State Fair

Giant slides, cows, tractors, veggie racing, popcorn, superb milk, horse pulls, did I mention tractors?... all were part of Jonah's first State Fair experience on Sunday. Our friends, Kristin and Ryan, joined us for the experience.

We thought we were getting there early enough for a Sunday morning by getting there around the time the gates opened, but we were mistaken and ended up finding some (free) street parking about six blocks from the fair grounds. We brought Jonah's wagon, but mostly for the purpose of hauling water and bags because Jonah usually likes to walk.

I had been talking up the Giant Slide with Jonah prior to going to the fair because it was something I remembered fondly from our trips to the Barnstable County Fair when I was little (though I think it was called something else), and I was pretty sure we could ride it together.

Jonah was excited from the second he saw it. With each step up the stairs, his anticipation grew. He watched the other riders with great interest. We turned our hats around for better aerodynamics, got seated, and away we went! The entire way down, he shouted "WEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Here are some pictures. You can see nearly the entire trip down in our photo album.

Jonah was very excited from the moment he saw the slide!

...and we're off! "WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

"Is it over already?? Again! AGAIN!!"

Jonah didn't want to look at Mommy... he wanted to figure out how to go back up!

Ryan took part in a fitness thing to jump rope for a full minute and really impressed us. Unfortunately, he only went for 30 seconds because he thought he had gone the full minute already.

After this, we made our way to the cattle barn to check out the cows. Jonah got to see the different kinds of cows and talked about the different colors with Mommy. He got to see some being fed and even one getting a bath.

Cows!

Moo.

Agriculture is an important part of the fair.

Insert corny caption here.

Alas, his zucchini with the sunglasses didn't win the race, but he had fun!

And then we got back to livestock, checking out some sheep judging, and then Michelle, Jonah, and Kristin watched the cow milking demonstration while Ryan and I picked up some milk from Herb's Superb Milk House (only 25 cents a cup!). Unfortunately, the line was so long that we missed the milking demo, but we did get our milk fix!

"Yummy!" (banana flavored)

"Oh wow! That's good stuff!" (cherry vanilla flavored)

Then on to the Coliseum to take in some horse pulling before getting lunch. We were intrigued by the setup with a truck that the horses pull. It appeared that before they pulled the car, they lifted so much weight. They then had to pull the truck so far.

We think The "Horsepulling Dynamometer" is an old Ford International. Thanks, Grandpa G.! would know...

2700 and 2900 didn't seem to be an issue for the horses, but when they got to 3100, the eliminations really started.

We took a little break to take in some lunch. The crowds got to be a bit too much, though. It was impossible to move and no longer any fun, so after a pass through the nature park, where Jonah got to sit on an old International T-6, we opted to leave.

Jonah and Mommy after running through a fountain to cool down.

Jonah didn't want to get off, especially after waiting forever for another kid to finish his turn before he could get on.