Summer Must Include Fair To Be Complete

So the next couple of post I am going to say better late then never. We have officially closed on our new house and will be moving in September 10th which is in exactly two weeks but who is counting?!? We have about half of the house packed and it hasn't been too bad. Each night after the kids go to bed we get as much packed as we can and then at 9pm we are done. This then gives us sometime to relax. I have most of the 'we never use' items already waiting in boxes in the garage. I have a large portion of the 'I can make due without for the next two weeks' also boxed up. And today I started with the 'we are just going to have to make due without' items. First up was Drew's toys. Weird thing is he was so excited to have me pack up his room. I have always threatened to give away all of our toys maybe the kids really could care less.

We did have to take one night off from packing to attend a local fair. I still remember the Douglas Country Fair that Paul and I grew up going to every single summer. There is just nothing better than the Fry Guy, eating dirt that has been tossed into the air from the speedway, or walking through barns and getting the free bag to fill with all the junk freebies the vendors give out including the sheriff sticker badge. The fairs in CA lack majorly when compared to those in MN but there is one about 45 minutes from our house that we found three years ago. It is as close to a MN fair as we have found. Last year the night that Paul was going to take the older kids was the night we ended up delivering the quads. I am so glad that he ended up staying at the hospital with me instead of going to the fair because I would have never reached him if he would have taken the older kids. 

I love the tall trees. Not what one thinks of when they think of CA.

And a close up because I think they are just too darn cute.

Because of our work schedules the weekend of the fair we ended up having to go in the evening. It just did not sound fun to try and deal with four babies past their bedtime who would be stuck riding around in a stroller so we called grandma to come and stay with the quads while we took the older kids. We told the big kids we had a special adventure for them and they guessed all sorts of places. They were not thrilled when grandma told them we were going to go to the dump!

The big kids had a blast and it really is a treat when we blend into the crowd. Not a single person came up to us asking if our kids were natural. Amazing what happens when you leave four kids who are all the same age at home. We ate fair food. We walked through the animal barns. We saw vegetables that won first place (I have never understood why someone takes the time to enter vegetables into a fair. Can you really tell a difference between one green bean and another?). We listen to karaoke singers. We did NOT ride on any rides (except a zipline because this mom has a total fear of not knowing how well fair rides are put together. As my kids have learned, we go to Disneyland for rides). We did NOT play games (how do I get rid of a 3 foot stuffed animal without the kids seeing me). We DID finish the night off with ice cream. All and all we had a night that just felt like summer.

"Look mom twins."

Can I just tell you how jealous I was of this pig. She is able to nurse all her kids at one time. Yup, jealous!

Fair food with a photo bomb.

Isn't she so pretty. We are so getting chickens at our new home. A tad excited!!

The Nevada County Fair brings back lots of childhood memories of summers long ago. I do hope to someday take the kids to the same fair I went to as a kid and I would love to take them to the Minnesota State Fair but once they are all a little bit older because there will be lots of walking that day. What things did you do as a kid that are now must-do's with your own children?

The girls wanted to zip line so bad. I had them get on the scale and told them that they were not big enough only to have the teenage worker say that they just met the weight needed. Thanks Dude! They wanted mom to go with them and of course they wanted to see me go first. I think the guy understood how serious I was when I told him to make sure my girls stayed away from the doors until they were secured. I was a bit panicky until they started coming done on the zip line with huge smiles on their face.

They were so excited when they got down that the above mentioned teenager won my girls over a second time by telling them they could go again.