A few weeks ago our county's fair was held in our town.  It has become our substitute for going to the State Fair, which some would probably argue has no substitute.  But, for us, it's the perfect mix of rides, games, food, animals, and wandering around.  Plus, it's not very crowded and takes less than five minutes to get there.

First on the agenda for the kids were the rides.  They started out on the spinning strawberry ride where they whipped themselves around until I felt sick just watching from the sidelines.  It was on this ride where we met the NICEST CARNEY ever.  Not the usual no-teeth and chain-smoking carney of fairs past, this guy was friendly and funny and made sure that the kids were safely tucked into the strawberry.  Sort of made me want to hang out there at the berry all day.  And maybe give the guy an award or a hug.


They went on the bee ride after having a snack.  You can easily tell that they'd had a treat from Sophie's blue-toned lips - the kind of blue that only comes from Blue Raspberry Sno Cones.


They loved the bee ride, and I'm pretty sure that Sophie liked having blue lips, too.


We met up with their friend Kayden and went on a few more rides.


I had to go on this one because Sophie was just under the height required to ride without an adult.  It wasn't too bad, but I spent almost the entire ride trying to time my "look at daddy!" command so that the kids would turn to look at him in time for a photo.  Mostly Marty got a lot of pictures of me smiling at him while the kids rode on.  The kids ignored me and just enjoyed the ride, which is for the best.


And I got to hang out with Marty as we wandered around the fair watching the kids on the rides and helping them win prizes.


It was short and sweet, and for this summer, the perfect kind of fair.  Blue lips and all.