We started off with a whirlwind of a weekend--we had lots of fun to pack into 2 days! On Saturday we visited the Ohio State Fair. Neither Josh or I had been so we had no idea what to expect. Both of us have been to local county fairs but this didn't compare!
Rory's preschool had been discussing the fair for the past couple weeks--he would come home talking about animals, the ferris wheel and lemon shake ups. He really connected with what they did at school-we've made shake ups once before we even got to the fair and I just picked up a bag of lemons at the grocery tonight. I guess lemon shake-ups are better than some other drinks he could be asking for.
There were so many things to see...trains, local bees and honey. a guy willingly entering a tent full of bees to wear a bee beard, and more food booths than I thought possible! If you've never had a deep fried buckeye I highly recommend it--I will probably not order them again because they were super rich but eating at least one in your lifetime is worth the gazillion calories.
There were many rides but most had a height requirement. Rory had anxiously awaited riding the ferris wheel and I told him we would because I had no idea he might be too small. The first we saw was almost a double and he was too short for that. My heart just sunk because we don't have a great history with riding things that we thought we'd be able too...low and behold across the lot was another family friendly and even taller ferris wheel! Hooray! It cost 4 of us $12 to ride...thanks Papa!
Rory wasn't a bit nervous about getting on and he stayed sitting the whole time. The only hint of maybe being scared happened when we were almost at the top waiting for other people to board. There were no seat belts so I put my arm across his lap--I snapped a quick picture of the city and in that second he grabbed my arm and put it back across his lap. He enjoyed it and keeps telling people that we rode the "roundabout." Our area is notorious for taking out stop lights and putting in roundabouts so I thought it was hilarious that he made that connection.
We could not pass up seeing a life size cow and calf made of pure butter! Yum! It was very pretty and strangely life like. The display said it took over 500 man hours to make--I hope someone gets to eat it after all that hard work. I wonder how I could volunteer for that!? We also bought ice cream and enjoyed a nice treat to cool down!
We walked through the pig and cow barns--we even saw little piglets! They are cute when they are that little. It made me appreciate bacon even more. :)
A few hours after we had been there we finally saw the lemon shake-up booth! I must say they were quite refreshing and Rory enjoyed it!
One of the main reasons we went to the fair was because of the musical act that night, Hillsong United. I love them-they are one of my favorite praise and worship bands. Our church sings quite a few of their songs on Sunday so it was wonderful to hear them live. It was also Rory's first concert--he was unsure of the darkness/noise combination. He kept asking when the lights would come back on and if the band was all done.
I'm not sure why I only have one picture of our Sunday activity but we went to the Irish Festival. Josh's grandmother immigrated from Dublin, Ireland with her parents when she was a toddler so it's fun to immerse ourselves in all things Irish for at least a day.
Our church does a service there on Sunday mornings so we went for that and hung around to watch Irish dancing and the Columbus Police & Fire Pipes & Drums. To say that Rory loved the pipes & drums would be an understatement. After each song, he would ask if they were going to play more. He sat for the entire 20 minutes without a peep, other than making sure they would keep playing! This kid loves the drums--we had to purchase a CD to keep the music going! I see a drum set in our future.
I think next year we will split these activities into two separate weekends because we were all exhausted by Sunday night--I feel like I'm still trying to recover!
