Lights, Farm Animals, & Fried EVERYTHING
Last week we hit up the State Fair of Virginia as a special little outing with Clara and my parents.
Don’t worry, we didn’t actually take Clara on a roller coaster. This was a fun little photo-op they had set up (like the ones below) that we were dorky enough to enjoy (it was rightside-up with an upside-down backdrop, and we flipped the photo after we snapped it). Bravo to Clara for actually putting her hand up!
We were most excited to show Clara all of the farm animals, since cows and chickens are pretty much her Justin Bieber. Look at her staring in awe:
She was equally excited by all of the sights and lights, so we may have pushed bedtime back a little bit…
…and had some dessert in its place.
She put that momentary sugar rush to good use by getting some quality time with Tom Tom (that’s what she calls my dad) watching the rides.
Maybe next year we’ll actually ride some.
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That girl is too sweet! You guys are hilarious in the photo ops!
She is too stinkin cute! Love the cut outs – Clara looks just like Sherry. Sorry, I know everyone says John but I see Sherry SO much.
T.O. she’s looks like Tom Tom in that last pic!
We were there Sunday, it was so much fun! I was the one screaming bloody murder on..wait for it…..the tilt a whirl.
Those fair photo-op cut-outs will always have a special place in our hearts.
PS- Thanks for switching it up for the “couple on a beach” cut out, you are both really looking your finest ;)
That is so funny! We went to a county fair just this past weekend. Its funny that your posting it right now because I just got done posting our trip yesterday XD. Hope you all had as much fun as I know we did.
Aww, you should have ridden the carousel with Clara! I have the cutest picture of my son at her age just holding on to the horse’s bar for dear life. Of course, I was holding on to him, but man, was it one of the greatest moments of his little life. Oh, by the way, I’m your camera/photog-skills admirer. :) What settings did you use for your night shots? I’m jealous, as it looks like you didn’t even use flash!
We used the A mode for our camera (a Nikon D3000) which allows us to manually adjust the exposure and aperture. We put it on night mode for the darker shots but didn’t use a flash. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Clara looks like she had a great time. I live in Dallas, Tx so we actually just went to our State Fair of Texas last week. We go every year and this year was the best. My daughter Ava is now 5 years old so she was able to ride the kid’s rides for the first time so that was really fun even for us. Trust me every year Clara will love it more and more!!! Thanks for sharing!
Weirdest fried food you saw? We just went to the state fair in N.C. and saw a Krispe Kreme Cheeseburger and deep-fried butter… keyword SAW, not ate! I cant imagine the point of deep fried butter…
Haha we saw deep fried oreos and deep fried twix but no butter!
xo,
s
Deep fried butter???? That’s a bit much…who even wants to eat that??? Gotta love the fair..lol
We live in Indiana and had deep fried koolaide this year! I don’t try anything but the deep fried chocolate (reese cup, snickers, twix, oreos) but we also had the krispe kreme cheeseburger and butter.
we went to the VA state fair, too and i definitely saw signs for doughnut burgers – just the thought of it makes me ill! that and they also had at least one place that was selling pork parfaits! (it looked to be pulled pork and mashed potatoes) – i felt like i was getting fat just walking past these places!!!
Sarah are you from Evansville? We have a fall festival here and they had all that including deep-fried smores. I wanted to try it but didn’t get around to it. The deep-fried oreo was delish though! Sherry did you try one?
Not this trip, but we’ve had them before (actually, at a street fair back in NYC) and THEY. ARE. AWESOME.
xo,
s
I LOVE deep-fried butter! It’s really just a donut hole with a chunk of butter in the middle. The butter melts so when you bite into it you just get this yummy buttery donut with cinnamon sugar. I figure it’s a once-a-year only-at-the-Fair experience.
Too cute! Love her little pink hoodie. :) Nothing like a wee one to remind us of how awesome things are.
Aww I love Clara’s jacket! So cute. Looks like you guys had a blast. Do you guys like roller coasters? I like ones with corkscrews the best! :)
Yes we love them! The faster and loopier, the better.
xo,
s
My bff and I used to go the fair in Memphis just for the food. We’d walk around eating and people watching/judging. It was pretty much perfect.
What I wouldn’t give for a funnel cake and a pronto pup (NOT the same as a corn dog) right now!
Oh looks like so much fun! I really wanted to go but our schedule didn’t have room :( So glad y’all had a great time!!!
So cute! I can’t wait to take Canon to his first fair this year. I haven’t been in years so it will be an adventure for all of us.
great pictures, especially that first one.
looks like you had a great time!
The photos of Clara with the chickens and ice cream are so adorable!
Clara’s kitty jacket is SO CUTE! I love it!
This looks like so much fun! My husband and I are going to ours in a week! Yaaaay!
Aww, I’m with Clara. More than two decades later, I still find those baby chicks enthralling. Too cute!
We went to the Virginia state fair too! My daughter is a month younger than Clara and she was in LOVE with all the animals! She squealed and danced any time we were anywhere within eyesight of an animal… so basically all day! Glad yall had a good time! :) I love the roller coaster picture!!
