To the Fair and Back

We have been pretty busy! We went to the Alaska State Fair..twice! Went one weekend with Michael, and then he left for our moose season. Later, we went again (drove up this time) with Grandma Pat who is visiting from Washington.

We landed in Palmer. Getting ready to head out for the 2 mile walk to the fair.












Pretty fields and round bales of hay along the way.

Watching dog events in the Matanuska Corral.

Chena won a Grand Champion ribbon with her photography entries. Penelope won blue ribbons with her beaded earrings and educational display of Edward Hopper. See top left of photo for Chena's winning photo, a picture of our dog, Moses.

Girls in front of flower display, depicting our great state's flag.





Chena..so patient, loving, sweet, a perfect angel...right?




Not so much!


Gimme a break Mom, do you have to take a picture of EVERY flower you see?

Everyone knows how much I hate spiders. Shudder! Had to grab a pic of this one though, with its cabbage body! This thing was HUGE. Michael wanted me to go pose with it. Uh, no thanks. I will just take the picture from afar, thank you very much.

Getting our designer icecream cones, a yearly fair tradition.

Yum Yum! I believe the combination they chose this year was vanilla icecream, chocolate dipped, and rolled in Oreo cookie.

Cheering on the rat at the Rat Race!

Just look at this gorgeous setting we have for our Alaska State Fair.

A crowd shot but soooo funny! I call it "C'mon Grandma, let's race!"

Cute hubby trying to figure out how many game tickets to buy. (Ever notice how its nearly impossible to figure it right? You get too few and have to go back and stand in line again, or you get so many you give them away at the gate to the smart parents who didn't bother buying any because they knew fools like you would be giving them away at the gate!!)

Oh boy, we got tickets...what rides should we go on?

I love Hydrangea. This one was big and simply lovely!

We had so much fun! Its our annual tradition to fly up to Palmer, and we look forward to it all year. Little did we know, history was being made..right there on that Sunday afternoon! Sarah Palin was at the fair that day too. And while we were standing in lines, tripping over strollers, and eating too much junk food, her whole world was changing. She got the call on her cell phone from Senator McCain, while at the Alaska State Fair! Its just such an exciting time for Alaska!

Well, we just missed the fair so much...so a week later we went back! Only this time we drove instead of flew.

We had lots of fun. It was sunny and HOT! I bought a Mccain/Palin hoodie, and we were excited by all the tee shirts we saw everywhere. Grandma Pat loved the Lumberjack show. We went to all the exhibit halls, and especially loved my friend's special quilt on display. We took Grandma to all of our favorite foods too.

We stayed at a very special place, a B & B I love called Pioneer Ridge. Our family has lots of special memories there. Each room has a different theme. Its really cool!

The suite was huge. We were so worn out from the fair events, the next morning we just ate a big gourmet breakfast, had wonderful coffee, and just layed around. We got a late checkout so we could completely relax. It was ahhhhhhhhhhh...so nice.

Grandma and the girls at Pioneer Ridge.