Indiana State Fair

We decided to brave the heat and check out the Indiana State Fair while we were in town. All I can say is ..... WOW ...... that was huge! I've been to county fairs before, but never anything like this. And as strange as it was to me, the fair grounds were right downtown and it was complete concrete! All the fairs I've been to have been in huge grass fields. So, it was a totally different experience, but a lot of fun. We got there at about 12:00 pm - dumb time to start walking around since it is the hottest time of day, but we managed. We met up with some folks that Scott had done work for in Charlotte and they enjoyed the day with us. We headed towards the rides first...Grant hit up the spinning strawberries (which came close to making Scott puke) and the big burlap sack slide (which almost killed the both of them! And Scott lost a shoe...which was quickly recovered). I wasn't able to ride anything because of my "temporary tag-along" :), so Scott had to do all the riding. No problem though...I got to take all the photos, which was cool.

Next, we made friends with all of the animals, and boy were there bunches of 'em! Horses, sheep, pigs, cows...oh, and the occasional elephant ;) (more to come on that in a bit). Grant loved checking out all of the animals and making lots of noises...talking to them I guess?!?! The horse here on the right was hilarious. She spent about 10 minutes letting us scratch her through the bars and rubbing against us. She was quite the ornary thing but super sweet too! Made me want to take another one home again. Boy, do I miss horses! After the horses we hit up the cow building - poor things were all so hot and pitiful. Grant was definitely a fan of the cows! I think he would have taken one with him if he could have. Talk about fresh milk! lol

After hitting up the animal barns, we headed (with a LONG walk) to the Riley Fun Park for kids to check out the rides there. We found exactly what we were looking for at the first turn into the park. The Pony Rides!!!! Grant was looking forward to being able to ride the animals they had there so we induldged. I thought it was a little lame...but it was only $3 so I guess you get what you pay for?!?! He was tossed up in saddle and off he went for a one lap around the fence. He loved it! All smiles the whole time. But, then the BIG event...the event Grant had been waiting for since we got to Indiana.....

DUM DUM DUM!!!!

THE ELEPHANT RIDE

Just imagine, a little four year old boy walking up to an elephant and getting a chance to ride one! Well, doesn't sound so exciting to us grown-ups, but let me tell you that this was one of the highlights of the day. I think Scott was a little grossed out by the concept at first, but honestly, those elephants are probably cleaner than our dogs! lol They are constantly getting hosed off and scrubbed down. Anywho, Grant and I got in line to ride the elephant. I thought for sure I'd be able to ride with him...how dangerous could riding an elephant in an enclosed seat be? More than I thought I guess because the lady taking the money immediately kicked me out of line! lol So I called Scott over and sent him on the elephant. Again, not something I think he favored, but gladly took Grant. It was an awesome experience for the two of them. Grant had a great time and was totally enthralled. Scott enjoyed himself more than he expected too! It was a pretty amazing concept.

You can see by the photo above that Grant got to feed some of the baby animals. Check out his face...you'll know he loved that! The baby cows also loved the food, so it was a good trade off. Although, I should have taken a picture of what happened after Grant was done feeding the cows.....hahahaha! Lets just say that he was grossed out and ran to wipe his hands on the first thing he could find - which happened to be his Dad's shirt! LOL We caught him in time though and took him to the hand washing station! hehe This doesn't surpise me at all with Grant though - that little boy doesn't like to be dirty!



On the way out, we used up our last tickets to ride the ferris wheel. Scott stayed ground level while I rode with Grant. No one kicked me off of this one and I figured that it was as safe as a ride could get. Although I hate heights it was neat to see the ride from a child's eyes for the first time. Grant LOVED the "big wheel"!!! The higher we were the more fun he was having. We actually stopped at the top for a while so he enjoyed the view.