Coosa Valley Fair 2008

We made our 5th annual trip to the Coosa Valley Fair recently.
Junior and Stephen had fun on this little ride.

I wish you could have seen the shock on Stephen's face when it made its first drop. He looked
terrified for 2 seconds, then loved it the rest of the way.
A roller coaster for the kids.
Syndi and Stephen are in car #2.
Junior rode near the back of the coaster and was a little scared.
Dumbo takes Junior for a ride.
Or maybe it was the other way around!
Syndi won 1st place for a bracelet she crocheted.
She was quite proud (and so were we!).
Junior won 2nd place for some fudge he made...
...and 3rd place for some peppers he entered.
(We were very proud of him, too.)
He, however, was extremely disappointed.
We had to plead for this somewhat straight face.
(He's a very driven young man.)
Cesilee Blackwelder (who came and helped us with all the children) and Stephen rode in a swing.
The swings went round and round.
Junior made a very long trek through a pirate ship to go down this very long slide...

...and, of course, Stephen had to follow.
The family picture!

This was our 5th trip to the fair in our four-and-a-half years in Georgia. Julia did great. She didn't get to ride any rides because she was too small, and we were there for 4 hours!

Junior getting a real buzz!
Aubrey (left) and Cesilee (right) came to help us with the kids.
They were a great help and a lot of fun. I couldn't count the number of times Stephen ran off to a different ride (he was very excited) and Aubrey chase him down. In fact, it got to the point where I only knew Stephen had run off because Aubrey began to jog off in a different direction. ("Umm, there goes Aubrey...Stephen must've run off again!")
Thanks, guys, for going with us!
We didn't get to ride the ferris wheel this year, but it still looked really cool towering over us.
Another great year at the Coosa Valley Fair!
Until next year...FAIR-well!

Coosa Valley Fair 2007

We went to the Coosa Valley Fair for our fourth year in a row. They have plenty of things for kids to do (young kids and old kids, which is great for Jon!).
They have lots or rides.
And animals for people to feed. This is the animal tent. Syl is at the right with the kids.
We watched an animal show.
The kids were mesmerized by the unusual animals.
Afterwards they went to see the zebra...
...and feed the goats and ponies.
Then we hit the rides for small kids. Syndi and Stephen are in the lead in their car...
...and Junior is trying to catch them.
Then on the motorbikes, Junior took the lead...
...and Syndi and Stephen tried to catch him.
But in the antique cars, Syndi and Junior took the lead...
...and Daddy and Stephen tried to catch them.
The kids were always anxious for the next ride.
Eventually we meandered over to the bigger rides, where we took to the carousel.
So many booths lined the way, with bright colors and lots of prizes!
They scream "come play!"
But we know to stay away!
Syndi and Junior rode on a mini roller coaster .
And Stephen found a bouncer, which he absolutely loved! We had trouble getting him out.
Syndi and Stephen peaked at the toys they offered for prizes.
But Stephen found fun in just running across the mats!
Ah...lunch!
Now if that doesn't say indigestion to you,
I don't know what does!
Corn dogs were woofed down...
...so Syndi and Junior could play peek-a-boo with the vendors. Kids don't need the rides. They find fun anywhere!
Oh the fun!
StevieBoy and JuneBug shared a seat on the Bee ride.
Then Syndi and Junior rode the swings.
Syl put Stephen on the train. Meanwhile, Jon took Syndi and Junior to some bigger rides. Unfortunately, they couldn't ride much because everything was set up for two riders. So Jon brought Syndi back...
...and Syndi rode with Stephen on the roller coaster...
...while Jon and Junior smashed the snot out of other vehicles in the bumper car arena!
Okay, actually we avoided people unless it was inevitable.
Then we'd smash the snot out of them!

Syl brought Syndi and Stephen over (and Julia, who did wonderfully in her car seat in the stroller all afternoon). So Jon and Syndi did some smashing of their own. But Syndi took the wheel, and Daddy only got the accelerator.
After we rode our final ride, we had to get a funnel cake. Above you see everyone sharing the last of that mm-mmmm good powdered sugar.
Then we headed to the display area, where Syndi found her 2nd place brownie entry!
Sylvia found her 1st-place rolls!
And Jon found his 1st-place butternut squash.

It was a lot of fun, but exhausting for all of us. We headed home, and the kids slept well that night.