Wisconsin State Fair, 2014!

Today we had the chance to go to the State Fair with Grandma, Aunt Carmen and Elle, so we took it!  We were also joined by our family friend, Heather, which was a great addition, since Aaron was down in Chicago today for some bank training; I loved the extra help!  It was a little frustrating getting together, getting tickets, and parking, but once inside the park, there was so much to do, the kids loved nearly every minute.

 

We first went to see a little dog show and got a bonus: Carson was picked when the performer needed some help!  I was a little worried, since he's not always the best at following direction, but he did great!  His job was to lie still with another boy while the poodle jumped over them, through the hoops held by the girls, back through the hoops and back over the boys.  He was thrilled!

 

The kids were all very excited to go down the giant slide - but since I wasn't feeling up to it, Cole had to sit it out.  He really got excited watching his brother and sisters go down!  I got pictures of Lizzie going down beside Aunt Carmen and Elle, then Heather going down with Carson, then Evie going solo.  The girls later declared that this was their very favorite part of the Fair!

 

We took a break and ate snacks brought from home, since it was almost 11.  A trip to the fair wouldn't have been complete without the fried cheese curds and a trial of the fried green beans.  We rested for a half hour or so, making sure the kids got enough to eat, and visited with Grandma's neighbors, who ran one of the food booths there.

In one of the agriculture barns, a kind soul took a picture of our whole family group.  Evie and Lizzie are farmers on the far left, Cole is a processor holding carrots, Grandma is a distributer from Wisconsin, Carson is a grocer with a  bag of potatoes, Elle is a busy chef, and Carmen and I are consumers; I'm a fast food lover, and Carmen's all farmer's market fresh.

The kids all loved the baby animals barn.  Cole wanted to stare at the calves for so long!  He kept 'moo-ing' at them.

We also loved that there were other things to do in the baby animals barn than see baby animals.  The boys particularly loved the tractors!

Carson specifically asked to be pictured with this black bird.  It was very pretty, close up.  The black feathers gleamed iridescent with purples and blues.  Carson said this was his favorite bird of all.

I thought these two roosters were really beautiful in their differences!

The kids all got to watch a woman spin on a spinning wheel.

They got to feel how this yarn, made from alpaca wool, felt different from other yarns they might find in a craft store.

In the cattle barn, we got to feel how a milker works on a cow's teats and learn how to hook it up (to a fake cow).

We also got to color!  Cole was getting pretty worn out by this time, and didn't even want to sit and color, but the older three colored and were excited to bring home pages to work on more!

Carson got in on delivery action!

 

When we were done at the cattle barn, we watched  milking demonstration and learned more about cows in general.

After learning so much about cattle and dairy products, we would have been remiss NOT to have gotten fresh ice cream!  Toppings we could get were chocolate, strawberries, cherries, or maple.  No on in our group got maple, but the other flavors were cheerfully sampled and devoured!

When a giant corn cob is walking around, you must get your picture taken by it!

Cole was SO tired!  He still held out for another 45 minutes after this.  His head was lolling quite a bit, even before this.  It was just so hard to stay awake, but so hard to get to sleep amongst such excitement!

We watched a radio DJ/talk show for a few minutes.

In the expo center, the kids took a chance to make some necklaces out of boondoggle cord and pony beads.  Lizzie was miffed that she had to limit herself to 20 beads, but for a free craft, we couldn't ask for more!

We also watched the guy at the table work on a para-cord necklace for a while.

I love so much about this picture!  Carson's face, Evie's photo-bombing, Heather looking cheerful.

I got some close-up shots, because I wanted to show the girls' favorite free thing: sparkly eye liner.  It was a demonstration, and we had to listen to a spiel for it, but they loved it!

And now I know how grown-up she looks, so NOT like my eight year old, so she will not be wearing make up again until she's 20. :)

Lizzie was still unhappy about the bead count, so wouldn't look at me, but I wanted to show he cute, sparkly necklace.

We got to do one other demo/spiel, these neat fingernail dots.  The artist/saleslady did yellow and white daisies on Evie's hand and pink and white daisies on Lizzie's.  The girls loved all the fun flair, with their cool-looking nails and glittery eyes!