State Fair

We took the kids to the NC State Fair this week. When I was younger, my parents took me and my brothers to the fair by train. We decided that we would do the same with our kids!

We got on the train in High Point at about 8:15 and then arrived in Raleigh around 10:15. The kids were so excited to get to ride on the train.

When we got there, we first went to see a Chinese Acrobat show. We watched them juggle all kinds of different things and contort in ways the body shouldn't move and other impressive feats. The last act was a woman juggling a table. .  with her feet!

After that, we got a snack and drink and then decided to go ride some rides. Lucy was so excited to ride the Cliff Hanger ride.

After that, we went to find the fun slide. The kids liked that so much that we rode it twice!

When we started looking around at the kids rides, the boys were about 2 inches shorter than necessary to ride by themselves. They could, of course, ride with a parent, but then both parent and kid have to pay. So, we looked around and found which rides we could ride.

After we did some rides, we went to get some lunch of chicken on a stick and then went to go find some animals. They had these cute "selfie stations" set up around the fair so you could get a nice picture.

We went to the "animal ark" and saw chickens, cows, and sheep. When we saw the sheep, Alex decided to try and talk to them. This picture cracks me up because it looks like they're actually having a conversation!

Lucy decided she wanted to try to milk a cow. She was able to milk the cow, but said she hasn't changed her mind about career choices. I guess we won't have any dairy farmers from our house.

Here's a video of Lucy's milking experience:

After seeing the animals, we saw lots of giant pumpkins, watermelons and other fruits and vegetables.

After that, we went back to use the rest of our ride tickets before we had to get back on the train.

Our train was delayed, so we killed a little bit of time and went to watch "The Magic Bean" show. Alex got to be one of the participants, which he LOVED. He will tell you that was one of the best things he got to do that day.

A video of Alex on stage:

When we were leaving the show, we passed by a mural where kids could color. At first, the boys weren't interested, but I think once they started they spent a solid five minutes coloring!

We rode a few more rides to finish off our tickets.. . .

We then went and had some dinner since our train was going to be late in getting us home. The boys had gotten cotton candy and so we got Lucy a fried chocolate pie. It must have been good because she ate it all!

We finally got back on the train around 7:00 and then rode back to High Point. When we got home around 10:00, the kids were asleep and the boys didn't even know how they ended up in their beds the next morning. Lucy was very tired the next morning going to school but she made it through. Even though it was a busy, long day, it was lots of fun that the kids have been talking about out all week. :)