North Carolina State Fair!

Be warned... there are ALOT of photos in this post!  We had such a great day, it was hard to choose just one or two!

I had never been to a state fair before meeting Charles.   He took me to the North Carolina State Fair in 1998, when we had just started dating. Going to the fair is one of our most cherished memories as a couple, and we were both looking forward to making Mallory's first fair adventure the best ever!

Here is the gang, ready to hit the fair! 

Baby Roy, Mallory, Chrissy, Jeanne (Jeff's Mom), Uncle Johnny, Amber and Charles.

(Granny Peg took the picture!)

Let the adventure begin!

See the giant ferris wheel in the background?

Our first snack at the fair.... Cotton Candy, of course!  Mallory was in HEAVEN!

And our first ride?  The carousel with Daddy!

Mallory and Daddy also went on the GIANT slide.... Mallory wasn't scared AT ALL!

Running off to find the next adventure!

At Mallory's request, we ALL went on the teacups.

We thought it was a great idea.... see all the fun she's having?

Still having a great time.... so much for that moton sickness thing she used to have.... right?

.... oops, maybe we spoke too soon....

Yeah, we were just PRAYING the ride would end before she tossed her cookies... or rather, cotton candy...  luckily, all ended well!

... so well, infact, that she asked to go on the swings!  These were kid-sized ones that didn't go so high or so fast... she and her Daddy had a great time!

Right next to the swings was this "ride".... Mallory thought she wanted to go on it, but the line was WWWAAAYYY long.  These are giant "hamster balls" that velcro shut and float on the water.  All the kids LOVED it- the people working would spin them and splash the water to bounce them around.  It looked fun... but also seemed a bit unsanitary!

So, we decided to wait in line for the Ferris Wheel instead.  Mommy has decided you have not been to the fair until you ride the ferris wheel.  Mallory was proud to hold ALL of our tickets!

The best (and worst) part of the ferris wheel is wating for all the loading and unloading of the cars.  But We sure enjoyed the view up there!

And right next door was the rest of our crew!  Granny Peg volunteered to stay down with the strollers- which was SO nice of her!

And check out all the people that were there!  This was the last day of the fair, and it was seriously MOBBED!

We had to get a picture with this stilt lady!

Mallory and Mommy enjoying the day!

What is a fair without a petting zoo?  Mallory visited with each and every goat... all 46 of them!

And they each were rationed to ONE carrot slice each, too!

This poor llama was just trying to take a nap.... but the goats just "walked all over him"- literally!

This alpaca got a little treat from Mallory, too!

Then, Mallory got another treat for herself... a giant candy apple!

There was SO much more we did that day- mainly revolving around food... Amber's first fried Snickers bar, fried oreos, country ham biscuits, sweet tea, carolina bar-b-que, and of course NC State's Dairy's ice cream.  With all the eating, the camera just didn't come out.... but we sure had a great time!

Now, one treat we DIDN'T partake of, was the novelty at this year's fair- the Krispy Kreme burger- basically a bacon cheeseburger using Krispy Kremes as the bun.  At just over 1200 calories, it was a guilty "pleasure" for sure, but none of us were brave enought to find out!