Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme...

Perhaps fairs of the middles ages, like the Scarborough fair made famous in the song, carried wonderful herbs but at today's fairs it seems you're much more likely to find candy apples, corn dogs, cotton candy, and some strange deep-fried items like fried avocadoes or banana splits. That may not be such a bad thing....especially the corn dog. I try to eat well but once in a while those corn dogs just call my name. :)

Tuesday evening, we made our annual trek to the California State Fair in Sacramento. We decided to go at that particular time in an attempt to avoid the crowds and the heat. It was kids' night and the whole family got in free (military) and rides were only $1. The crowds were minimal and although it was still quite warm when we arrived, there was a very nice breeze that cooled everything off. It was a wonderful evening and Jacob got to take his first ferris wheel ride.

He wasn't very impressed.

Doug took the girls on any ride that had anything to do with spinning. The girls definitely take after their Daddy in this respect, they could spin happily all day with no ill effects. I, on the other hand would have been violently ill. Just can't do it anymore.


I got to take the girls on the scary ride (which by the way was not at all scary but they sure thought it was. They grabbed on tight and screamed like...ahem..little girls ;) I got a kick out of the little boy sitting in front of us. He smiled for our picture and then proceeded to give the girls a "heads-up" about what to expect on the ride. He repeatedly assured them it wasn't "that" scary.
In addition to the rides, there's always a lot to see and do at the fair.

Of course, there's the requisite junk or treasure...depending on how you look at it.



There are fun fair stunts.

Lauren's absolute favorite was the motorcyclist doing a little freestyle. She's been talking about him non-stop and thinks he was "totally cool"! Oh my, do we see a motorcycle in her future??!



There are always fun colors and shapes....



..and like I mentioned earlier, there's often fun food to eat. The girls got to try cotton candy for the very first time. In the beginning reactions were mixed but everyone soon came around to declare it the 8th wonder of the world. The bag disappeared quickly after that.




Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. Fat-fat (aka Jacob), normally our happy fellow, decided he'd had enough. In his defense, he had gotten two shots a few hours prior and probably wasn't feeling the greatest...poor planning on Mommy's part. He was only sad for a minute and then went back to checking out all the sights and sounds. You can still tell from his eyes that he's not 100%.

One of my favorite sights definitely had to be his sweet little foot poking out of his stroller. I wouldn't mind munching on that for a bit. Move over cotton candy...you ain't got nothing on baby feet! :)