Pima County Fair

Last Monday Jake came home from work a little early and we headed out to the fair. The girls were so excited about it. They enjoyed the rides (except for the snake roller coaster, which Annie declared much too scary). We got some action shots on the rides. Annie was so excited to ride in the car.

 

I got to be the "supervising companion" on several rides. I even got a sticker. 

 

 

This one was kind of a boring fun house, but Rachel liked it well enough.

 

 

The spinning dragons, much like the spinning teacups were a hit. This was Rachel's favorite ride two years ago when Aunt Cari came with us. The girls had fun. I was wishing Aunt Cari was here to ride some of the rides with them. :) (On the ride home we mentioned something about Cari coming last time and the awesome fun of the afternoon was quickly forgotten as Rachel broke down crying "I miss Aunt Cari!" Oops. Lesson learned: Don't mention Cari EVER unless we will see her within the next day or two.)

Annie waved at our fans sitting on the sidelines (Grandma Knight, Ryan and Jacob). Ryan waved back. He's communicating more and more all the time, with sign a little, though we haven't taught him near as much as we taught Rachel, or even Annie, but with words, too.

 

The petting zoo was a huge hit, as always. You'd think that Ryan might be afraid of the animals that were almost all bigger than him. You'd be wrong. He LOVED it. He kept saying "dah dah!" (dog dog). 

 

Ryan loved this pig. He kept trying to bend over to see it's face.

 Yes, Ryan loved this place, except for the one time a rude goat knocked him over.

 Luckily that pig was still close by, so he cheered right back up.

After a bit of searching we found the traditional favorite, the carousel. Last time Annie rode on a big carousel like this the horses going up and down freaked her out. So we pointed out one that didn't move, or said she could sit on the bench. She opted for the bench. Happily waiting:

 We were among the first ones on, so we had to wait a long time. Too long.

 By the time the ride started moving Annie changed her mind and wanted to ride a horse. But I had Ryan and her on the bench, and couldn't muscle two kids to standing while it was moving, so I wrestled with a crying, wiggling, strong little girl the whole time. She finally settled down when I told her we would ride it again and she could ride a horse. Which turned out to be a lie. Instead we got cotton candy and Annie nearly fell asleep riding in Ryan's stroller while waiting for one last ride.

 We successfully wore everyone out and had a good time doing it. Glad the fair only comes once a year. :) And next year, Cari, you'd better come down. ;)