Great New York State Fair

I can now say I have been to an actual state fair now!  It was actually a bunch of fun.  We went on the last day, so the big animals were gone.  Didn't see any cows, sheep, pigs, or horses, but ai think we went the wrong way to actually seem them.  We did see chickens, geese, pigeons, bunnies, and guinea pigs.  WOW.  Can I just say I had no idea how want different kinds of pigeons and bunnies are out there that i had no clue existed? They are curly, and ruffled, and some look like their heads are put on upside down and are staring at the ceiling all the time. Totally insane.

We also saw an ton of rabbit varieties, and got to pet the softest rabbit in the world, in my own opinion.  It felt like velvet.  And we also got to see an attempt at rabbit mating as were petting said soft bunny, and now we know where the going at it like rabbits expression comes from, which of course meant that Emily had to query the nice 4H lady about what the bunny was doing to the other bunny.  Smacking the head.  So embarrassing.  The lady sweetly said it was trying to mate, which I think went way over her head.  And we left.   See the fuzzy lump?  That is an angora rabbit.  It was massive.I liked the lionhead one too, but didn't get a good photo.

 My favorite part of the fair was finding an antique Miller's Dairy milk bottle.  That was the dairy owned by my great grandfather.  We went into a neat building with lots of cool historical farming stuff, even a log home replica.  They also tools, and milking equipment and tons of old dairy bottles.  I asked the man if he had a Miller's dairy bottle, hoping he'd have one not on display, and he pulled one out.  he had found it for a collector, but then forgotten to sell it to her when she had come by earlier in the fiar!  Yeah me!  I didn't even realize he was selling them, but was thrilled when Karl suggested I just buy it instead of only taking a pic!  I asked him to let me know if he finds anymore, but it is cool to have a small piece of family history.

 

 And then there were all the rides.  I was so grateful Karl was there and willing to take them on all the otherwise gag inducing rides.  I got a little queasy just watching them all go round!  Sigh.  But they LOVED it!  We have some speed freaks.  Karl really enjoyed the "pick you up and drop your ride" as it "felt like freedom" when he approached zero gravity.  No, it felt like my very overpriced and very expensive fair lunch just attempted to exit!

 

And then there was the giant storm that rolled in.  T

he weather was kept cool by the enormous gray clouds that built up during the day,  Karl proudly informed me that from watching the weather interactive maps, we would be fine.  They lied.  We got slammed with an absolute downpour.  But that just made it part of the fun of the day!  After the storm let up I took the kids to see the Butter Sculptures.  No joke.  Solid butter.