We had planned to skip the county fair this year because we had heard that a lot of the normal attractions would not be there. I checked their website a couple nights ago to make our final decision about going or not going only to find out that the normal attractions would actually be there. So, we opted to go and check it out. This year the fair was much slower than past years due to the economy, I would guess. We also went on a day we’ve never gone on before, $1 ride day.
The boys were super excited as we pulled into the county fair parking lot. Tim and I were thrilled that Little T still got free admission this year. Before we went in, we informed the boys that the rides did not open for a few hours and we would be walking around the halls and other shows before doing any rides. They struggled with this fact but managed to make it through without any major meltdowns about rides. We first strolled through Thurber Hall to get our fixing of beef jerky for the day. Outside the hall, we stopped to watch Matt Sorensen do some can art. We headed towards Pima Hall but got side tracked when we saw BREAK! Urban Funk Acrobats and the Budweiser Clydesdales. The boys saw a petting zoo and immediately wanted to go in and visit with them animals. Drama King wanted to feed them so we got one cone of food to share between the boys. They had a few first time experiences when they got to pet a joey (baby kangaroo), some pot bellied pigs, a donkey and a llama. Of course, the biggest eaters were the goats and some of them were still nursing on the mommy goats. Once we were out of food and Drama King felt the animals were happy, we headed off to Old Pueblo Hall. We made a pit stop for some shaved ice to quench our thirst buds. I thought Old Pueblo Hall might be a bust until we discovered the exploration area for kids. They had a train set, huge stacking blocks, a giant ant farm, digging for dino bones, and a lot more that we didn’t get to see because the boys were having too much fun building with the huge blocks and then busting them down. I think they built and busted down walls about 3 times before we convinced them to leave.
By this time, Little T was complaining he was hungry and he made a beeline out of Old Pueblo Hall directly to the corn dog stand. We got the boys a jumbo corn dog to share with ketchup and mustard for dipping. We sat in front of the fair office watching the big kid obstacle course which the boys shared the corn dog. They actually had a few bites left of the corn dog so I dug out a ziplock bag to save the corn dog for later. We avoided the kiddie rides by veering off course through the antique tractor section but that walked us right by a frozen yogurt stand. Of course, Little T just HAD to have some so we got him their school kid special which was a regular size cone but $1 off regular price. As we walked towards Pima Hall, a older gentleman stopped us and asked if the guys could show the boys how to make their own jump rope. Of course, the boys were nothing but thrilled to do hands on activities so we stopped. The three older gentleman joked with the boys while showing them an antique machine that twists twine into ropes. We gave each boy $1 to drop in the donation jar and the boys skipped off with their new found treasure. We skimmed through Pima Hall which didn’t have much of interest for our wee ones and as we were exiting the hall, we stumbled by accident onto Cook’s Racing Pigs. Drama King wanted to wait for the next show but we couldn’t imagine sitting their for an entire hour attempting to entertain Little T so Drama King opted to hit a few rides before coming back to watch the pigs race.
We headed back down the main walk way to the kiddie ride area. Before we got to the kiddie rides, we made a pit stop at the restrooms and admired the sand sculpture outside the restroom. Now, the boys got ansy and were ready to hit the rides. Today was $1 ride day so we got $20 worth of rides for the two boys to share. Of course, the first ride every year is always the dragon coaster. They went on that a few times before moving on to the other side of the kiddie rides. They flew in a bumble bee ride before heading over to the gym obstacle course with a long slid at the end. They did the obstacle course a few times before moving on to the Little Dipper roller coaster. While they went on the roller coaster three times, hubby and I had a quick snack. It was then back to the obstacle course to finish up their rides. As we were preparing to leave, the boys spotted the kite flyer ride which I never thought they’d ride. They begged and pleaded to let them go on so I got a few more dollars and got tickets for them. They rode it three times in a row and the last time they got on, they told the ride operator that they loved the ride and thanked her for helping them. She was so impressed that when the ride was over, she asked if they could go again. I answered with ‘They are out of tickets’ and she said that’s not what I asked. I said ‘Yes, they can go again.’ She asked them if they wanted to go again and of course they said yes. She loaded them up and then let the line (which appeared while we were talking cause no one was in line when the ride ended) of kids enter. After the ride, the boys gave her a big hug and told her thank you again. She commented that they were such well behaved kids and waved bye to us.
We made our way back through the midway but Drama King started slowing down so Tim picked him up. He noticed that his legs were a little shaky and that he appeared to be dizzy from the last ride so Drama King rode on Tim’s shoulders to the entrance (and exit) gate. Of course, Little T couldn’t let Drama King get away with a free “ride” so he asked if he could ride. We switched kids out after we walked though the gate and Tim carried Little T to the van. As we left, the boys drifted in and out of sleepiness. They were completely out by the time we got home but that didn’t last long.
