Remember your first Funnel Cake?
This weekend I decided to stop the busy nonsense that has been consuming me and head to our local Strawberry Festival. If you were looking for strawberries, you'd have been disappointed since most all passed their prime about 2 weeks ago, and the next crop isn't due in for another couple of weeks I think, but all in all, a fun weekend! I always get my berries done way ahead of the crowd for the best selection and because the 4-H displays and Fair Food need my complete attention!
So the day went like this:
Immediately after reaching our destination, shove 2 Corn Dogs at children's faces so they would stop complaining about having to walk so far from the car...
Then, wonder why my military-brat kids haven't had their fill of this stuff...
OK, yes, I admit the Coast Guard is pretty awesome!
They are boys, however!
Yippee, that's over! Nothing better than going to the fair and being reminded that hubby will probably be in Afghanistan or Iraq this time next year... can we move on now...please?
On to where I usually make a beeline for... 4-H!
My absolute favorite, but I guess that's because I grew up on a sheep farm!
Some of the lambs were stunning, the 4-Her's did a great job showing them. It only took about 5 minutes for the kids to warm up to the 4-H Barn and forget about the "rides", ugh! At one point Loch said "I don't want to go in there, it smells"! I had to inform him pretty quickly that he had the wrong mom if he was looking for sympathy. I love the smell of sheep, hay, straw, and yes, manure! All mixed together it takes me back to being 12 years old and I love it! When we drive back home on vacations I can tell when the smells start to remind me of home, and it happens somewhere in Southern Wisconsin, and by the time we are in Minnesota I've got all the windows down, hubby probably thinks I'm nuts!
Fully immersed now, waiting for the Lamb Obstacle Course!
Finn's favorites are always cows... back home he usually sees dairy, but I was able to point out some differences between the Jersey girl he saw there and the steer, he was pretty interested! When I pointed to one and asked what we got from that one, he replied "BEEF"! Yay, I love it when it "clicks" in their little heads!
What can I say? We just stood there listening to it snore...
No problems smelling the barn anymore!
Having a blast!
Checkin' out the chickens
This girl's exhibit had all the ooohs and ahhhhs of course, who can resist baby ducks? Not Finnegan either!
After that, I blew through the "rides" pretty quickly, I'll spare you the horrific carny details, but let you know that $23.oo got them 2 rides - yep, that's it! One Bumper Cars and one little airplane flying thing. What a racket.
Onto more interesting things, more food! One thing that is really nice living in the Coastal Virginia/North Carolina area is the selection we have of "fair food". The crabcakes, NC pulled pork, and Sweet Potato Fries are plentiful, actually cheaper than traditional fair food, and taste just like they should, probably because there were locals manning those tents! I debated whether showing the pics would make hubby feel terrible for missing it or make him smile remembering what it tastes like, but here goes:
You haven't lived until you have eaten NC pulled pork BBQ! Yes, I said that I would probably never have the appetite again after smoking and pulling our own 7 lbs a few weeks ago, but I obviously LIED!
The smell is DIVINE!
NC BBQ, Fries & Cole Slaw... for $5 !! Can you believe it? A stupid corn dog is 4.50!
My stomach was killing me from eating too much by this time, so I figured it would be a great time to find a Funnel Cake, LOL! Loch whined "I don't know what a funnel cake is, it sounds gross, I wanna sno cone....." Well, whaddaya mean you've never had a funnel cake? Sounds like I have seriously failed my children, doesn't it? We marched over to the nearest cloud of powdered sugar where I pointed and said "THAT is a funnel cake! Want one?"
One more experience I can check off the list!
