State Fair 2013

Summer isn't complete without a visit to a fair. We hit the fair in the afternoon and stayed almost until closing. It was a long day on our feet, but it was a beautiful day for it!  The sun was shining and it wasn't rally hot out.  Just perfect!

We ran through the animal part of the fair since the kids were anxious to get on the rides.

We went with my sister Marie's family, and the kids loved hanging out with them.

Thank goodness the bumper cars are meant to get hit because this girl is one crazy driver!!

Marissa will be driving in about 6 more years, she'll need all the practice she can get too!

Getting all 4 kids in one picture was hard on some of the rides.  Just have to cross my fingers and go with it.  At least I got Marissa and my niece Nikki in this one.

Sunset started falling and the temperatures fell as well.  It wasn't too bad at first but by the time we left, the kids couldn't wait to get in the car and turn on the heat!

Gianna was a daredevil this year and went on any and all rides.  She went on the "Pharaoh's Fury" in the last seat at the top on the inside.  She even sat with some unknown boy just because she wanted that seat!  Nuts!

This might be my favorite shot of the day, even if it is a little blurry.  It just says Fair.

State Fair 2012

Every August brings the State Fair, or as I grew up calling it The Sussex County Fair.  We were skeptical about going today since the weather was sketchy.  Eventually we figured why not & took the ride up.  It's about 50 minutes from our house which can be torture depending on whether the girls' ipods are charged or not. HA!

We met my sister Marie & her family up there.  The kids were in their glory riding all the carnival rides together.  The kids did as many rides as they could, always asking to go on the same ride AGAIN!, until we explained they will use up their  tickets.  Not that they cared, but we explained anyway.  It was fun to see how the kids all experienced the rides differently.  Marissa loves the rides but has some reservations about some until she rides them.  My niece Nikki, is adventurous but I think a few rides took her by surprise.  My nephew Tyler, had his doubts about some rides but seemed to have fun & wanted to go on again.  Gianna?  That child of mine has absolutely NO FEAR WHAT-SO-EVER!  Nothing was too much for her.  No hesitations at all.  I don't sleep well at night because of her. ;)

Of course once we were able to convince the kids to take a break & get some food, the grown ups took over.  Fair food is a must!  Yes, it may be greasy, but man, does it taste good!!  We stopped first for sausage & pepper sandwiches.  Joe & I go to the same stand every time year we go.  So good!  Now, don't get me wrong, we don't make pigs of ourselves by far.  The next thing we got for everyone were Zeppoles!  Fried dough covered in powdered sugar.  YUM!  The grown-ups & Marissa enjoyed them nice & hot & sticky!  Can't get over how the 3 other kids did not like them.  Where did we go wrong???

The kids rode a few more rides (after making sure their bellies were settled enough so they wouldn't hurl).  They got cotton candy, another fair must.  Then before we knew it the clouds rolled in & we high tailed it to the car.  We didn't make it before the rain came down but we had a good time anyway!

Thanks to Stephanie Howell's blog post, I found how to make these photo mosaics through Big Huge Labs. My new favorite way to share tons of pics!

Town Carnival

Tonight we took the girls to the carnival in town. Luckily for them it was "wristband night" & they got to "ride all the rides for one low price"!! {{insert eye roll here.}}

The first ride was the knock off "Dumbo" ride. We made Marissa go on it with her sister so she wouldn't be alone. Yes Marissa has reached the age that considers certain rides "lame".....

***sigh***

Next Marissa rode this swing ride but Gianna didn't make the height requirement.....so she hung out with Daddy....Trying for some artsy shots of the fun house that the girls went on....Another artsy shot of whatever they call this ride...something like "Spin till you hurl"...and no my girls didn't go on this.

See those blurs down at the bottom of the slide?? One of them is Marissa & the other is one of her friends from school we met there.
Marissa's friend has a younger sister Gianna's age & this made Gianna's day having someone her age there. Here are the girls all together riding the "teacups".....

Here the 4 of them rode the "golden bus"....

Gianna's cheesy but happy grin.... After the other girls left my girls rode the "Dragon coaster". They were excited to get the first seat....

We also did the other carnival things like "pop the balloon for a tiny little prize", which Gianna loved!! Or "shoot the ducks for a teeny little prize" which Marissa had to do.

Joe & I had fun too. We got some yummy zeppoles to eat!! My mom makes the best I've ever had but no fair is over till I've had zeppoles!! Fun was had by all!! LOL!!

Street Fair

Today was the town street fair. The town closes off a section of the main street & local businesses & merchants set up tents to hawk their wares. They have small ride area which draws the girls right away. To the girls delight they even have "pony rides"!!

They have a few ponies set up in the bank's parking lot & you get to go around twice.

Gianna goes first & despite the look on her face she loves it! Marissa goes next...she wasn't into me taking her pic so made this face the whole time....she's gotta look cool! Afterwards the girls went down the air slide.... Then they went on this spinning knock off of the "tea cup" ride....there's an extra girl in there that's not mine, the ride operator stuck another girl in there to make room for more kids.... LOL!

After the rides we took a walk to see everything for sale....we picked up some delicious lemonade & yummy zeppoles. Marissa got a Webkinz & Gianna got a blow-up Dora doll. There wasn't much more to it but we enjoyed ourselves & it was some time together. Good times....