The Fair.

With happy childhood memories of both the Puallup Fair and the Ohio State Fair, and Booboo's already revealed penchant for a good carousel, both Mr. Tea and I wanted to recreate that same experience for her. Enter: Delaware State Fair. It was farther than we thought, and we didn't get there till after 3pm, but we made it count, with visits to the animals there--I'll admit, I couldn't help but remember the wonderful stables at the Woodstock Farm Animal Refuge, seeing (especially) the pigs and lambs in small metal pens pretty much killed me-- we recovered a bit looking at the cute bunnies, and chicks that had just hatched. Somehow, they were not so tragic. And the rides. Boo loves anything that goes fast, and loves more anything that goes faster! She kept asking, "when I'm older..." I can ride the one that goes upside down/ wicked fast/ really high...we rode the ferris wheel twice, once during the day and once at night, and took tons of pictures. There were just so many great photogenic moments throughout the day. Since we had arrived so late, we ended up staying quite late, and as it was the last day of the fair, we even caught the fireworks display at the end of the evening, on the way to the car. A lovely end to a very fun day.

Album cover, don't you think? (Now we just need the album!)

Boo and Daddy

Feeding the cows.

The prize winner. Those eyes!

Sweet cow.

Boo and Daddy looking at horses.

Saying hi to the horsie.

Prize-winning chicken.

Bun.

Another bun.

Yet another bun. (believe me, I'm sparing you most of them. I took about a jazillion.)

Geese!

Boo in casual pose with tractor wheel.

Boo. Doing her calisthenics.

Big wheel, little person!

Peek-a-boo!

Checking out the antique tractors.

There were some beauts!

Riding the John Deere jeep!

Prize-winning watermelon.

First ferris wheel ride.

View of the carousel from the Ferris Wheel...

Whee!

Zoom!

In the whirling strawberry...

Ready for the swing!

Here we go!

Boat ride, solo!

Carousel.

Late night ferris wheel ride.

Bye Bye Delaware State Fair!

Postscript: "The Carnival" has been one of Boo's favorite games, ever since the fair. Here's the latest re-creation:

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary

Gorgeous, glossy cows. Moo. They obviously have a great life here.

In fact, watch them dance! Pretty cute.

Like a pig in...

Can you say...foie gras?

Seriously though, the holier-than-thou attitude of this place got a little to us. I understand that it's a sanctuary for these poor animals that are all ruthlessly abandoned for one reason or another, but all that vegan vitriol was a little much for us to take. (No offense to any vegans out there!) I mean, who feeds perfectly lovely free range eggs to pigs?? And the lead guy needs some serious help learning how to present his farm to the little ones. I understand that this issue is what drives him, and I'm grateful that he has obviously put so much love and care into his farm, but give the kids a break. Maybe there needs to be two tours--one for the politically conscious, one for the kiddos, focused more on fun and just the love of the animals. I think ultimately that would build his cause a lot better with the youngest generation.

Checking out the duck pond.

Booboo watching the chickens go hide under the coop to stay cool. It was a hot day!

Now, did you watch those steer dance yet?