Team Gabriel: Lily's First Trip to the State Fair!

The State Fair is a tradition for Richard and I - every year we've been together (and I think the first year we knew each other, but weren't together), when October rolls around, we head to the State Fair. This year, we introduced Lily to the tradition. We'd been unsure as to whether we would go today or tomorrow, but as it was such a beautiful day today, we knew we had to go. So, after Lily's morning nap and her elevensies (or her first lunch, for those of you who are not Lord of the Rings nerds (fans?) ), we packed ourselves up and headed out. We were definitely loaded down with a lot more stuff this year than in years past. Normally, we just take our tickets, cash and ourselves - maybe the camera, if I remember. This year, we couldn't forget the camera (had to have those pictures of Lily at the fair!), as well as the stroller, diaper bag packed with all the necessities, bottles and milk, in case we stayed long enough for Lily to be hungry again. It was quite a difference!

Daddy and Lily at the car before the Fair

Mommy and Lily before going into the Fair

We stopped at the Wolf statue outside of Carter-Finley for a picture of Lily with the wolves

Lily is all set to head into the Fair!

As soon as we got into the fair, we headed to our respective eateries - I had my usual hotdog with chili and slaw (the perfect way to have a hotdog) and Richard had his Italian sausage. Once we had scarfed down those goodies, we headed to go see the animals - definitely our favorite thing to see at the fair. On the way, Richard stopped to pick up a piece of pizza (that sausage didn't last long!). We admired the cattle and pointed them out to Lily and got a couple of pictures in front of them. We noticed that they had very interesting names - Lemonade, Gatorade, Kit Kat and Rose, to name a few. After we had our fill of cows, we headed to the vegetable exhibit. We really like to see the big pumpkin every year and were hoping to get to see Smithfield the painting pig again this year (last year I purchased one of his small masterpieces), but it looked like he had moved. So, we got a few pictures of Lily and her daddy around the prize-winning vegetables, as well as a picture of a cute apple caricature (see the pictures).

Lily was excited about those cows

Lily thinking maybe she should have some pizza...

Checking out the veggies

Lily thought they were neat - she's ready to try some soon!

Snuggling with daddy

Can you tell they're related?

Daddy telling Lily about the pumpkins

Lily passing on the details to her toys

Biggest pumpkin - 864 pounds this year!

Apple-ate Court Judge - cute, huh?

After leaving the veggies, we decided to find our next food goodie - some yummy cheese fries to split. At this point, Lily had started to get kind of fussy, so we decided to polish off our cheese fries, grab some dessert and head on out. For those of you that have been to the Fair before, you know it can take at least 20 minutes to get out of the fairgrounds, once you decide to leave, so we thought we'd better get a move on. We stopped to pick up a delicious decorated wafflecone with homemade ice cream for myself and a root beer float for Richard and then made our way to the gate. Even with all the fuss and noise that is the Fair soundtrack, Lily was able to fall asleep by the time we made it to the booth for our goodies. She slept the entire way out of the fair, getting into the car, the ride home and beyond.


Sacked out after her big day

Daddy and Lily (sleeping away) in front of the wolves

Leaving the Fair

While I made a grocery run, Lily and her daddy headed home, where Lily slept until 4 - daddy had to wake her up to eat! After I got home, we put the groceries away and gave Lily a new toy to play with - some plush color blocks! She enjoyed them (as did her daddy) and I can tell they're going to get some good use in the future.