A Great Day at the State Fair!

Jon took Friday off work and we headed to the Ohio State Fair. It was a beautiful, not-too-hot-and-humid day and we had a wonderful time. We've taken the boys to the fair every year since Ray was a baby. It's so fun to see how much they've grown, the things they remember, and the new things they try and experience each year. This was our first year without a stroller. The boys did great! We were there for seven and a half hours!

Seeing the animals is always a big highlight of the fair for us.

We rode a few rides.
The boys were the first to get to paint on this huge mural! Adam was very proud of his pig (his favorite animal).An exciting FIRST for us this year was participating in the youth fishing. Ray caught his first fish! It was a blue gill. He was so excited! (Of course, sibling rivalry flared up a bit and Adam was not thrilled. We need to take them fishing again soon!) I was just glad that the "wildlife guy" was there to bait the hook and deal with the caught fish!Of course we ate fair food! Corn dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, popcorn. Very NON-nutritious, but delicious!We spent a long time in the youth building. They had a cool lego exhibit and several areas for kids to build with blocks, legos, etc. The boys loved playing with these lego-ish vehicle-builder things. (Note to Santa: Find these please!) They were very proud of their creations.We also played miniature golf, explored several exhibit halls, listened to the Ohio State Fair Band concert, played a few games (and won light-up swords - yeah), saw the butter cow, watched a baby chick hatching, talked with a giant Smoky the Bear, and rode a tractor shuttle around the fairgrounds (big hit!).

What an awesome family day!

Weird things you can only do at the fair: