Utah State Fair

It’s state fair time again! The kids really enjoyed going to the fair last year, so we decided we would go again this year, especially since there are a bunch of things that cub scouts can get signed off by being there. We had a coupon for $2 off admission for boy scouts and girl scouts if they wore there uniform. So Ethan wore his scout shirt and Tyra wore her brownie vest to the fair.

We walked around and looked and the home arts exhibits and worked our way over to the “Little Hands on the Farm” exhibit. It’s an exhibit set up to show kids the order of how things get from the farm to the stores. The kids enjoyed going through it last year and were asking if it was back again this year. This year when we finished it though there was a room set up next to the farm store where kids could make farm animal masks. So we spent some time there letting the kids each make a mask (and then we got to sign that off in Ethan’s bear book 😉 ).

When all the kids were done making their masks we worked our way over to the livestock exhibits (another thing to sign off in Ethan’s book). The kids were disappointed that we passed the giant slide and didn’t buy tickets to go down. Jeremy was especially unhappy about that. But we made up for it later on.

I personally enjoy walking in the barns and seeing all the animals. It takes me back to the days when I was a teenager and my family had a goat and two ponies and geese, and ducks and chickens and rabbits. Not to forget the dog and the cats.

After petting the sheep Dinah wanted to try to pet one of the cows, so she came up to the hind quarters of a HUGE cow. It scared the cow, and the cow kicked. But the cow’s owners saw what was happening and got her out of the way before she got hurt. It did scare her quite a bit though. She tried to explain that she just wanted to pet it, but we had to explain to her that you NEVER approach a cow or a horse or a big animal like that, from the back because you will scare it and it will kick you. When we saw a calf in one of the rows Kyle took Dinah over so she could pet it.

After the animals we got some dinner and took the kids over to the fishing pond. Here Ethan was able to earn the fishing belt loop. They started out by talking to the kids a bit about fishing. Then they lined up all the kids and each had a turn to practice casting.

Then Ethan, Tyra, Jeremy and Dinah got to go fishing:

Their turn was up when they caught a fish, but the only one we got a picture of with his fish was Ethan. They each started fishing as soon as they had practiced casting and they were all spread all over the pond that it was difficult for Kyle to be there with each of them when they caught their fish. I was trying to keep Chloe, Lydia and Adam out of the way of the flying hooks.

Then we went into the wildlife building so Kyle could talk to the rangers about the fishing laws here in Utah. My kids really like these photo op things that they had all over the fair. And of course I have to take a picture of each kid sticking their face in the hole. Personally I think Jeremy’s faces are THE BEST!

We finished up the night with Kyle taking the five oldest kids on the ferris wheel. Chloe was JUST tall enough to go on as long as she was accompanied. I stayed on the ground with Lydia and Adam. And as we were leaving, I pulled back the visor that kept Adam out of the sun most of the day. I decided that it was dark and he was awake so I wanted to be able to see him. His face was awesome:

He really didn’t know what to make of all those lights! As we left Ethan told us to make a note to bring LOTS of cash next year. It was difficult to get some dinner because most places we went to check out only took cash. Eventually we found something for everyone to eat at places that would take our debit card. But most of the food places and the rides and games only took cash. So making a mental note for next year. 🙂