Fair-ly Fun Family

The State Fair in North Carolina is a big deal. People buy their tickets months in advance. Everyone can provide you with a list of their Fair favorite foods. There are more rides than you can count, more food booths than you can ever hit, and farm animals galore. Traffic and parking are a nightmare. Many people take a day off of work to spend the day without the night time crowds (but they miss the nightly fireworks). This year attendance topped 1,000,000 in just 11 days!

The Fair is made for eating anything deep fried that you can think of (in fact the official blog of the NC State Fair is the aptly titled "Deep Fried Blog"). There are articles in the newspaper that chronicle the new foods at the fair each year. Last year's big thing was deep fried Coca Cola and deep fried butter (don't ask, I don't know). The draw this year was the Krispy Kreme burger - a 4,000 calorie double bacon cheeseburger monstrosity with glazed Krispy Kreme donuts taking the place of the bun. We found the booth and I was going to take a picture of one if I saw it, but there were surprisingly few people indulging in this... um... treat?

The Fair is some thing that Nate and I have managed to avoid since moving to North Carolina. Call it Greenbelt Labor Day Festival and Spiedie Fest overload... big crowds just aren't our thing. We avoided the NC State Fair just like I avoided the NY State Fair when I lived in Syracuse! Once we had Luke and Will, we were even less excited about going.

But this year, at Oma's request, we braved the Fair. We had one adult per child, which I understand from other parents is absolutely the ONLY way that a parent stays sane with a child in tow at the Fair. And we live to tell the tale. Thanks to Oma for having a soft spot in her heart for all things remnant of her 4-H days, and for homegrown honey!

Truth be told, our Fair initiation was a lot of fun. The weather behaved. The boys (mostly) behaved. We went during the day when the crowds were less. We went there with no expectations. We left with full bellies. We ate what we wanted and threw calorie consciousness out the window! Between the 5 of us, we consumed a deep fried Snickers, 2 deep fried Oreos, a deep fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, one ice cream cone, a turkey leg, an ear of roasted corn, an Italian sausage, a cheesesteak, and a frozen Twinkie dipped in chocolate.

Here are some photos of our day. Luke definitely got the most out of going to the Fair, so there are a lot more photos of him than anyone else! I think next year we'll be going on a LOT more rides... we just have to figure out what rides it is safe to take Will on too!

The best picture of me from the Fair - my hand holding a deep fried Snickers bar. It might not look pretty. But that was a tasty break from my post-Matthew diet.

This was originally Nate's deep fried Oreo until Luke got ahold of it.

Will and Oma dancing to the sounds of the band.

Matt, meet Goat. Goat, meet Matt. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!


Luke was fascinated with this turkey. Good thing he doesn't understand too much about Thanksgiving yet, otherwise I think he might have gotten upset about this turkey's future.

Oma, Luke and Will in front of the waterfall.

Luke was a bit tentative on the carousel as it started going around. This was our first ever amusement park ride with the boys.

Tentativity gone. True amazement and glee abound.

Once Nate figured out how to hold onto Will on the carousel horse, he was happier than we could have imagined! Will loves movement, and the carousel was right up his alley.

Immediately after the carousel, Luke got this cool ice cream cone. I think this might be Luke's version of heaven. He was remarkably hyper yet agreeable for the next 30 minutes after consuming this bubble gum flavored extreme cone.

Just you wait, Mommy... next year, it's your worst fear... toddlers on a ferris wheel. Just you wait. (Insert devious fingery baby laugh here)

Luke finished this whole ear of corn on his own as we were leaving the Fair. It looked to me as though all the corn was gone, so I went to throw it away. Luke ran after me with teeth bared. I thought he was mad... but apparently there were 5 kernels of corn still left on the cob. And he had to have them!