2010 State Fair Recap

The fair is a veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord, after the gates are shut...

This year's visit to the fair was a quick one. We didn't want to throw Mari off of her schedule too much  and we didn't want to spend too much money. My total budget was $100. Off the bat, parking cost $10, so that left $90 remaining. We walked in and discovered this is the final year that Mari is "free." I scored a free ticket from my BFF and Don has his teacher ticket.

We headed straight to the coupon counter, where I purchased $75 worth of tickets. I figured $20 per person for food and $15 for rides. Mari has been a big fan of rides lately and I wasn't sure how many rides would require that I ride with her. It was 5 ticket ride night, so I figured she could ride almost as much as she wanted without breaking the bank. Also, when we went to visit the Midway, I bought a $5 players card. There was one duck game that Hayden and Mari could play and it was 2 chances for $5. That meant they each had the chance to pull one duck out of the pool and win a prize. Hayden picked a lion, I think, and Mari won a large, which was a pink plush duck. By the way, the Midway was so crowded. It was definitely filled with all sorts of people watching, that's for sure. I saw a woman in a hover 'round pulling an ice chest that was strapped to it with a bungee cord. I also saw another guy in a motorized wheelchair pulling his buddy in a regular wheelchair. I have no idea how they maneuvered around the Midway!

I also bought a tiny cup of food for the animals at the petting zoo for $1. The pigs are her favorite and I avoided getting pecked in the head by the ostrich. We saw a baby zebra, pet the overly-domesticated goats, and just watched them run around and hop on top of the wooden stumps. I like the petting zoo!

We ate:

• 3 corn dogs
• 1 fried banana pudding
• 2 waters
• 3 pineapple whips

Mari was tall enough for us to ride the slide together!!!!! I was so excited about it last year that you can't begin to know my disappointment when I learned she wasn't tall enough. Anyway, she was more than tall enough this year. Lucky for me, my BFF was able to ride with us too! She carried the mat for me while I carried Mari up. About halfway, I was totally getting weak-kneed, but I pressed on. This was gonna be good! She snuggled in and I could feel her tiny heart racing. Once we got started, she was laughing up a storm. I was laughing, and just held on to her tightly. At one point I thought we were going too fast and I slowed us down, to which Mari gleefully hollered, "faster! faster!"

This is a closer view of my smiling and Mari's excitement for riding the slide.

After this, Mari and I did a pirate fun house, which was actually a little scary for me, especially trying to climb and walk on the rope bridge. Later, she rode 4 rides solo.

At the end of the night, we had $19.50 in tickets remaining. Luckily, Primo was headed there the next day, so we gave them to him. (In turn, he cooked us up something yummy, so I think we ended up ahead!)

Despite being overly crowded, I had a great time. There were a few sights I didn't get to see, but it was just great being there with my family and friends. If you subtract my over estimation of tickets, we ended up under budget. I sincerely believed I was going to eat more, especially being pregnant, but nope. Just didn't happen.

Anyway, great stuff and I hope you all enjoyed the fair if you were able to go and if you haven't been before,  I strongly encourage you to make it a priority next year! :D