The Mountain State Fair 2009

We rode to the Mountain State Fair today singing, "Our state fair is a great state fair! Don't miss it! Don't even be late! Dollars to Doughnuts says our state fair is the best state fair in our state!" and "Meet me in Saint Louie, Louie. Meet me at the fair. Don't tell me the lights are shining anywhere but there!" We LOVE it! And, you know what? We love THIS one even better than the other one in Raleigh! Why? It's about 1/3 the size and the new chairlift takes you right from the kiddie area to the animals, which lets you bypass walking all along the midway! Yipee! SO we chose to go this Monday because it was the only non-rainy day where we could by the girls arm stamps to ride the rides all night for $18. It was SO worth it! (The downside, of course, was that the fair opened after school, . . . and we knew it was going to be a "Disney World" type night with school the next morning. Sure enough, we were riding the chairlift back at 10:55 PM! Yikes! Ah well, it's only once a year, eh?)

SO, while we were waiting for Daddy, we spied MY favorite thing: the real calliope that was featured in the turn of the century World's Fair in St. Louis! . . . and, of course, Meet Me in Saint Louis was one of the movies we had been watching all week! : ) I'm guessing that back then it was brought via train car instead of a semi, though. Ha! Still, it worked VERY well, . . . and was actually VERY loud. : )

Here are the girls showing off their ride stamps that say "NOW!" Ha!

Again, while we were waiting for Daddy, we went into the brand new building on the grounds to find all the artisans and craftsmen there all creating! Here are the girls watching jewelry making, latch hooking (and trying their hand at it), stained glass making, braided rug making, etc. Even beyond the pictures, there were just SO many artisans there: woodworkers, dollmakers, leatherworkers, and more. They were ALL in the midst of a project. SO fun to watch. Definitely one of my top parts of the day. : ) The braided rug lady took a real liking to the girls and gave them each a braided keychain that they both carried all day. : )

Then Daddy came and it was time for RIDES! Annie's favorite? Can you guess? Ha!

And here are the girls on the one "big kid" ride they could both go on. The Tilt-A-Whirl, . . . a classic! : ) You can see their braided keychains in these pictures. : )

Then Leia and Daddy went off to do "big kid" things, and Annie and I headed toward the kiddie rides! She even rode the dragon herself, . . . and controlled it, too!

Then we met up with Annie's little friend Madeline (from library storytime), and they went on a few rides together. Here they are comparing their arm stamps.

It wasn't long before we had Daddy's favorite: fair fries! : )

It was neat they still had the "fishing" game at the fair, . . .

They were very excited that they won their "duckie" and "bear." : )

Leia Rose and I on the Black Widow. : ) I tried to get her to go on the Pirate Ship with me, . . . but she just wouldn't. Maybe next year?

It's always a fair tradition to stop at the Great Pumpkin. This year it was 434 pounds!

We also splurged a bit and let the girls go one one of those really high trampoline jumps! SO fun! The sign said 20 pounds to 200 pounds! That meant Annie could ride! (It was only later that we saw the mechanical bull that would give kiddie rides, too. Hmm, next year.)

In addition to seeing Cael and Rhett when we entered the fair, Leia also met up with Rudy and went on lots of rides with him for a while. This is one of those obstacle course rides. Annie had a rough time with some of it, but with help, . . . she began with a thumbs up and ended up smiling!

Candy apples: another state fair tradition. This year they tried grape and blue raspberry. Ugh!