And then there is this...

Granted, we enjoy ourselves tremendously each and every year at the fair (as you have seen!). And we haven’t even come close to sharing all our photos and activities with you.... don’t worry, we won’t share them all! But, I suppose every good thing can have a downside. Welcome to that part of our trip. :)

For Jonathan, it began here - with the guy he would later call “Rip Off Rodney”. Each boy had an equal amount of money to spend at the fair. Almost immediately, Jonathan began begging to spend his at this place on an extremely overpriced, junk rate toy. You know what I thought. I also remembered that every single year we have the same argument with me explaining that it is all cheap junk, worse than Walmart and not a very good buy. Then with him coming back with the fact that they have the COOLEST toy ever! So, this year, I finally decided to let him learn his own lesson, however painfully. I took Jonathan up to the counter and even added in the extra dollar he needed to make his purchase. I cringed when “Rip Off Rodney” stuck change IN his MOUTH to hold while he counted off bills. Yuck!!!! I couldn’t help but imagine that my change had once been in there, too. Nevertheless, Jonathan proudly purchased his toy and, I kid you not, we weren’t even out of sight of the tent when one piece of it started breaking. Nothing like a tough lesson learned at the fair. From then on whenever we passed the tent Jonathan would say “there’s old Rip Off Rodney!” :)

there he is in the red shirt  :) 

But, little did we know what awaited us on Sunday afternoon. Just look who rolled in and became our new neighbors! I seriously started looking for the Candid Camera crew.

Notice the party deck on top - right next to the strobe light!  

You have got to be kidding me!  :) 

What fun to have my youngest say “Mom! Look! There are girls in bikini’s on the roof of the neighbors!” Lovely.... To top it all off, they had a GINORMOUS generator on the back of this thing. It was SO loud! The only good news was that we left to attend a horse show and when we came back, the generator was off, but there was another loud sound that kept going on and off. Of course, they were long gone (we finally figured out that they were a band playing at the Bud tent) so we just listened and wondered. Finally, we realized it was their air conditioner (mounted on their roof) and that it was seriously near the end of its life. I was feeling quite stressed and couldn’t sleep because of the racket while Marvin slept blissfully on. Finally, I awakened him and hissed, “What about when that thing finally explodes and comes crashing in through our baby’s window.... THEN what will we do?” Obviously, I was a bit sleep deprived and my husband is an absolute ANGEL of a man, but I digress. After he assured me that an electric air conditioner would simply quit working and would in no way crash through any of our windows maiming our children I fell asleep. Well, actually, I tried to stay awake and think bad thoughts about these folks, but the air conditioner must have finally died and I inadvertently fell asleep. The next thing I knew, it was about 2:00 a.m. and I heard a voice directly outside my window saying, “Dude! These people have a plug in that looks like it works!” As I shot up to awaken Marvin again (poor guy) I heard another say, “Dude!!! I think it’s NOT the plug in! Come look!” I guess they figured out their problem.

Thankfully, they only stayed 2 nights and so all in my world was returned to peace again. And in my poor husbands.

That poor air conditioner on top toward the front was on its last leg...

And you can see the ginormous generator at the back there...

Here is a link to an entire album of photos from the whole fair.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/williscreekranch/albums/72157692660520921

3 Comments
De'Etta
Laura,
What a gorgeous wedding....and I loved all the fair pictures. I've never thought of camping by the state fair....hmmm.... Thanks for sharing it was fun to follow along with you.

Friday, August 29, 2008 - 05:38 PM

Debbie

Laura, your blog is letting me comment today! Yea!
I loved reading all your posts about the fair. Your state fair looks huge and what a lot to see. I had to do a google search and check it out. What fun!
Thanks for sharing all the great photos.
Saturday, August 30, 2008 - 10:01 PM

Laura
De'Etta - Yes, it was a lovely wedding! :) And we do enjoy camping at the fair. It isn't too expensive, it is full hookup and makes it easy to just meander into the fair or come back on a hot afternoon.... whatever. We like it!

Debbie -
I am so glad you can comment now! Our fair is really nice, although, if you can believe it, the Iowa State Fair is even better! We attended that one for many years while I was growing up and my uncle and aunt still attend that one each year. You might check out the old movie version of State Fair (the 1930's or so version) - it is supposed to take place at the Iowa State Fair. Obviously the fair has changed since then (grin) but it shows how well known it has always been. I'll bet your state fair is wonderful, too! Hope you get a chance to check it out sometime. But I do recommend to stay awhile, enjoy it all and keep an eye out for the unlisted events. Often, each building will have its own schedule of events beyond what is listed on the main fair program. That is where the "gems" are often found.  :)

Saturday, August 30, 2008 - 11:39 PM