County Fair

We went to the County Fair last night. It was fun to see people we knew in the parade - and we walked away with a grocery sack of free stuff from Right to Life stickers to Milkbones (Why did the kids pick up dog treats? I don't know; I guess we'll save them for Sophie). We got pens, pencils, a free newspaper, freezer pops, bottled water and candy. TONS of candy. OK, not literally tons - but seven pounds is a lot of candy (yes, we weighed it, bagged it, and hid it). At the fair, after the parade, there was free ice cream. Admission to the fair - to see all the animals, tractors, and 4H displays - is free, so I shouldn't complain about the price of the rides, but here it is:

We were going to take the kids on the Ferris Wheel this year. At the ticket booth we read that the Ferris Wheel is 4 tickets per person (excluding Stephen) at $0.50 per ticket. Have you done the math? $2 per person is $10 for our family to ride the Ferris Wheel. That's one time on one ride. We could swear that last year the tickets were only $0.25. We were prepared to spend $5, but twice that? Tell me, would you have gone? We didn't. The sticker shock blew us away. After an evening of FREE everything, $10 for our family to ride the ferris wheel took us by total surprise. We'll arrive prepared next year...with $12 in hand for our family of six to ride the Ferris Wheel and the hope that they don't double the price again...otherwise the kids will have to be satisfied with a ride on the carousel (or another one of the 2-ticket kiddie rides).

To end on a positive note, we got to watch our friends daughter win the "Best-dressed Goat" contest. Her goat was naughty during the showmanship competition earlier in the day, but won the crowd - and judges - over as a member of the Red Hat Society.