Do the Puyallup!

For as long as I can remember I have gone to the Puyallup Fair. And when I was at college I mourned the fact that I couldn't go. And now that I've lived in Washington again for over 6 years, I can proudly say that I've gone to the fair every year since. I love the fair.

We almost didn't go this year because, well, if I'm being honest, the fair is getting expensive. And now that I have three kids who can all ride on the rides, it is getting even MORE expensive. But, I decided, that going to the fair was one of my favorite things to do as a kid, and I wanted my boys to experience it too. Who needs $100 or so anyway, right?

This year we went to the fair with Carissa and her family and our good friends the Ross's (we went with them last year too!). It was so fun to let the kids ride together and eat bad food together. Seriously, I love fair food. I love the smell and the variety! Bryan got a bacon wrapped jalapeno popper and, of course, I ate the famous fair scones. Yum! We had an awesome time and can't wait to go again next year (we are already setting aside money so we can do MORE next year!).

And, I feel like I need to apologize (even though I'm not really sorry) for the mass amount of pictures I took and posted. If you know me, you know I take entirely way too many pictures!

Bryce and Cole on the "cars"

Rix and Olivia on these big twirling bears. I got sick just watching them!

Rix insisted on going on the ferris wheel, so I stayed back with Bryce and Clingy Cole and Bryan went with him. He loved it!

Bryan made Rix stand while the Ferris Wheel was going. Can you see he's nervous?

Can you see me?

Bryce and Cole both wanted to go on the roller coaster. I thought they'd be afraid, but they loved it. And since there wasn't really a line waiting, they operator let them go around like five times!

While the other two were on the roller coaster, Rix went in the fun house. He did this last year too and he really likes it. I remember liking the fun house too!

This is by far one of my favorites. The Giant Slide! Bryce forgot to bring a burlap sack up so that he could slide down, so the operators at the top just put him on Rix's lap. It was really cute! If you enlarge the picture you can see their faces.

Bryce and Macade on the canoe ride. This is the same ride last year that they both did together, and they got off just soaked. This year they were more fortunate. The only casualty was Macade's sleeve.

Last year Cole was too little to go on rides. This year he got to go on them and oh boy was he excited. He went on the canoe ride with Braxton. I apologize to any innocent bystanders who were splashed by these two crazy kids!

Rix and Olivia going crazy! This is like a big pile of junk and instruments that the kids can bang on. They could've stayed there forever.

Tessa and me

Rix and his snow cone. It was actually not very good, so Bryan went back and got them slushies instead. Can we say spoiled?

We let all the kids split a cotton candy. Rix's portion is mostly stuck to his fingers.

Oh, where do I begin with this picture. I love Cole's striped socks with shorts (Bryan's fault, not mine). That Rix couldn't put his slushie down long enough to smile. That Bryce has that "smile". Or that there are big horse butts in the background. Really? Out of all the places at the fair to take a pic we chose here? Love it.

We love this part of the barns because the kids get to go inside the pens with the animals. It is so fun! And yes, we Purell afterwards.

Rix loved the cute chicks. No not girls. Chicks. Like baby chickens.

Cole still has a slight aversion to animals (um, like horses) but was okay looking at them from the safety of daddy's arms. You should have seen his reaction in the horse barn when they were leading a horse down the walkway. So funny.

A few nights later I went with my parents and the Poyfairs to walk around the fair without kids (thanks honey for watching them!). There are hundreds of merchant booths, and we love to wander and see what's for sale. I bought some sweet hot mustard at the Garlic Gourmay place and some xxx-hot pepper jelly from the pepper jelly place. Their pepper jellys are sooo good. We love them, but I wanted to get something for Bryan because he likes spicy stuff and I don't cook with spices like that. So I decided to try the hot pepper jellys to see how spicy they really were. They had ones from x-hot to xxxx-hot. I asked the salesman if I could try the xxxx-hot one (I wanted to know for sure it was hot). He looked at me and said, "Let's start with the xx-hot and we'll go up from there." Boy oh boy - that man saved my life. The xx-hot one was hot, but tolerable. If I can stand it, it's not hot enough. So I tried the xxx-hot one. It knocked my socks off! My eyes were watering and my tongue felt like flames and it was hard to breathe. So glad I didn't just up and try the xxxx-hot one! I would've died. Anyway, I tried corn fritters (so good) had a bite of Carissa's Earthquake burger (which is as big as my head) and had a Krusty Pup (a hand-dipped and fried corn dog). Overall it was a fun evening and one of my favorite things to do! Can't wait for next year!!