The Evergreen State Fair

Today was the annual "Kelly family does the Monroe fair"...We have gone to the fair on Labor Day weekend every year for as long as we have lived back in Washington..22 consecutive years! Bree's birthday is always somewhere near Labor Day, and that's what she wants to do for her day...so, off we all go.

For the most part we have enjoyed the fair experience...there was one year when Tonya didn't want to go at all (during her teen years) and certainly made the experience less than satisfying. She spent her whole day staring at her then boyfriends picture...oh good grief! But hey, one year out of 22 isn't bad at all! Tonya has certainly come around and now is a great sport about going-although I don't believe it's her favorite thing to do!!

It's fun to do the fair now with the grandkids-they really love it. This year they loved to see the momma pig and her little babies...Bella loved to see the ducks...they had fun petting horses...Shane walked to the top of the huge slide ride and went down all by himself!...they rode a couple of rides...the boys had snow cones...Shaney Boy had to show off his new horse watch to one of the riders...Maddy filled her Crocs with ketchup!...they all rode on the horses...Auntie Bree actually held Tyson's hand!...we all ate scones...Maddy wanted to see the quilts...and best of all, nobody had a meltdown!!

The sad thing to me is now it's gotten so expensive to go. $10 admission, $10 to park, $25 for 6 kiddie rides, $7 for a sandwich, $3 to play most games...it's crazy! No wonder the fair attendance is down. No matter how much it ends up costing, I'm sure we'll continue to go , because the tradition is priceless!