State Fair...Wow!

Last night, Scott and I took Ryann on our annual trip to the AZ State Fair. We started going the first year we were married because I wanted to see what a fair was like in AZ. That first year, we got a caricature done. The next year, we went again and had another drawing done. It sort of became a tradition. Last year, we had Ryann drawn, rather than us again. Those drawings are the primary artwork in our bedroom. So, this year, we headed there again.

We went Friday night rather than our usual Saturday morning in an effort to get $5 admission. However, we had to pay $12 to park so it was a wash. At any rate, we set out to do all the usual things, eat junk, see animals, watch carnies, etc. We took Ryann to see the animals in the agriculture areas. She talked a little turkey in the fowl area but her interest seemed to be lacking. We took her to the kiddie farm play area. She liked running through the "corn" maize but that was it.

When we left there, I discovered that she has gotten much better at walking while holding my hand. She used to jerk her hand away every time but she stayed with me enough to walk for a while. We walked to the elephant rides. She loved the elephants. She watched carefully as they walked by and reached her hand out to them. She was yelling something to them but I don't understand a lot of what she says. :0)

The highlight of the evening, aside from the funnel cake, was the figure 8 races. We went up into the grandstand with all of the die hard fans. It was actually quite entertaining. They are like demolition derby cars but they are racing in a figure 8 shape. They have to criss-cross and they crash into each other sometimes. I wasn't sure if Ryann would like the loud noise. When the races began, she wanted me to hold her but she was very interested. She even clapped and yelled a bit as she observed the people around her doing the same. It was an interesting change of pace.

We left around 9, 2 hours past her bedtime. She was good all night, but we were sure she'd sleep as soon as we got in the car. Nope. She goofed around in the car the whole way home. Then, she went right to bed. I thought she did very well for such a busy outing. Scott and I were beat, though.

The only thing lacking from our trip was the caricature. We decided to wait until next year to get another. Now our collection will have a missing year. Oh well.