Fun at The Ohio State Fair

Jay and I had gone to the Ohio State Fair when we lived in Dublin at least once and maybe twice...and that would have been enough for me. Although it is fun to go, it is not something that I could go to every year, but since Mike and Jeff had never gone, we decided to go and check it out. Arabella had a ton of fun - she loved checking out all the animals and they had an area set up with just kid rides which she loved. I guess I go for the people watching - and boy is is amusing! While we were there, all you have to do is look around to see what is inherently wrong with American society - this is my inner Holistic Health & Wellness Coach talking - all the food is fried, fatty and just plain gross. If it can be fried, they will fry it, even if it wasn't meant to be fried - YUCK!! There are huge cups of soda with free refills and the candy and junk food you can buy is everywhere. The healthiest thing I could find was grilled corn on the cob - which they want to douse in butter - they looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I wanted it plain! I will get off my soap box now...we had a great day. The weather was a bit overcast, but not too warm, which made it easy to do all the walking. We had a great day, but I (and I think Mike and Jeff) can check off that box and say been there, done that! Here are some of the highlights:

Whatever happened to just plain - fried dough with powdered sugar??? When did they start putting all these toppings on them?? Guess we missed that when we were living in Montreal.

Trip to Ohio

Arabella, Max and I spent almost 2 weeks in Ohio visiting with Uncle Mike & Uncle Jeff. We decided to spend at least 10 days with them - Jay was out of town for most of the time we were gone, Arabella's school schedule will now limit our travel a bit and we wanted to just get away and relax a bit. It was a fun time. The weather was much cooler than we were used to and not as humid, it wasn't the August Ohio weather I remember when we lived there, but the change was welcome! Because of the weather, we didn't spend too much time at Uncle Mike's pool, but we still got out and enjoyed the area. Arabella was just happy to be with them. She loves spending time with them and Macy and Rocco. She is so good with the dogs and they just love her...they get a ton of extra dog treats when she visits! Max was great and started to try and crawl while we were in Ohio. We didn't do anything crazy, but it was nice just to spend time with family.

We had fun at the playground. Max and Uncle Mike explored the trees and leaves...Max loved it! Max had his first swing ride and also went down the slide for the first time with Arabella, although he wasn't too sure what to make of either one!

I love this picture of Uncle Mike and Arabella...I wonder what they are talking about...

Uncle Jeff is the Max whisperer...he can always get him to go to sleep! Max and Rocco got along just fine. And Rocco would act like Max was his baby and keep watch over him. Macy even got in on the action. Max was pretty nonchalant about it and just went with the flow.

One day when it was overcast and a bit drizzly, we went to an indoor play place. Not as nice as Zig Zag Zoo, but it worked. And surprisingly, it wasn't busy. Arabella had fun climbing about with Uncle Mike. Arabella and I had a ball fight in the ball pit. Max wasn't sure what to make of the ball pit. After we had enough of the play scape, we went and played some games. Arabella loved playing skee ball and was pretty good at it. We had a great time and it was a fun afternoon. She was so excited to win tickets and then pick out a prize before going home. The prizes were not the greatest, but they were good enough for a 5 year old.

We tried the pool one day, but didn't last long...the water was a bit chilly and the sun clouded over when we got to the pool!

We had such a great time. Here are a few more random shots that I took...