County Fair Time! (Then More Boating)

 Wahoo!  It's county fair time, once again.   In my youth, I lived for the fairs.  After all, I had show cattle and I worked my tail off all year for the fairs and other shows.   The fair has a different meaning to me now that I am no longer in agriculture.  I still appreciate all of the hard work the 4-H kids put in.  But now, it's more of a family affair of goofing around for a day than anything else.

The first stop was to find the bouncy castles and the kids' area.  At noon, the bouncy castles weren't up yet, so we went to the petting zoo.   Eric and I agreed that we were [oddly] more enthused about this than Ramsey was.   But, Ramsey did make a few new little friends, like Little Mr. Goat here.  

I was surprised at how many loose goats there were inside the gate.  Literally, they were everywhere - dozens of them!   And, there was this little pigmy goat that found it cute to use Mr. Tortoise as a step stool.   Sidenote:  This black and white fella looked just like the two funny little goats that we had when I was in high school (except ours were chubby).

We came across a little Scottish Highland calf.  He was pooped out and probably ridiculously hot under all of the long hair, so he didn't get up.  Oh, how I wanted to take him home with me!

Surprisingly, there were also porcupines, what I suspect were patagoanian maras/marsh rabbits (like a rabbit, only shorter ears), and this guy... a sweet kangaroo (who had no interest in meeting us or giving us a good glimpse of its face).

The bouncy castles still weren't inflated yet, so we checked out some exhibits on the way.   We stopped at a place that sold generators and spas.  Ramsey... wants... a hot tub/spa.  He actually said (later) that looking at the spas was like the best part about the day.    We HAVE been looking....  😉  (Maybe next year.)

Then, what's a county fair without some grub?  I ate my usual yearly corndog (yum!), even though there were clearly more creative things I could try.  Eric had been trying to convince Ramsey to try Dippin' Dots for the last few years (to no avail).  This year, he bucked up (not sure how trying a new form of ice cream is "bucking up" really) and had a few bites.  He was HOOKED.  Dippin' Dots was also on the top of his "favorites" for the day.  On our way out of the fair, Ramsey and I actually ordered more. Why not?!

Then, into the Expo Building to visit the Game Fish & Parks local-area species fish tank.

The tank was filled with all the native fish; crappies, carp, large mouth bass, small mouth bass, white bass, northern pike, walleye, bluegill, perch... and a cute little turtle (which is why Ramsey's head is turned sideways in this picture).  The little boy next to him was obsessed with the turtle! 

I don't recall seeing a catfish.  

And, Eric said that all of the bluegill family fish were just bluegill; there were no pumpkin seeds or sunfish.

We started walking through the Expo more, but Eric got cornered by a salesman.  Ramsey and I bolted.  Eric wasn't amused. 🤣    We walked through a few animals in the Expo barn and then went to the Big Tent.  Here, they had a hypnotist comedian.  

We saw military vehicles close by, so we went to check those out instead of being put in a trance.

Ramsey found this missle carrier to be quite impressive.

As we were looking around, an Army soldier came by to talk to us.  He saw Ramsey's interest and had keys to the inside of the vehicles.

He let Ramsey climb inside the missle carrier and the military fire engine.

Another favorite for Ramsey today!

After this, we met up with our friends Jonah and his his son Charlie.  Ride time!

Last year, he hated the caterpillar roller coaster (in previous years, he loved it!).  This year, he tucked his head down and didn't look up.  Needless to say, no arms in the air this trip.

Off to the mechanical swing.  It didn't look scary and we saw lots of little girls laughing their butts off during the previous ride.  Easy enough, right?

Ya, not so much.  After the ride started, Ramsey's face was distorted and he freaked out.  He hated this ride!

From a parent's perspective, it was a little bit funny.  Then... also a little bit uneasy.  I didn't take any pictures of when he was really freaked out!  

Next, off to The Speedway!  Again on this one, at first Ramsey had his head down and wouldn't look up.  

After he stopped the ostrich act and looked up, he enjoyed the ride and laughed his butt off!

Ramsey and Charlie went on this ride five times!  This one ride nearly paid for the day pass wristband.

After the Speedway, off to the 4-wheelers.  Their horns/buzzer didn't work, so they were a bit miffed about that.

Charlie desperately wanted to go on the swing ride again.  Even though he had the previous freak-out, Ramsey still went!  He said he just closed his eyes until it was done.  Fair enough.  At least he did something for someone else, though fearful for his own life!  Ha!

It was HOT this day and we were started to get pretty pooped out (plus headaches).  We said goodbye to Charlie and Jonah.  On our way out, Ramsey saw this Strong Man game.... and a giant blow-up sword he could try to win.  Eric coughed up $5 (ouch!) and Ramsey went to town, swinging the sledge hammer.

It was a darn small sledge hammer, so, ya know... "rigged". 🤣   Ramsey didn't win the massive sword, but he did walk away with a blow-up camouflage M16 assault rifle.  He was happy.

When we got home, we were beat!  I had to take a nap.  The boys did whatever they did to relax for a while.  

The impending "end of summer" was looming over us, so we decided we needed to get out on the pontoon again that evening.

Because it was Saturday night of the fair (and the resort was closed for the week), the lake was so quiet and peaceful.

Ramsey captained the boat for a while and we enjoyed the sunset and family time together.  ...just wished Connor could have been there with us too.

Oh summer... how did you pass so quickly??!!?