I've been attending our local county fair most of my life. My hometown hosts the fair, so watching the parade and spending a few nights with the whole town at the fairgrounds has become a bit of a tradition for me. I remember riding in the parade with my ball teams when I was a kid, marching in the parade with the cheerleaders in high school, and now we spend it on the sidelines, helping our kids collect candy and goodies from the floats.
The fair is more than just a carnival, it's the real deal. Barn after barn of animals, complete with all of the animal noises (and smells), booths of vendors, horse shows, tractor pulls, cattle shows, swine shows, the demolition derby...this is good old fashioned midwestern fun.
The girls love the poultry barn, which is cage after cage of birds, ducks, hens, roosters, turkeys, geese...every kind you could possibly imagine. It's always noisy and chaotic, and they love to find the big roosters. If you stand there long enough, you can always get a rooster to crow for you.
My favorite this year was the alpaca exhibit. I'm not sure I've ever been so close to an alpaca, but I was just mesmerized by her eyes. Look how deep and dark they are! These are really fascinating animals, and I'm pretty sure that if I had enough land, that we'd definitely find a way to raise some of our own. I particularly liked the sign next to the black alpaca - we got a kick out of it.
The goat and sheep barn is always a favorite too, because they just love attention and I'm pretty sure the girls stopped and pet every single one in the barn. This black and white goat was my favorite this year. He was so friendly!
I love this video of the girls petting the goats. I mean, how adorable is this? Little girl giggles are the best. (Note: you must have Vine App to view video.)
We always save the "bunny barn" for last, because those bunnies are so cute that the girls have to ooh and aah over every. single . rabbit. Then we have to decide which one is our favorite. Then, there's always the inevitable begging to take one home. I have no doubt that one of these years, we'll probably cave. We have no willpower against adorable little girls, and maybe even less against adorable bunny rabbits.
Yep, we're those people.
Now, I have to admit that my least favorite animal barn is usually the pig barn. I mean c'mon, they're pigs. They aren't exactly known for their pleasant, um, lifestyle. (Translation: they stink.) But, I do appreciate them for what they are (no, not bacon...) and actually kind of took a liking to this little guy. (Ok, not so little guy.) I'm pretty sure he wanted a kiss, but um...no.
We finished off our week at the fair with a funnel cake, because I'm pretty sure it's against the law not to.
I hope you enjoyed this look into our little county fair. Stay tuned next week for another Out and About post - I hope to make them a regular, weekly occurrence here on Lemon Sugar. A little something different, you know?
Thanks for reading, guys!
♥erin
