The Great New York State Fair-- At Last! (September 2023)

What used to be our yearly vacation to the NYS fair was foiled by Covid and lots of ill-timed van breakdowns for the last few years, which made this our only NYS adventure since 2019. It was a good day, better by far than crummy phone photos reflect.

We nailed all the highlights-- baked potatoes, Turtle Mound, the butter sculpture, gallons of chocolate milk, the butterfly booth, quilts and paintings, free flower corsages, cheese samples, the player piano, the fiber booth where Millie first met Tina, miles of walking, ducks, pigeons, chickens, bunnies, horses, cows, etc., etc., 

----   ALSO DINOSAURS!!!!!!!!-----

and then John topped it all off with outrageously expensive, tiny ice cream cones made for leprechauns followed by a family ride on the ferris wheel. 

As we walked out of the fairgrounds, a frozen yogurt vendor gave us free frozen yogurt and berry cups that were human-sized for large humans our size. They were delicious, and it made our day.

(I somehow lost all my pictures-- maybe they're on Millie's camera?--so these are from my phone and the girls' phones.)

Beauty. Remember her nine years ago?

 

Turtle Mound.

Pure butter. (Mister Joel Meyer can eat his heart out.)

Lots of walking....

Somewhere in the middle of all that walking, Zeke and Annika played the player piano. (We're of the brave few who hunt down the far corner of the fine art buildling's top story for this). 

It's very exciting. Observe.

Look who we met in the botanical garden! Friends of our favorite friends!

By rights, sleepy Ransom should have received a free espresso and puppy, but all he got was a concerned look from a passerby....or MAYBE she was just shrewdly eyeing those unattended potatoes.

We visited the chocolate milk tanks several times over the course of the day. By dusk, I'd had just shy of a A GALLON of chocolate milk! This is the one time per year when that is a badge of honor instead of a mark of gluttony. 

Okay. 

DINOSAURS!!!!!!!!

I know that these pictures are all poor-quality and won't mean much to anyone outside our family, but this exhibit was utterly thrilling to me and Skylark both. Judging by all the pictures I found on Susannah's phone of Annika posing inside dinosaurs' mouths, I think the other children must have liked it, too. 

This dinosaur was just an outdoor advertisement for the MOVING, ROARING, TAIL-SWINGING, HEAD-SWAYING, LIFE-SIZE DINOSAURS inside.  This alone had Skylark big-eyed. 

Skylark's hilarious process of dinosaur desensitization....

Um, Annika.

Please. Do. Not. Touch. Hug. The. Dinosaurs.

Moving on from GIANT dinosaurs, here are some teeeeeny, tiiiiiny ice cream cones, sized for leprechauns and priced for people who find bags of gold at the end of rainbows.

Zeke is not a fan of heights, but this ride is pretty darn high. Millie documented his love of the magical ferris wheel. (Thank goodness for the pole to anchor him for the remainder of the ride!)

The end of a Very Good Day.