Monterey County Fair

We've lived in Monterey for 3 summers now & we never went to the 

Monterey County Fair.  

So, this year when the fairgrounds started setting up their rides, ferris wheels, & fabulous food, we couldn't resist going on Military FREE day.

We had a BLAST.

First we bought a bazillion tickets for the kids to ride whatever they wanted. . . well, 4 rides each.  Lorien walked straight to the HUGE slide in the middle of the fairgrounds.  She was in heaven.

Cadence didn't want to ride anything.  She just wanted to throw ping pong balls into fishbowls to try to win a goldfish.  (We knew very well it was impossible to win, but we let her play 4 times instead of riding 4 rides.)  She was a little sad & upset, but she got over it pretty fast.

Bladen & Taya opted to ride the Raging River Raft ride.  They LOVED it & I loved seeing them be happy together.  They are such a cute little pair.

Lorien & Taya then rode the jeep ride & loved every minute of that one too.

We walked around & rode several rides, had some gelato, & walked around the farmer's market for a little bit.  Then we found an adorable little place for kids to play.  Lorien & Cadence tried their hand at roping cows.  Lorien was naturally good.  I was surprised.  Cadence was just plain adorable.  She never roped the calf, but she looked fantastic swinging that rope around.

Taya, Bladen, & Craiger found a little area with play tractors.  They got a kick out of driving them around.

Bladen's favorite part of the fair was milking the fake cow.  They had a big plastic cow with little udders that sprayed water when you "milked" them.  He LOVED it.  He was pretty good at it too.  Hmmm. . . maybe we should get a cow.  (JK)

Cadence was really good at throwing horseshoes.  Next time we play, she's on MY TEAM.

The kids found a big fun house in the adult section of the fair & insisted on going in.  Lorien got trapped in the spinning tunnel & couldn't figure out how to get out.  It was HILARIOUS.

After playing some more we went & visited all the animals being judged at the fair.  Craiger made a cow friend.

We all got some FABULOUS fair food.  The kids got corn dogs & I got me a big plate of yummy BBQ.  It was DELICIOUS.

Then, on our way out of the fair, we let the kids do ONE MORE RIDE.  They all went into the mirror maze together.  It took them a while to find their way out, but Lo was a little upset when she got out & realized it was over.  She wanted to stay in there forever.

We had a blast.  I'm SO glad we took the opportunity to go & explore at the Monterey County Fair.  I'm going to miss this area.  We've loved living here.