Nevada County Fair 2013!!!

we live in farm/rural country.

pretty much everyone we know has chickens...or cows...or pigs....or farms...or goats...or dread locks (ok, this is true but maybe not in the right sentence?)....or wants them if they don't.

which means that THE county fair is like the IT thing here.

for the past several months we couldn't talk to anyone in this town without some mention of the fair.

(I gathered many an insider tip that way!)

So, we took all our gathered tips and have spent the better part of our week, rippin' up the County Fair.

I now, may possibly, want four miniature donkeys....the Mediterranean ones to be exact.

oh. my.

That is not a sentence I would have ever written before moving here!

We watched animal shows:

 And then pet the animals:

 And talked with the animals:

 And then we took over the Pony Ride booth...like a gang:

 we identified animal poop....why?

 Squish your cheeks together!

 Paint your own canvas!

 25 cent foot massage.

Not a bad deal!

 We paid the animals, that is a dollar bill in Lydia's hand:

(this guy was genius!  the kids got to give the 'donations' to the birds after the bird show, so OF COURSE you wanted to give!!!)

 The girls gymnastics gym did a show, so fun!

That is one of their coaches jumping over some of the older students:

 these fair grounds, in case you didn't notice, are set among the forest...so the trees are amazing!

 and the little girls in the trees are even more amazinger!

 ok.

so. the bird dude was so cool (on top of being genius), we had to go back and watch him over and over!

That would be a Condor eating raw meat out of his hand.

 We played BINGO.

Samantha WON!

so so cute!

 the ONLY picture of me...proof I was there...and even though you can't see it, my chin was there too...you'll just have to trust me on that.

So.

That was all day ONE.

11am to 8pm.

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DAY TWO = RIDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and more rides and more rides....

 ...and more rides....

 and more...

 and more and more and more, but I'll spare everyone the pictures.

(sort of)

I took a random girls picture 'cause her glasses were so fun!

We took a 'let your stomach settle' break after lunch before hopping on MORE rides.

We played Minute to Win it and when I say 'play' I really mean: DOMINATE.

I played first but won in the first 1/2 a second (not even joking) so Lydia didn't even have time to take my picture!

I killed a tower of 6 coke cans with one shot of a rubber band.

Oh...and I was playing against two dudes...who I KNOW practice that kind of stuff 'cause I have a brother and have witness these practice sessions in person.

I could have stayed at this booth all day...not even going to pretend otherwise!

Each of the girls played and crushed every single one of their opponents.

We kinda rule at Minute to Win It.  Shoot, it was more like 'Seconds to Crush Them' for us...

 the bounty - $5 gifts cards for the girls and a $15 gift card for me!!! (it was free to play so that is a really good prize!!)

 they rode and played hard from 11am to 5pm.

This was about 5:15pm:

 This was about 5:30pm:

that would be ice cream, a sno cone and pizza.

score one for mom!

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Jake and I headed back a THIRD day to work for the local Women's Clinic food booth.

Almost every single one of the food booths were run by non-profits.

Coolest thing ever!

We served Taco Salad and Burritos for 5 hours and had an absolute blast!

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So, now we get it.

We understand WHY all the fuss.

And we can't wait for next year!

We are already planning all our crafty entries!