All is Fair

Warning: Photo heavy post.  I love pictures and even I think this might be a little overboard. And then I went and added a couple videos too.

I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

This week is the Heart of Illinois Fair.

We decided to take an evening and go check it out.

We scoped things out and decided the first thing we should do was eat some fair food.

Corn dogs for the boys and I...

And a turkey leg for Derek.

Then we wandered around some more and found an animal show.

With a view of the camels while we waited for it to start.

We were pleasantly surprised how fun the show was.  We saw a baby alligator, baby skunks, armadillos, African fox, baby lion, lemur and a baby grizzly bear.

There was an indoor (air conditioning!) area with jump houses.

The boys ran around like crazy while we cooled off.

Miles had trouble getting up the 'climbing wall' portion so was stuck right there for quite a while before he figured out how to maneuver it.

Then we headed for the rides.

Cooper was excited!

Then we found a ride Miles could join Cooper on - the mini ferris wheel.

It was a hit!

The boys loved it!

And Cooper really wanted to try out the "big huge" one too.

If you look closely you can see Cooper peeking over the side.

He was not disappointed and later said it was the best ride ever.

Miles got to do one more... he kinda thought he was big stuff flying a helicopter.

If you listen carefully you might hear him say, "I fly!"

He was the only one on the ride so not only did the lady let him go for a very long time, she stopped the ride so Derek could take a picture and then started it again.

We also saw this robot...

the same one we met at the Kansas State fair a couple years ago.

And then....  the petting zoo!

Miles was timid at first but then loved it.

Both boys did.

With a snow cone to end on.

It was a successful night at the fair!

We're already planning to go again next year.