small town county fair Americana

tis my favorite season of the year.  The rustling of the fallen leaves in that cool autumn breeze while the sun shines down with the fading summer warmth.  One of my favorite fall traditions is to visit our local county fair with my parents and sister (and Kev) for the yummy eats, amusements, and all the small town Americana goodness.  

The giant slide was the biggest hit of the night, especially with our Va-vi who wanted to ride it several times in a row by grabbing each of our hands and pulling us towards the entrance gate as soon as she reached the bottom of slide. 

Greyson tried the rock wall this year and after a few minutes of hesitation, it took only the challenge of getting to the top like the older boy in the next harness for him to perk up and scale that wall like it was easy.  He was so proud!

We had dinner, played some games, and of course hit all the rides the kids requested.  Violet was tall enough to ride the little roller coaster this year, and just like her older bro and sis when they were two before her - cried the entire time.  Three for three! Rusty got to take a ride on the carousel and then spent the most of the night in the carrier taking in all the sights and sounds. 

And the animal barns!  Another of our favorites, talking to all the 4H kids that are eager to share the names and information about their animals with our excited kids who practically skip through the barns peeking in and sweetly greeting each animal.

happy fall ya'll.
hehhhe.
xxoxo

The County Fair

It's one of my favorite early fall traditions to head out to our local county fair with my parents for an evening.  We made good on that tradition in early September this year and spent a great evening riding rides, making memories, and visiting with the animals.  Here's a little recap of some serious family fun at the Cambria County Fair this year.

We headed out to the county fair on a night that had beautiful weather, we caught a quick bite to eat and then under the demands of the small children in our group - we made our way to the amusement rides because they needed to ride.all.the.rides.  Even our little Violet Mary (an old pro at riding the kiddie rides at this point, ha) was deliriously happy to get on as many rides as possible.

The big kids even braved the ferris wheel this year with Chum and Aunt Uch!  Greyson and Gemma enjoyed the kiddie rollercoaster while Violet cheered happily from the sidelines.  Violet loved riding the kiddie cars (she cried each time I took her off the ride) and the kids happily went through the mixed up house about twenty times.  Uch and I rode the salt and pepper shaker ride (upside down!) and then Brandon and I rode the Spider/Scrambler ride - both of which I just laughed/screamed the entire time.  Amusement parks are getting so much more fun now that the kids are getting taller and brave enough to ride 'real' rides.  Poor Gem was just shy by about an inch for the big rides, but we told her that by next year, she'll be on all of them right next to Booboo!

Violet got a special treat with Abba!  They took a ride on a camel!  Both Violet and Abba's first camel ride, hah!  Now that is one lucky baby.  Violet wasn't afraid at all and afterward spent some time staring at and speaking weird baby/camel sounds to him.

We spent time on the rides well into the dark and then headed over to the animal barns to visit with them for a little while.  It was getting late (and a school night!) so we went through a little quicker than we have in past years - the kids so interested in rides contributed to this too! - but the kids still love to look at all the animals and ask a million times when we're getting a horse/cow/sheep/goat/pig.  

Another memorable year of county fair memories for all of us!

Quemahoming Dam, our local 'beach'

The Quemahoming Dam is about a stones throw away from our house (technically about 8 minutes driving) and one of our absolute favorite little pieces of heaven.  We 'discovered' it last summer, but it wasn't until this summer that our real love affair with this place blossomed.

There are so many wonderful things about the Que that I can appreciate as a Mum to three little kids.  First, it's so close by and inexpensive to visit ($5 to park).  It's almost never super crowded and I can usually grab a picnic table with no trouble.  The water is clean and clear and the depth of water is so gradual that our little crawling Violet can happily splash about freely with no waves or drop off into the water.  The kids love it because 'the rule' is that they are allowed to walk in (with no floaties) up to their chests!  There's sand for building castles and a playground for when/if they get board of swimming and digging. The kids call it 'the beach' Did I mention it's a little piece of heaven yet?

We met our friends the Stifflers there and spend a whole day with six kids, none of whom whined in the least bit while they played and swam the sunny day away.  It was such a perfect day to spend chatting and giggling with Ang (my friends since elementary school!) while played happily for all of nearly four hours!!

When Caleb was spending a playday with us and Violet was cranky from cutting teeth, I packed the lot of them into the truck and we went to the Que to spend the afternoon because sometimes they just need space to run!  That little trip for a picnic lunch and wide open spaces (with water!) totally changed all of our moods around and burned some serious kid energy.

We had our last day of summer party there on the Sunday before the school year started.  We spend the afternoon playing, swimming, and picnicking with our friends and family as we squeezed the last juice out of the season of bathing suits and suntans.

We thought the Last Day of Summer picnic was our farewell to the Quemahoming, but then after a hot Labor Day working around the house outside at home, Brandon and I decided we could all use a little holiday joy and we headed out to the Que for some early evening sand digging and swimming. It was a little chilly (we still got in) and there were a few fallen leaves floating on the water (that made for fun pretend fish to catch), and the water was a little lower (they released some recently) but our Labor Day evening at the Que was a perfect farewell to our local 'beach.' 

In early September, my sisters requested that we all sign up for a 5K together and guess where it was being held, yep, at the Que!  So I got signed up and signed the two big kids up for the kiddie race and we met our Adams family there on the last Saturday of September to run in the Que Classic.  On the drive over, Gemma shouted at us from the backseat, "I thought we were going to the race!  Why are you driving to the beach!?" 

The kiddie race was first and our kids were overjoyed to see their cousins and a few of Grey's 'school friends' there.  Gemma was excited until it was time to line up and she got really nervous about all the kids running at the same time.  I asked Grey to stay beside her this race even if it meant he had to run slower than the other kids.  He agreed because I told him he could run his fastest in the 6-8 year old race next.  I'm pretty sure Gemma just cried and wailed the entire lap, but the girl finished despite being afraid!  Grey ran with the 6-8 year olds (technically he's almost five and a half) and the look on all their faces when they found out it was two laps around this time was so exasperated, poor little things.  But Grey pushed through it and came in SECOND PLACE!  I know, I was near tears of pride and surprise.

photo cred: Ken Fochtman

Grey headed out to a hockey clinic with Heather and Caleb (thank you again!!) and Brandon had the girls in the stroller while I ran the 5K with my parents and two sisters.  I was so happy to see my dear friend Stacy there (! finally.  I MISS YOU. #busymomsprobs) and our cousins the Garretsons and Albert (Caleb's Dad) too.  There were tons of racers which was awesome and the music and pep talks got everyone excited and warmed up since it was a pretty chilly morning, especially being so close to the dam. 

photo credit:  Ken Fochtman

Our family all stuck together through the duration of the race and my sisters and I had fun cheering for the 10k racers that were passing us on their way back in to their finish line.  It is so inspiring to see the different kinds of people that push themselves to do their own personal bests.  All kinds of runners, speed walkers,walkers, and stroller pushers from all different ages, sizes, personalities, and places in their life.  Something about a race really gets me in the guts.

We made it to the finish line as a family (holding hands because my sisters and I love being weirdos) and relished in the fact that we can all do this together as a family; all healthy and together.  #luckiest

photo cred:  Ken Fochtman

So, basically this entire post is a love letter to the Quemahoming Dam, our local 'beach.'
Until next season, Que.  We will be thinking about you fondly until warmer weather comes back to us.
xoxxo,
Team Studer
(especially the Mumma)