State Fair

Ahhh the state fair. One of my most favorite times of the year! I have been going to the state fair ever since I was little and I just love all the memories that the sights, sounds, and smells bring back. It makes me homesick my high school girlfriends. But it also signifies that fall is here! 

Now that the fair is a family event for us we try to pack in all the education that we can. We try to see all the exhibits in addition to the fun stuff. First on our stop was to check out this really cute old blacksmith. We watched him make a nail and then he let us take it home! 

Finley indulged us for a while as we looked at all of the exhibits. 

But eventually he began asking to go on the rides. 

My favorite part of the fair is looking at all the mini gardens. 

This one was Finley's favorite. 

And this Asian inspired one was mine. 

This "Horton hears a Who" themed garden was also super cute and interactive. 

We also looked at all the award winning flowers. David and I decided after checking out all the Dahlia's that we need to plant some in our yard. They were so beautiful! I think I have a new favorite flower. 

Finley did enjoy the electric trains hidden among all the garden exhibits. 

And sitting in this huge chair!

Our next stop along our tour was through the village of yesteryear where you can see folks in period appropriate clothing making some sort of craft. (Kim this picture is just for you! One day I want to see you at the state fair doing your needle point!)

On our way to the rides we headed over to the UNC-TV tent where we posed with some famous characters and also played some cute carnival games. 

They had a really adorable dinosaur ring toss. 

And a hammer "flying pigs and chickens" game. 

I think Finley would have played this game all day if we let him! 

We then headed over to the poultry tent to say hi to some baby chicks. 

Back in the day they use to let you hold them. I guess all the E. Coli outbreaks have now discouraged people from touching them. 

At last it was time to hit up some rides! 

Finley insisted on doing the big Ferris Wheel first. The whole family rode on this ride so we used about half of our tickets on one ride. 

But it was worth it!

Here are our views from the top. 

Finley had so much fun going way up high. 

Next up was the super slide. 

Then mama's favorite the swings. On this ride Finley kept yelling "Hey Dada" every time we went around and saw David. It was pretty cute. 

When riding alone Finley decided to stretch out and rest his arms on the seat. 

He looked so grown up doing this. 

Say Cheese! 

And this Elephant ride reminded me of the Dumbo ride at Disney.

After the rides it was time for some junk food. I just can't resist a good corn dog. 

Finley enjoyed a big boy slice of pizza and devoured it. 

After lunch it was back to the exhibit halls. We finally saw a real live character. 

Finley was super exited to see Cookie monster. Although he was hanging out at the republicans booth. Maybe he didn't get the memo that Romney wants to cut funding to PBS.

Back outside we found this cool activity for children called the Field of Dreams. 

Each child got to walk through a garden and then harvest fake fruits and sell them at a farmer's market. 

With the money they earned at the farmer's market they then got to purchase some real fruit and pickles to take home! Score! I am constantly amazed by all the freebies at the fair. If you know where to go, you can really rake it in! We even got this huge really nice book about the history of the state fair for free! 

On the way out we had some treats of ice cream, fried dough, and cotton candy. But we were sure to save room for the best treat of all. Some hush puppies from the Old Grist Mill. YUM! After we had eaten our puppies and walked through the exhibit Finley asked where the hush puppies were. I told him he already ate his and he seemed a bit confused. I guess the name is a bit deceiving. 

We spent pretty much the whole day at the fair and had a blast! 

The weather was perfect, the food delicious, and no one got hurt on any rides :). 

We can't wait to do it all again next year!

Picking Pumpkins

This past weekend we ventured over to the farmer's market to pick out our pumpkins. 

The first stop on our trip was to check out the pumpkin house. 

And of course we couldn't resist posing in the cut outs. 

Finley in particular is quite the Ham these days. He always wants his picture taken. 

Good thing he is such a cutie. 

Grammie and Abuelo came along for the festivities. 

It was a little chilly, but we still had fun seeing all the beautiful orange pumpkins. 

Fall is finally here! 

We picked out some gourds to decorate the inside of our house too.

 

I just love the strange looking gourds.

I also love all the free samples they give out at the farmer's market. And so does Finley. He ate this entire apple! Core and all. 

And here is Fin with his spoils. We had originally planned on getting only 2 pumpkins. But you know how that goes! Finley was so excited for his pumpkins he wanted to decorate them as soon as we got home. I convinced him to wait until closer to Halloween so they wouldn't rot. 

This little boy is so excited to wear his costume and trick or treat! 

Say What?!

8/19 - While visiting Grammie and Abuelo today, Abuelo was acting a little silly and Finley asked him "Are you a girl, Abuelo?"

8/19 - Then as we were leaving their house Finley said "Goodbye Indian" to Abuelo.

8/22 - When using the bathroom today Finley observed "It's like a waterfall."

9/12 - We received a package in the mail today from Auntie Michelle. Finley got this cool little shoulder bag and he was really excited about it. He happily announced "Yay! Now I have my own purse!".

9/12 - Inside the bag that he got were several candies. I let Finley pick one out and eat it without looking at it. He immediately started spitting it out and telling me it was spicy. I looked at the wrapper and found out they had alcohol in them! Ooops! I called Auntie Michelle and she didn't notice when she bought them either! We both felt so horrible!

9/15 - While at a friend's baby shower Finley was playing with another little girl there who was about a year and a half old. He told her to dance, then she did, and he declared "I am so proud of you."

9/17 - Finley has been talking about death and resurrection a lot lately. I don't know if it is due to all the funerals we have been attending this summer or that we have been reading about Jesus' death in the scriptures. This morning while having breakfast Finley told me he wanted to be resurrected. I tried to explain to him why I wanted him to stay here with me and he got very upset and said tearfully "But I want to be resurrected so I can live with Jesus. I want to go live with Jesus."

9/17 - While using the bathroom today Finley broke into prayer and prayed to Heavenly Father that it would be fall now. It went something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, please help it to be fall now, In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

10/7 - While having a discussion about the Wicked Witch from the wizard of Oz Finley kept asking why she was mean and why she wanted to hurt Toto. He then asked "Was she jealous?".

10/7 - While eating dinner at Mimi's house Mimi asked Finley how his rice tasted. Finley responded with very matter of factly "Not Good".

10/8 - Today David let one rip in the bathroom and Finley looked at him and said "You're a tooter. And I am a tooter. And that's ok!"

10/10 - Finley has been getting very funny with his prayers lately. Some of the funny things he has included in his prayers are: "We hope everyone has money, bless us to have a good Halloween" and instead of closing the prayer properly one night he said "That's all. Bye Bye."

I love this pose and his tan lines.