State Fair 2015

One of my children think I'm the greatest mom on the planet...one of my children could potentially think I'm the worst. 

We tend not to tell Eleanor things ahead of them happening because 1) it's SUPER fun to surprise her and 2) it's just easier to not have to deal with the drama if something doesn't work out (which actually is a TOTALLY unfair statement because Eleanor has always been pretty "go with the flow" as long as she understands).  

Any who.  Andy told Eleanor that I was going to be coming home for lunch today.  When I got home, I learned that she had already taken a 45 minute nap (which is helpful when you wake up at 5:50 AM).  I asked where she wanted to eat lunch and she told me I could decide.  I asked her if she wanted to eat lunch at State Fair.  Her eyes got HUGE and she started jumping up and down.  She proclaimed us the best parents ever and then ran around.  Unable to contain herself.  

We had decided earlier not to take Oliver. We felt bad for a minute, but let's be honest.  He didn't care.  He doesn't want to get pushed around in that crowd, unable to ride rides.  Unable to eat anything deep fried.  Scared of animals and bored of the expo.  Eleanor wanted to do ALL those things and didn't want her brother cramping her style.  Fair enough.  (Ha ha...get it - FAIR enough?!)  Next year, Oliver...next year.  

When we got to the fair we were right in front of my favorite - The Wisconsin Products Pavilion. I HAD to get a baked potato, but the line was really long (even the outside line).  So I stood in line and Andy and Eleanor headed to the Midway.  Eleanor rode a few rides and then started to get hungry too.  She declared she couldn't wait until we made it back to the WPP for Palermo's pizza and instead ended up with Midway pizza from - essentially - a food truck.  Well...it's fair food - right? 

Next stop was the animals.  Cows, horses, chickens, bunnies...You know - the basics.  But I can't believe we missed the sheep and pigs!  Who goes to the fair and misses the sheep and pigs??  We did find a rabbit named Eleanor though...so that's a win!

We went back to the WPP and walked around.  I didn't see the Golden Gurnsey booth or the Marquette booth??  Those used to be two of my favorites. The WPP was seriously slacking this year!  As we started making our trek over to the giant slide, it started to rain. It was just a little rain, so we grabbed a bite to eat and hid under an awning.  Deep friend brownie, wrapped in pretzels with sea salt caramel dip.  A-mazing!!

It was still raining, so we head over to the Expo hall.  Another favorite of mine!  Eleanor did pretty good as I dragged her and Andy up and down every aisle!  She particularly loved the booth that let her try the colorful sparkly eye shadow.

Which, was, actually, really cute.  But I'm very happy to report that sparkly eye shadow was not an investment for us...by the end of the day the sparkles were all over her face and she was kind of freaking out when we washed her face because she didn't want sparkles in her eyes!

Anyway, we finally left the Expo (although, I do not feel like I gave each vendor adequate attention...) and stopped for some deep fried cheese curds...a fair FAVORITE!  And the highlight of the fair - the flavored Milk!  There were a few new flavors this year, so we had to try them all!  We each listed our favorite.  I mean...a glass of milk for .25??  Score!

The rain had stopped, so we decided to head over to the giant slide.  It was still closed.  Who knew how much went into drying the Giant Slide?  I mean, there were guys with leaf blowers, squeegees, towels...I mean...couldn't we just sit on the little mats and dry as we slide?

We did some more walking around and decided to head over to the Sky Glider.

We missed Oliver, but it was so much fun hanging out with this girl.  The Sky Glider gave us the opportunity to scope out what else we wanted to do,  But we saw the sky was starting to get darker again and we wanted to get to the Giant Slide before it started raining again.  We got in line with everyone else that had the same idea we did.  They had only opened up 1/2 the slide in order to try and get people going as quickly as possible.  Eleanor and I were 1/2 way up the slide, in line...when it started raining again.  Lightly at first...then actual rain.  Eleanor found great humor in the fact that the workers kept saying, "Back it down people".  It was a bummer....everyone loves the Giant Slide.  

We tried to walk around, but we couldn't ignore the rain and ducked into the Dairy building.  I had fun telling and showing Eleanor where I used to work (in the corner of the Dairy building, with the Chocolate Factory)...we were there in the Dairy building...and Eleanor asked for ice cream...so, of course, we all had to get some ice cream!

The rain had stopped, so we walked past the Giant Slide one more time.  They were certainly trying their best to clean the slide, but we knew it would take awhile...and it was getting to be time for us to leave.  So, we said good-bye to the Giant Slide and we said good-bye State Fair.  We had an awesome time and got to do so much, even with a little rain.

See you next year State Fair!