Ending the Summer with the State Fair

The last fair of the year....and the biggest! We missed Smokey Bear (ahem, Smokey, we talked you up a lot, and you weren't around....what gives, man?!?!) We had to scarf our overpriced dinner while standing/kneeling in the grass and blazing sunlight. Oh well. Then it was on to the rides! Wow, you can blow through $50 too fast....

 

First stop, the Flying Tigers. Because they know all about those from Lane county.

Then onto one of the kiddie roller coasters. Miri was not a happy kid...we were afraid they were going to have to stop the ride. Those shrieks were pretty bad.

Glad to get off the danged thing. (And to think she later insisted on going on the HUGE swing ride that takes people way up in the air! We told her you have to be 25 years old and weigh about 225 lbs to do that ride. From the other people there, that would seem to be the requirements.)

The canoes were a smart next stop to calm the nerves.

And then we took in a new ride, fashioned something like a hot air balloon.

For her "solo" ride (they each got one), Miri picked the cars that were hooked together like a train. She wanted to be in front. And boy, was she happy on this one!

It was sort of a rough start due to operator error (it's not good PR for them to shout out, "But I never got trained on this one!!"...). Miri was big smiles all through it.

She worked really hard to keep that car right on its track. Uh-huh....yeah....

Before we left, we promised to visit the face painters. These were the real deal! Stage-worthy, for sure. Of course, Aleaha's pick was to be black and purple, her favorite colors.

Cute? Maybe slightly freaky? Lookout Circque du Soleil.

Miri wanted a zebra. She even told the man, "like the shirt of dat wady dere" (the lady in line behind us). I think she thought her face would be painted in a sort of an all-over zebra-camo.

What she got was an actual zebra on her cheek. Not terrible, but not quite what she envisioned. (And what zebra has a tail like that?) Still cute though.

Pics with Daddy made everyone smile.

Cuties!

Our First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

It's been a long wait for Aleaha to lose her first tooth. In the end, she chose needlenose pliers to help it along. She was truly quite brave, but then she broke down a bit over it actually being out. Maybe the anticipation was more fun than the result. In any case, the Tooth Fairy visited last night, and she's thought of a hundred things to do with that dollar bill.

It was a veritable lifetime wait for her to reach this milestone, but a short time for us as parents, of course. We still remember our toothless grinner baby.

Polk Co. and Lane Co. Fairs

We were fortunate to carve out time to hit the Polk County fair and Lane County fair. These kiddos never tire of the rides, the food, and even the checking out of the chickens and rabbits and sheep and all other critters. (Yes, fellow parents, the Fun Fund is about broke by now!)

Riding the ladybugs makes Miri smile...

...but it's a little pedestrian for Aleaha. (We have concluded that, after several carnivals this summer and seeing that same expression, even when she is loving a ride, this is her game face.)

An opportunistic shot of a full mouth of teeth....we are expecting she'll start losing them any day now. One is gross-me-out wiggly.

The Lane Co fair had some new and awesome rides. The helicopter was fun (terrible shots, I know).

And the carousel.

(This is what most of my shots from that night look like! UGH!!)

There was a cool Flying Sharks (or Tigers or something like that) ride, which went slowly on the straight stretch and whipped the kids around the corners. Yikes - Parents were scared, but the kids loved it.

Mommy spied a canoe ride that just might make Aleaha smile. At the beginning, she gripped the boat tightly.

But she did eventually crack that smile.

We all downed some yummy ice cream confections before driving home.

Can't resist a crazy cat pic. The Juicer sleeps on this pony (in our livingroom) each day. He often burries his face into the pony's mane. Miri and Aleaha have made us promise we will keep the pony, past when they can't use it anymore, "because the cat needs it!"

Benton Co. Fair

It was finally time for our fair. Read: time to spend too much money on pony rides, carnival rides, and fair fare. To their credit, our fair organizers did have a better rides for the kiddie set this year.

Gotta put hard-earned money onto the overused, tired ponies. It's bad enough to calculate the cost per ride of our own horses, but these really hurt the wallet. But hey, it's once a year, and I griped about them not having ponies last year, so you better believe your bank account I shelled out too much for some rides this year.

The girls got to pick their rides, and they both wanted to ride the big green dragon rollercoaster together.

Miri had fun, but had quite a grip on that safety bar. Um, more on this later....

The spaceship was popular. Yes, they have seen Star Wars. (And yes, they think Princess Leia is one helluva fighter-girl.) 

The carousel never fails to make them happy.

For the big slide, Miri hooked up with one of Aleaha's friends from Muddy Creek, who helped her down. So very nice!

Went back the next day, and of course hit the ponies, and...

...the carousel...

and the spaceship. However, they agreed to swap positions. Not so cool in the end, because Miri didn't know how to make it "go up in the air". So they rode it Skywalker-on-Tatooine-style (4 inches off the ground).

That second day, Miri insisted she wanted to use one of her tickets to ride on that green dragon again, but Aleaha didn't want to. So Miri rode it with some other little girl (not Aleaha). It didn't go well. She was panicked. The other girl was not so thrilled to have a little scared girl next to her.

They got their faces painted, which was a big deal. You can't tell they were happy - what's up with that?

Putting on a Show

We were treated to some after-dinner entertainment the other evening, with the girls dancing and doing some fancy bike-riding on the back deck. They had even done a rehearsal for a few nights. It was quite a show.

There was a lot of action on stage....

A few near misses....

Some trick riding...

(no hands)

Lots of interpretive dance...

A little drama (what? with her? nooo!!!).... 

A big combo for the finale...

And a bow.

Helping with Hay

We need to put up a lot of hay in the barn each year to feed our critters. Summer is the season when we are working hard to bring it home, stack it, and ensure it's preserved for the whole next year.

Miri and Aleaha like move the last bale. These bales average 125 pounds each, so it takes a bit of work to move them.

Afterwards, Aleaha was in a funk, and Miri was purposely copycatting her (which drives her crazy, of course).