Love this! Great quality family time. :)
Too precious. I can’t wait to share special nights like this with our 7 month old. Yay for ice cream instead of bedtime!
I was in Target the other day and notice a large selection of soda related t-shirts on display. I was thinking that John may need to add to his collection.
Haha- that’s where he gets most of his. Target enables his addiction!
xo,
s
On that note…I’ve seen women’s soda tee’s at target as well! Just in case you wanted to wear something to get John’s attention ;)
Actually at my Target yesterday the soda t’s were on sale for $6.98. I bought my husband the Mt. Dew one for fun. John might want to check it out!
I’m on it!
-John
Too cute! We took Sonia to a fall festival at a local farm & she LOVED the baby ducks & chicks too :)
We were all… “Don’t you want to ride the horsey? Or pick a pumpkin?”
“No! Duckies!!!!”
Kids :)
PS — Ugh. Gonna have to stop using emoticons. I like the regular type ones, but not the cartoon ones. Is it just me, or are they a little creepy-looking?
Haha- they just pop up outta nowhere.
xo,
s
Agreed! I just turned them off so we no longer get the cartoon ones. Phew!
-John
what a great family outting! I gotta ask, where did you get that cute jacket Clara is wearing in the pics – with the awesome cat on the back! adorable :-)
That’s a hand me down from her cousin Elsa but I think it’s from The Gap originally. So cute!
xo,
s
oh, the memories this brings back! i live in NC now & the NC state fair is just not the same as the VA state fair, although i haven’t been to the new fairgrounds.
i love the wonder on clara’s face looking at the animals. i used to work at young mcdonald’s farm at the VA state fair every year. the best part was when we switched out the baby ducks from their slide area. nothing like a bucket of squirming, quacking baby ducks to bring the kids running.
OMG, Clara is the cutest kid ever!
I totally forgot that it was that time of year again. I need to get down to Richmond for the fair.
Clara’s sweet little expressions make my heart smile. Too cute. :-)
Aw man, I miss going to the fair! Was a big thing back in Michigan but we’ve yet to go to the fair here (VA). I love your cute photo ops. I’m sure Clara loved all the lights and new things to see!
She is adorable!
Fairs are so much fun! I hadn’t been to one since I was about 6 years old, but I just went to my hometown’s county fair this past summer and I had a blast. Where other than a fair can you find the deliciousness that is fried oreos and fried Kool-Aid?
we took our 15 month old son to the VA state fair. he LOVED the animals! he got to pet a sheep, some piglets and the alpacas and loved watching the duckies, but sadly none of them went down the slide while we were there :o(
did clara get to see any of the ducklings go down the slide into the water?
One did go down while we were there (accidentally, I think) but she was too distracted the bottle of corn and barley she was shaking to notice it.
-John
Awesome, looks like you all had a great time. :)
Deep fried butter? Wow, here in Canada we don’t do a lot of deep frying. Just the fried, doughnuts, and corn dogs.
Am I the only one who turned my head upside down to check out the first pic? LOL
Very cute! Taking my child to the fair brings back the magic it brought me when I was a little girl.
When I was pregnant, summer 2010, I was very inspired by the weekly photos of your beautiful Clara. Loved the idea and determined to try it when my son was born!
Well…Jack came 6 weeks early so by the time life settled down (1 month in the hospital is no fun at all) it was his due date before I starting taking photos. Not only that, but after Jack was born we discovered he has a condition called Achondroplasia, or dwarfism. This is the most common form of dwarfism and it happens randomly, usually 1 in ever 20,000 births. There are really no health complications for him, he is just small (at 1 year he is the size of a 3-6 month old).
He is such a treasure and I wanted to thank you so much for inspiring me to photograph him weekly for the first year of his life. I put the photos together as a book on Blurb – here is a link if you’d like to check it out.
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2569005?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget
oops…I just realized I posted this comment on the wrong blog post! Meant to do it on the 17 one. :)
I love it! He’s adorable. Love the photo with the basketball and the sunglasses- and all of them! So sweet!
xo,
s
I can’t believe that Clara has a Tom Tom, too! My boys call my father TomTom and it’s so unique that I never would have thought another grandfather out there went by the same name. I love it!
That’s too funny! Not sure how my dad ended up with the name (my sister, who has a 13 year old, got to establish the grandparent names) but the kids love it.
-John
Looks like fun! My kids would have loved the animals too!
I want to go every year, but my husband is such brat & won’t take us! I heard it hasn’t been as great since they moved locations a few years back. Last time I went, I was in highschool! Maybe next year {sigh}.
can’t get over the fact that Clara put her hand up in that photo! flipping adorable
Awww, love the shot of Clara with her grandpa! We went to the fair with my parents and had a blast. Sophia’s four, so she could enjoy rides and such. Jonathan’s just a month older than Clara but he had a good time too. Love doing special things with the g-parents!
Another great place to check out with Clara is the Belvedere Plantation up in Fredericksburg. I think they’re open for another two weekends, but they have lots of animals, pig races, and games for kiddos of all sizes. (unfortunately not too many games for adults without kids, but there is a sweet pumpkin cannon)