A Veritable Smorgasbord!

Last Friday, we decided that we wanted to be like Templeton, the rat, in Charlotte's Web, and go to the fair. We hadn't been in several years and the admission on opening day was only $1, so, off we went.

We stopped by MCC to pick Richard up to go on our adventure with us and then got on the freeway to head to the fair. On the freeway, there were signs saying that there was a wreck in the tunnel at 7th Street and that traffic was backed up. Paige and Kaylee were a little worried because they like that tunnel and one of their favorite things to do is see if they can hold their breath during the whole time we are driving through the tunnel. How were they going to be able to do this if there was traffic and it was going to take us longer than usual? They might not be able to hold their breath the whole time and worse, if they did hold their breath the whole time and passed out they would miss the fair. What a dilemma! I am sad/happy to report that they were not able to hold their breath the whole time, but once they realized it was futile they did begin to breathe again so that they would live and be able to see the fair. I bet you were worried for a minute about how this tragedy would turn out, weren't you?

Meagan couldn't go because she is still having this much fun everyday at school. We miss you Meg, but boy, does it look fun!

Allie couldn't go because she was whistling her way to work. Ya, right.

Matt couldn't go because he was camping with the Boy Scouts. It was a survival camp out. They weren't allowed to take a tent, sleeping bag, or extra clothes AND.......

The only food they were going to eat while they were gone for 3 days and 2 nights was any squirrels that they managed to kill. YUCK! I'm not exactly sure yet if this was their idea of big fun or if our Ward is just out of budget money for the year, but Matt went and just like Paige and Kaylee's perilous tunnel experience, he SURVIVED. Yeah, Matt!

So, if you haven't figured it out already, the fair was experienced by Richard, me, Sarah, Paige and Kaylee. We love fresh squeezed lemonade, but we passed on the deep fried Oreos.

The caramel apples looked fabulous, but at $4.50 a piece we decided we have to take the time and make some at home this month.

Regardless of the price, we did have to indulge in a snow cone. You know how the Cluff's love snow cones, except for Paige, of course.

Sarah thought these big pickles were one of the better food options at the fair. Scrumptious!

This picture is for you Aunt Debbie. We endured a presentation about healthy cooking with pans that don't require any water. The only problem was that once we saw how much they wanted for the pans we realized that we wouldn't have any money left over to buy anything to put in them, so we had to pass up that opportunity. There was a sign at the demonstration that read any unattended children will receive a free kitten. You can't imagine how wildly excited that made Paige and Kaylee and they tried to get us to leave them.

This picture is for Uncle Don. Did you know that your pal, Zig Ziglar, began his career selling cookware? This may go down in history as the silliest quote ever. We did get two free knives for our attentiveness to the presentation, so it wasn't all bad.

Next we decided to look at some of the animals. Standing next to this big fan was a refreshing change from the triple digits that were happening outside.

Paige and Kaylee loved the animals. They were very disappointed when they found some beautiful rabbits for sale for $20 and Richard told them that we couldn't have them because we are practically running a farm at our house right now and rabbits would eat all of our trees and plants. They really felt that trees and plants were a small sacrifice in order to have a pet as wonderful as a rabbit, but Richard prevailed in the end.

Luckily for us, this llama was not for sale.

Neither was this cute kangaroo.

We actually considered buying this animal, but sadly, it cost more than $20.

Nobody really wanted the sheep.

These pigs were interesting. No offense, Uncle Robert, but the white pig on the right reminded us of you. He just kept biting and pestering the other pigs trying to get them to get up and play with him. Even you can't deny that you have a similar personality.

Nobody in the family was willing to drink goat's milk, so we had to pass on the goat.

In the end, we decided just to have fun with the animals at the fair, but not to take any of them home. I think that was a good decision.

Kaylee tried her hand at milking a cow.

We didn't spend any money on weird exhibits, but we sure did google them when we got home. This is the world's biggest horse. Amazing!

This is the world's tiniest horse.

And we think this has got to be a digital hoax. This is the world's longest horse. Weird! It's like a horse limousine. That would be a fantastic way to arrive at the prom. We had lots of fun and I think we definitely got our money's worth at the fair this year.