Evergreen State Fair

I am a big fan of the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe.  Everything about it is low-key: parking, easy; price, buy an adult ticket get on free; no crazy crowds; animals and tractors; that's about all we need out of a fair.  We loaded up grandma's van with Auntie Bonnie, cousin Paije, Auntie Karrie, Tate, Blake, me and grandma.

Our first stop when we got there is always the tractors.  They had a big display of farm equipment and Tate wanted to get on all of them. 

 Blake absolutely loved all the animals.  That's the main reason we like to go! 

 When we were checking out the pigs, I looked up and couldn't find Tate.  Where'd he go?  We found him at the entrance of the "swine" area where there was a bubble maker going.  Oh, how my boys love the bubbles!  Paije, Blake and Tate had a fun time trying to catch all the bubbles.

 This boy in with the sheep knew everything there was to know about them.  He was telling us how the sheep don't eat the hay that is in the cage, but the food gets hidden under the hay and so they sniff around trying to find the food-which looks a lot like wheat stalks.  Tate thought if that boy could be in there, then he should be able to also.  Tried to explain to him why that wasn't okay this time.

 Speaking of wanting to be close to the animals.  Blake's favorite animals were the beef cattle.  He loved the Scottish breed which big horns and shaggy fur.  He ran up and down the isles with his hands waving and making happy noises.  You couldn't pet the grown cows, but there was a calf that they said the boys could pet.  It was pretty cute.  Just their size.

Blake plopped himself down and made himself at home next to that calf.  That presented some problems when we got up to go, Blake kept wanting to run up to all the cows again.  It was a big game of chase for me.

 Farmer Tate!  He got to be a farmer and pick an apple from a tree, get eggs from under the hens, I think dig some potatoes and all that fun stuff.  Tate loved it-he loves going grocery shopping:)

 With kids it never seems you can see everything fast enough before they are falling a part or falling asleep.  Our trip to the fair didn't last that long, but I was okay with that.  I've lowered my expectations these days for these kinds of things.  As long as the kids were happy and saw what they needed to see, and I got some "fair food," we could go home.

*A note about the shoes:  I would never put my little boy in such sparkly, pink shoes unless there was no other option.  We had come up to my mom's before heading out to the fair and while playing outside, Blake lost a crock.  We looked and looked and couldn't find it.  I did not have any back-up shoes.  Luckily, cousin Paije did:)  They were a perfect fit!  I think we got a look of interesting stares while at the fair-oh well, bare feet weren't going to cut it this time.

Tate was really nice and wanted to push Blake while he slept.  Blake's head kept flopping over, so Tate would stop and gently lift his head up (he had to do that over and over).  We passed one guy who said I needed some duct tape.  Something like that would have been helpful.