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!

Farm Fest and the Museum

This morning, we started out our day at a "Farm Fest" at a local farm in Snohomish.  It wasn't very impressive, unfortunately.  On the bright side though, Samantha did enjoy the time in the small hay maze, racing rubber ducks, and riding the cow train...TWICE!  Our purchase of kettle corn made the morning complete, as we headed off for new adventures.

Samantha and Daddy in the hay maze

Samantha and Mommy in the hay maze

Riding the cow train - Samantha's cow was named, "Susie Q"

Samantha and Daddy in the giant pumpkin

At the duck races

Dancing in the play house

We drove through Snohomish, on roads that twisted and turned to places we'd never before seen, until we ended up in a familiar place--Monroe.  We decided to see what, if anything, was going on at the fairgrounds.

While there were no events happening, the Western Heritage Center there was open and not at all busy.  This was great for us because it meant the folks that worked there were excited to see visitors and showed us every part of the museum.  Samantha loved pushing buttons to see play trains move, grinding corn into corn meal with a hand crank, running a washing machine from the early 1900's, making her own rope out of twine, and walking through the model of a mine.

Pedaling the mini-tractor

This is the rope twisting machine Samantha
used to make a piece of rope to take home

More duck races (notice the rope she made around her waist)

Plugging her ears and blowing the train whistle

Since they weren't busy, they even took us for a ride in a motorized Surrey (with the fringe on top! :) and let Ed drive one of the riding lawn mowers.  Attached to the back of the lawn mower was a trailer in which they put two chairs; one for me and one for Samantha, so we could enjoy the ride around the fairgrounds too!

Riding with Mommy in the trailer while Daddy drove
the lawn mower

Daddy - what a good driver!

Samantha posing in the Surrey

I was so impressed!  We went there not expecting a whole lot but this was the easy favorite of the day!  If you're ever in Monroe, stop by and check it out!

Ocean Shores

We arrived in Ocean Shores fairly late, so we ended up just heading straight to the hotel, unpacking, and settling in for the night.  We had a partial view of the ocean, not as impressive as our view in Newport, but it was still beautiful and fun to see the beach!

The partial view from
our hotel room

The next day we headed out to explore Ocean Shores.  I have to say, there's not much that's kid-friendly in February in Ocean Shores.  We went out to the beach for a bit and flew our kites but then the rain came in so we headed back to the car.  At the other end of the beach there was a company with lots of horses. For $20, you could ride a horse on the beach for an hour. We didn't end up actually riding a horse, but true to form for Samantha, she wanted to see and touch each horse! So we asked the owners and they said it was ok for her to meet all of the horses. 

Meeting and petting each of the horses.  This girl loves animals!

 It was still too early for Samantha's nap time but the weather was not cooperating, so we donned our swimsuits and headed down to the hotel pool.  (I think it's time to get Samantha back into swimming lessons because it took her a good 20 minutes to loosen her death grip on me in the pool!  After she got more comfortable, she started to have fun.)  We spent about an hour and a half in the pool and she did not want to get out, but alas, it was lunch and nap time.

The storm coming in off the ocean.

After nap, we headed back out to explore a few shops.  We ended up at an ice cream parlor/arcade.  They had over 30 flavors there but what did Samantha choose?  Vanilla.  She's definitely her Daddy's girl when it comes to ice cream flavors! 

Racing cars with Daddy

After ice cream and games, we went for a drive around Ocean Shores - it was a stormy night, so not a good time to be out at the beach.  We ended up back at the hotel and again, relaxed and settled in for the night.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

On our way to Ocean Shores, we thought it would be fun to wander around the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon, to watch how they make, store, and ship cheese and ice cream.

Right at the entryway, there is a bright yellow VW bus decorated with the Tillamook Cheese logos, so we stopped to pose for a few pictures.

Look out!  Samantha's behind the wheel!

Say CHEESE! :)



Moo!

The cheese factory is a self-guided tour, but since it was Saturday, there wasn't a lot going on in terms of the assembly lines or machines.  We did see some people hard at work bagging up 40-pound blocks of cheese to ship to the warehouse for aging.  We watched them for a bit and since there was nothing really going on in the ice cream side of the factory, we headed back downstairs to sample some cheese and get some ice cream.

The ice cream factory floor...it was dessert-ed!  Ha ha ha! :)

The assembly line on the cheese side. 
I bet it doesn't smell very good down there.
After all, they're "cutting lots of cheese"!!  Ha ha ha! :)

Well...we thought we were getting ice cream, but Samantha had other thoughts.  She saw and fell in love with an orange striped lollipop and even though it meant she couldn't have any ice cream (only one treat :), she opted for the lollipop!  It ended up being a good thing.  We still had a long drive ahead of us to Ocean Shores and that lollipop kept her entertained for a solid 30 minutes!

After about 30 minutes of licking her lollipop in the same place,
she says to me, "Mom, there's a hole in my lollipop."
Indeed - she had licked it so much, there was a hole right in the middle!!

 It would be fun to go back on a weekday when there may be more activity on the factory floors...oh well - it was a fun first visit there!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Beach

After we left Newport, we decided to stop at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Beach on our way to Ocean Shores, Washington.  Though Samantha was 2 inches too short to be allowed to climb the stairs in the lighthouse, we spent some time wandering through the Visitor's Center and then down to the beach.  I'm not sure she got a lot out of the Visitor's Center, but she did enjoy climbing on the seal statues there and walking around their lighthouse display. 



Exploring the Visitor's Center

Meeting a new friend

Since she couldn't go up in the real lighthouse,
I guess this is the next best thing!

One of the guides in the center let us know that it's perfect tide pool weather, so we descended the wooden staircases to the beach.  There was another guide at the bottom of the stairs who provided an orientation of the types of animals we'd see in the tide pools, plus the rules on where to step, etc.  We wandered around and saw some fantastic tide pools.  Again, Samantha was a bit timid so she didn't want to touch any of the animals.  We even saw some seals while we were down there.

On the stairs down to the beach

Perfect tide pool viewing

Down on the beach with Daddy

When we'd finished down at the beach, we climbed the stairs and headed up to the lighthouse to walk around.  Samantha was allowed to go inside the lighthouse, just not to the top, so we walked around on the main level there and explored a bit.

The spiral stairs leading up to the top of the lighthouse

Visiting the rooms in the lighthouse



Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We had a long drive ahead of us so we started our trek North on the Pacific Coast Hwy...a beautiful drive!