Week 137

Oct 12-18

We went to the South Carolina State Fair! This year it is free for military and since we had our military ID cards for a few more days we figured it was a great idea. Who doesn't love fair food? We picked a day in the middle of the week and got there in the morning right as they opened. It was a little bit overcast, but nice because there wasn't a huge crowd. Now that we have two kids, we really try to avoid a crowd. There is nothing worse then trying to keep a 2 year old happy while waiting in line.

This was one of our first big outings as a 4 person family. Luckily we had an extra set of hands. Uncle Ryan (Ed's brother) came along with us. We figured we would get there in the morning (this is when 2 year olds are in a good mood), walk around and look at the animals, ride some rides, and then indulge in some delicious fair food for lunch. All in all, a great plan for the day.

We got there and scoped out where everything was. Most of the "little kid" rides were grouped together and the minimum height to ride on most of them was 36". Jack measured in at around 39". The next height for some of the rides was 42" so hopefully he will be there next year. There was still plenty for him to do.

We walked through quite a few buildings to look at animals. There were cows, pigs, goats, sheep, and tons of chickens. We also saw an elephant and a camel behind the tents. Personally, I'm not a big fan of animals at the fair. It seems kind of cruel to tie them so they can just stand there for people to look at them. Worse than the zoo...at least at the zoo they have a little bit of space to move around. Oh well. Jack loved it. He fed the goats and made some fast friends.

The rides were pretty neat. He went crazy for the fire truck. The motorcycle was funny because it kind of went up and down like there were hills and he looked like Evil Knievel or something. Every ride he went on alone he took very seriously. It was adorable.

There was this one "fun house" type thing you could walk through. I had to go with him. There were noises, distorted mirrors, moving floors, etc. At the very end there was this cylindrical piece that moved in a circle. In order to get out of the house you had to walk across it. Well Jack didn't realize initially what it was doing so he decided at first to just walk right on it. Of course it started moving him up and then he slid down toward the bottom. He freaked out and jumped back out onto me. I had to push him to go to the other side. I would have carried him, but I already had the baby on me and couldn't risk it. His face was priceless and I was laughing hysterically. Such a mean mommy. I couldn't help myself.

Uncle Ryan, Ed and Jack played one fair game. The good old shoot the water at the target. Of course since they were the only ones playing someone automatically won a prize. We got Jack a big fluffy monster type stuffed animal thing. I love how intense Ryan and Ed are while they are playing. Competitive much? Jack thought it was fun so that's all that matters.

After all the games, animals, and walking around it was finally time for lunch. Mmm...FAIR FOOD! My favorite part! Apparently there were these amazing corn dogs at this one particular stand. Well Jack loves corn dogs so we had to try them out. They were SO GOOD!! Huge! Jack loved it. Ed was on the hunt for an Elephant Ear (better known as a funnel cake). He found one and it was awesome as well. Jack and I split a strawberry shortcake for our dessert. Yum, yum, yum!

I think the last picture of Jack at the fair with food all over his shirt and face pretty much sums up the end of the day. We had a great time and will definitely check it out again next year! Sadly once we got home Daddy had to leave for his trip to Pittsburgh. It would be my first time alone with the boys without Ed's help. We had planned on Jack staying with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amanda, but Amanda was coming down with a bad cold and didn't want to get Jack sick. Lucky for me Aunt Caroline was on fall break from Clemson and came down to stay with us so I had a ton of help.

I really wanted to get Jack's fire fighter room put together. I had been collecting all of the stuff for the past year and couldn't wait to decorate! I waited until we moved when he got a big boy bed. Caroline helped a TON! We had to paint tables and chairs, shelves, and his 'JACK' letters. Then we had to put everything up on the wall, make the bed, organize everything. Doesn't seem like a whole lot of work but when you have the day already filled with feeding, diapering, bathing, and entertaining two children your slate is pretty much full.

This particular weekend we also baked Halloween cookies. Caroline has witnessed my neurotic cookie making tendencies before. She helped me make the cookies for Jack's 2nd birthday party (appropriately fire fighter themed...haha). I'm surprised she was up for the challenge knowing what a perfectionist I am. She is a lot like me in the fact that she likes to do creative things and she likes to bake too. :)

We actually got in a little over our heads. Originally there was going to be 3 cookies: a pumpkin, ghost, and bat. Well I got a new box of cookie cutters to add to my collection. 101 new cookie cutters. We ended up making pumpkins, ghosts, bats, witches, haunted houses, candy corn, and black cats! Simple cookie decorating turned into two nights of hard work with hours of frosting coloring and decorating. Haha! It was so worth it though, because they looked AMAZING!

All in all the whole weekend was a success. We spent lots of time playing with the boys. Here is a picture of Jack doing his "ABC's" puzzle. It was great spending time with my little sister. :)