Fun times at the Lane County Fair!

The Lane County Fair started last week and ends tomorrow. Since we can’t go to the Fair until the weekend, we went today. We had an early dinner before we headed out because the food sold at the Fair is expensive! One year that we went, we paid over $50 for a cheeseburger/fries/soda meal for all 4 of us. Since we have to watch our budget, we ate our dinner early and then we headed out to the Fair.

Because we usually spend a lot of money when we go to the Fair, I had planned to save up for it this year. Last year’s attempt to save for the Fair failed, but this year, I was able to save for it! Yay! And I’m so glad I did, too.

There was something totally awesome at the Fair this year: They had ride bracelets for sale at $50 each giving the person wearing them unlimited rides! That is SO COOL! I found out about it while watching the local news earlier this week. So, the money I saved came in pretty handy after all, as it got the kids those bracelets. Unfortunately, the bracelets were only good until 10 p.m. (with the fair closing at 11), so we spent as much time as possible making sure the kids went on as many rides as they could!

Something else was different when we went to the Fair this year. Usually, when we go, we have such a hard time finding a place to park. As it normally happens, we end up parking the car blocks away from the Fair, on a city street, and walking quite a ways there and back. Not so this year! This year, they had an extra parking lot available. It cost $10 to park there, but it’s WORTH it since it was right next to the Fair! I am so glad we had that convenience this year.

And, finally, a third thing was different for us at the Fair this year: Jennifer got to enjoy the Fair solo. First she went on a ride with her dad (with me escorting Jesse to rides) then she headed out on her own. Last year, we took one of her friends along, and the two girls went on rides together on their own. This year, Jennifer was going it alone. I was nervous, but I reminded myself that she is a teenager now and should be able to take care of herself at the Fair. We DID keep in touch via text messaging, though.

Jesse had so much fun going on lots of rides! He loved it! One ride did scare him a little – and he went on it again! LOL! I have to say, compared to last year, he went on more rides than ever. I was SO grateful for those bracelets! We usually have to tell the kids they can’t go on anymore rides because we usually run out of money to pay for the ickets. That didn’t happen this year and I’m glad they got to enjoy so many rides. Yay!

Oh, and I went on one ride, too. My favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. Here is a pic of me and Jesse in front of it.

And here are pics of Jesse on the rides. He also got to play games thanks to the bracelet and I took a pic of that too.

 He sure did have so much fun going on lots of rides!

Also, last year, Jennifer bought some kind of fried pastry thing called an Elephant Ear. After she bit into it, she was all like, "ZOMG! These are SO GOOD!!" So I tried one this year. In fact, I made it my mission to have an Elephant Ear from the Fair this year! And she was right: They ARE good. Very big, too. I couldn't eat all of it. LOL But Jennifer ate all of hers AND what was left of mine!

Here is a picture of Jen enjoying her Elephant Ear:

And here is a pic of Jen when she was on the ride with her dad:

We had a really great time at the Fair!