The Bolton Fair

Last weekend, it was a gorgeous summer day and after watching Dan play frisbee for a game, we headed over to the Bolton Fair for some old school county fair fun.  After parking among hundreds of other cars and wading through the tall grass, we arrived at the fair and I was pleased that there was only an admission fee for me--both kids were free!

We saw a sheep dog demonstration, a birds of prey exhibit with amazing owls, played some drums, and then made our way to the kiddie amusement area.  We walked around scoping out what rides Finley would want to try and then bought some tickets.  Finley's first choice: the crazy bus!

 He was bouncing with anticipation as we waited our turn.

 Finally, we boarded the "bus" and while Dagny wasn't thrilled---she was a good sport.

Accidental selfie by Finley.

 Here was our view from the top.

 Finley loved it!

 Then, it was Dagny's choice and she chose the carousel which we all hopped on.  Finley headed for the tractor ride after that which was a group of stationary, sparkly tractors that went around and around on a circular track--it went faster than he was anticipating, but he smiled and waved as we watched.  Finally, Finley climbed through a tunnel/net obstacle course.

 Dagny tried going in and Finley was a dutiful older brother, guiding her through, but she chickened out and came back out rather quickly. Finley pressed on and eventually came out.

 We walked further on and made our way to the huge sand pile.  Child Heaven.

 "Snowing down!"

There was a bobcat and a mini-excavator for the kids to climb near the pile and the entire pile was next to the tractor pull arena!  Genius.  I probably could have wandered off and neither Finley or Dagny would have noticed or cared.

 Then, it was tractor pulling time!

Finley tried out the bobcat.

 And for the first time after dozens of truck driving opportunities, Dagny pleaded to get into the seat and both kids "drove" the mini-excavator for a while.

 When I was finally able to drag them from the sand, trucks, and tractors -- we couldn't just pass by the brand new mowers, backhoes, and tractors that were on display and probably for sale.

 Dagny  LOVED this riding mower.  She climbed in, asked to be buckled, and then "drove" for quite a while.

 With the promise of a fire truck that I had spotted earlier, we left the tractors.  Finley got to spray a real fire hose (with great accuracy, I may add) and then both kids got into the fire truck though I only managed to snap Ms. D.

 By now it was well past lunch so we wandered through the food options and I spotted a vendor that boasted "100% vegetable oil" so I inquired about peanuts and they assured me it would be 100% safe for our little allergy guy.  I ordered some sweet potato fries and a fresh squeezed lemonade and we found a shady spot to eat.  Kids devoured everything and just as we were headed out, we saw a free popsicle stand and couldn't resist.

 While it was an odd-tasting tangerine-carrot popsicle, free is free!

We were lucky enough to find our car without too much searching and the kids blabbed about the fair all the way home before passing out for much needed naps for all three of us.  When Dagny woke up, she immediately asked, "Can we go to the fair now?" Next year, sweet girl, next year :)