage, a burger, a gyro, pizza, some funnel cake and a few other things involved.  Too much.  For the girls, their big treat was cotton candy.  They liked the blue.  And that it turned their mouths blue.

Rory riding the pony.

Funny story about the pony ride... When Rory was done with the pony ride, we started walking over to the Village of Yesteryear.  Quinn started having a fit--sobbing, yelling, the works.  As it turns out, what we thought was her asking to get out of the stroller as her saying she wanted to get on a horse.  And the farther away from the horses we got, the more hysterical she got.  By the time we got to the building the Village of Yesteryear was in, I FINALLY figured out why she was so upset.  After some calming down and her asking politely, we went back so Quinn could ride her horse.

That smile was totally worth the way-to-much amount of money required to ride the horse.  

We stopped to eat some more food. (Somehow we never made it back for me to go to the Village of Yesteryear...)

Quinn felt the need to show off how cute she is--blue mouth and all.

Random silliness around 7:30.

I made Rory wait until it was dark to ride the Ferris Wheel. By that point, she wasn't thrilled with it because it didn't go fast.

But she did like the view of the whole fair. (All I had was my 50mm lens.  The fair was MUCH bigger.)

This last picture makes me miss having access to editing software. When I get the chance, I will lighten it up a tad, decrease the noise (I only brought my XTi--I was NOT about to haul my big camera around), and make a few tweaks.  Even without that, I know I will cherish this photo.She was so pretty up there looking out over the whole fair.  I just loved watching her.  

Oh, and I know there were no pics of me, but when I handed the camera over to Nathan, I forgot to change my autofocus settings over to full auto for him.  So the pics with me in them turned out like this:

Good times.  But I'm still going to save it so 30 years from now the girls know I was there, too. :)

We had a great night.  It all fell apart a little at the end (overtired kids, 2 year old had an accident... all the stuff that happens when kiddos get overtired), we spent way too much money, the kids were up too late, we ate WAY too much, but it was totally worth it.  Great memories.