Pima County Fair

We have been excited to attend the Pima County Fair since the beginning of March. I have been talking to the kids about the animals and rides and food. They were getting more and more excited as the day approached. When we woke up in the morning Julia looked outside and came running to me screaming "Fair Day is ruined!! It's raining. Now we'll NEVER get to the fair!" Melodrama aside we did make it to the fair, though it was in the low 50's the whole afternoon.

We started out in the 4-H area and when Julia was asked what kind of animal she wanted to see, she said, "giraffe". Much to her disappointment, Tucson 4-H does not include giraffes in their program (though someone should inform them they should). So we had to settle for the run of the mill farm animals.

Noah had the "cheap seats" and got to see very little of the fair but stayed warm and snugly none the less!
Elliot made friends with an alpaca....

...and I'm not sure how old these piglets were but they sure were cute!

There were lots of rides to be ridden! Julia was ready to ride them all. Liam was not at all interested in riding anything. After all it took him a year to be willing to get on the trampoline at Chrissy's house, so we were not about to push it.

Liam was interested in riding on the "monster trucks" and actually got on them, but then quickly changed his mind and I had to get take him off again...maybe next year.

What I was the most amazed with was Julia saw this log ride and was SUPER excited to go on it. I was wary and was afraid she was going to get scared once she got on it, but she and her cousin Griffin had a blast.

She then had to tell me all about it. "It was kind of scary, but I was brave."



There was a slight mishap with the fun house. The conveyor belt floor gave Julia a little trouble. Though Griffin and Morgan were to the rescue!!

Then it was time for ICE CREAM (even thought by this time it was in the high 40's and Julia was still damp from the log ride)

Liam was just a little cold!

In order to thaw the kids out we went to an indoor area that had a train exhibit. Elliot was infatuated with the train and kept chasing it around.



Julia and Liam were even able to play engineer.


We finally we were able to find something that was a little more Liam's speed. He had a great time playing with the train sets.

Opposite the trains there was a place where you could practice your roping skills. Julia, Zachary, and Sydney tried their hand.







There was a sandbox where the kids could practice panning for gold.

Miraculously Paige and Elliot were able to play together without Elliot throwing Paige to the floor...though to be fair, I was not the one supervising, so it very well could have happened, we just didn't get pictures of it.





The best part of the indoor area was Farmer Brown's Farm. The kids were given a list with pictures and they went from area to area gathering eggs, picking fruit and vegetables, and even milking a cow. Once they got everything on the list they were given a yellow ribbon.

Liam was so excited to ride on the tractor!

And like all good things the evening had to come to an end, and in true Muckey children fashion, Liam launched a protest. But don't think he was the only one kicking up a fuss. Julia was somewhere behind me screaming about how she "DIDN'T WAAAAAAANT TO GO HOOOOOOME!!!!"




Once we were all safe and snug in the car we were pretty sure the temperature had plunged somewhere near the sub zero range so we ran by Starbucks and got some hot chocolate. Overall, it was a successful trip to the fair! And everyone slept great that night...'cept Noah who woke up every few hours to remind me that he didn't get so see that much at the fair and the only thing that could possibly make him feel better was a snack.