Evergreen State Fair 2013

We spent the entire day at the Evergreen State Fair today, just the three of us.  What a spectacular day!  It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too crowded, and we all had a blast together!

As soon as we entered the gates, the first thing we saw were pony rides for kids.  So of course we had to get Samantha a turn!  She loves all kinds of animals and was so excited at the prospect of riding a pony!! 

Such a natural!

What a beautiful little cowgirl!

We asked her what she wanted to do next and, no surprise, she wanted to ride the carousel.  We did take a little detour on the way over there to get our annual "Old Fashioned Frontier Photo" together as a family.  The last two years we've made the mistake of waiting too long to go do this and so Samantha looks exhausted in each of those pictures.  Not this year!  She was all smiles!



Our annual "Old Fashioned Frontier Photo."
(Sorry, it's a picture of a picture
and those just never turn out!
It really is a great picture though!)

After the photo shoot we made our way over to the kiddie rides.  Holy frijoles, rides are expensive!  We opted for the bracelet allowing Samantha access to ride any of the rides for which she was tall enough.  Hey, at 41" tall, let me tell you, she got to go on LOTS of rides!  Some either required she be accompanied by an adult or, at least it made me feel better if she had one of us with her, so we bought some ride tickets for Ed too!  (I'm not really a fair/carnival ride kinda person anymore...)

At any rate, we sure got our money's worth out of that bracelet.  Samantha must have been on 15-16 rides throughout the day and loved every minute of it!

I think the carousel is her favorite...

Riding the swings with Daddy

Happy little driver...

...and boy, she takes those turns seriously!

All aboard!  The train ride.

The only type of motorcycle she'll
EVER be allowed to ride! :)

We convinced her to take a break from the rides for a bit while we went and strolled through the animal exhibits.  We saw cows, goats, sheep, pigs, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, cats (we saw the cat exhibit three times at Samantha's request! :), horses...I think that's it!  Like I said, Samantha loves all kinds of animals.  It wouldn't surprise us a bit if she becomes a Veterinarian when she grows up!

After and in between animal exhibits, we wandered through some of the other displays, grabbed a bite to eat, and then Samantha was up for more rides!  Before that though, we found a small exhibit all about farming, so we took a break for Samantha to pick and apple, dig up a potato, find an egg, and milk a cow.

Learning how to milk a cow

Learning where all the food she picked goes and separating
it accordingly

At the chainsaw carving exhibits. 
Some of the things they make are just amazing!

On a smaller version of the swings
all by herself

Leaving on a jet plane!

Riding in the big bear.  Samantha and Daddy did NOT
like this ride...

With Daddy on her first roller coaster!

Back to the carousel - told you she loves this thing!

So excited she got the BLUE car this time!

AND the BLUE motorcycle.  She loves blue!

What a ham! :) Look at that smile!

Back on the train, this time in the caboose!

At the end of our fantastic day, we followed through with our tradition of buying a baker's dozen Fisher Scones for the road.  :)  The fair wouldn't be complete without them!

Mmmmm, scones!

We always tease that this is just the "warm up" fair because in a couple of weeks, we're off to the Puyallup Fair for the day.  But you know, this really was a perfect day and we enjoyed every minute at the Evergreen State Fair this year!

On our way out to the car after the perfect Fair day!