The Great New York State Fair!

We got up early and trekked out to Syracuse for the New York State Fair. Its been a few years since we have gone out but we still seemed to know our way around. Maddie spent about 2 hours in the Schenectady County booth helping kids make crowns. Brian and I did some wandering about but then went back to check on Maddie. Good thing because my aunt had come to meet up with us! We all had lunch together and caught up before we headed to the midway so Maddie could get her rides in.

Brian and I watched some of the social dances put on by the Native American tribes while Maddie was working after walking by some seals and saying hello! I think the state fair is one of the few places that could make that sentence possible! 

The midway is large. Maddie did a lot of the rides! The blimp kept making turns around the fairgrounds.

Maddie is up there somewhere!!

We did not have the Defibrillator sandwich. That seemed, somehow, just a bit too much! 

We also saw a bird who decided to escape from the bird sanctuary show. Someone was climbing up the tree to get the bird who simply sat there and looked at him. We opted to leave the bird catching to others and moved on to the Home Arts building where Momma took a look while Brian and Maddie took a rest on a bench.

We are not even sure what kind of bird it was! 

Some quilts that struck my fancy....flannel shirt quilt, a quilt that had patches from the National Parks on it and bookends dressed up with books! 

Then we went to see the butterflies and the DEC buildings, 2 of Maddie's favorite spots. 

Maddie has offically earned her name of "The Butterfly Whisperer"! These 2 didn't leave her until we were ready to leave the tent and they were brushed off. The one even stayed open like she had on a butterfly barrette!  

Little too big for the picture!

On our way out we stopped for some taffy and took another swing through the 4H building to get a photo of a Mohawk Monarch project and were happy to see that he got a blue ribbon for all that origami work! 

We had a great day and so much fun!! 

Fair Day 2

Yesterday morning we headed back up to the fair for another snack shop shift. After looking at the weather and seeing scattered thunderstorms in the forecast we decided earlier was better than later so Maddie could visit the places she wanted to see and hot some of the rides before we had to leave. It was a smart move! The morning was hot, humid and muggy followed by clouds we could actually see rolling in and a violent thunderstorm.

Maddie and I wore our new snack shop shirts which declare "World Class Strawberry Shortcakes" on the front and "Follow Me...." on the back! Brian liked these shirts, he didn't lose us once in the crowd all day for obvious reasons!

Our first stop on arriving at the fair was the wildlife rescue group to see the owls, falcons and hawks. I was amazed both days at how calm the birds were but the people there said they do 30-40 shows per year so they are used to people. Also making sure everyone stays in front of them helps!

Maddie's favorite, the barred owl

A saw whet owl-so tiny that he is adorable and hard to remember that he is a bird of prey!

Merlin falcon

After that we made our usual trips through the sheep barn and the horses. Maddie was as amazed as we were by the Belgian draft horses! Across the way from the draft horse barn was the giraffe who had a friend with her/him(?) this year! If you want to feed the giraffe that is the time of day to arrive. They were happy to take the carrots from Maddie as quickly as possible. I did feel bad for the animals up front and their caretaker. She was yelling at a group to "STOP DOING THAT" whatever it was it took her a couple of attempts to get them to stop. Its a job I could not do by any means because the general public are not animal savvy and frankly behave like idiots more times than not. The signs around the giraffe prove that!

After that we wandered over to the DEC tent to get some advice on where Maddie could practice archery. The gentleman there suggested that she makes friends with a person who has a lot of land and then show them she is a responsible kid. She had a really fun conversation with him and we could tell he was happy to get her involved. It is unfortunate that although New York State allows kids to target shoot there are not places for them to really practice that. So we will put our thinking caps on and see what we can do. There is a place at the fair to try your hand though! And Maddie did just that!!

We finished up our morning by hitting some of the rides! 

Then a snack shop shift and unfortunately the big storm so we headed for home! Tonight we head back for a bit to pick up projects. Before we know it the State Fair time will be here!