State Fair

Went to the Alaska State Fair today. Well the sun is out now, now that we're done with the fair experience. But our time there was spent in a cloudy, cold, and windy environment. Layers do wonders out here, as well as a water and wind proof jacket. I was fairly warm, except formy hand and nose. I alsoneed to save the hood for rainy days, and get a sweet hat for cold and windy days. You can't really find an all weather maternity jacket easily, so hopefully my XXL all weather jacket (not maternity) will hold up for a little while longer. I noticed the belly region losing spacetoday.

Pregnancy wise, I did great today running around the fairgrounds. I only had a few contractions, ate a halibut taco (it was alright), and wasn't nauseated by the barnyard smells.

Stress wise, I did better than I expected. When you go to the state fair on the first Saturday of the season, it is going to be crowded. I don't usuallydo well in large crowd situations, add on top of that pushing a stroller, and being super pregnant, oh and I had to pee really badly and all I could see were portapotties with long lines. So the first 15 minutes or so were stressful as I assessed the crowds and looked for a decent restroom. But once tbat was achieved I was able to relax. There were millions of booths with everything from fair food to ridiculous t shirts to energy conservation to crafts to larping swords. Yes larping (live action role playing) swords.

Adi loved watching the carnival rides. She really wanted to ride them herself and didn't really understand why I wasn't letting her. And then threw a huge fit when we tried to leave that area.

We found a building with Australian animals. We saw a kangaroo, kookabura, emu, and pelicans. I've always loved pelicans,bt Inever knew how absolutely huge they were! Then we foundthe building with the judged baked goods. Rows and rows of cookies, cakes, and breads, all divided into age groups. It looked amazing. Oh and speaking of amazing baked goods, I made a black forest cake with cherry filling and a chocolate ganache topping for Mike's birthday. And yes, it would have won a ribbon, honorable mention at least.

We caught the very end of the chili cook off. Miss Alaska welcomed us into this event. Honestly, I was disappointed. Though I only tried one, I knew what each contestant was going for. They were looking to make the spiciest chili imaginable. That's not the point of chili. It's about the flavors. It made me want to make up my batch of chili. But I haveto wait until it gets a little colder.

Then we made it to the farm exhibit. I think this was all of our favorite exhibit. Mike loved the judged produce. There was a pumpkin as big around as the width of a car. There were cabbages that rivaled The Little Shop of Horrors creature. And rows and rown upon berries. There were also judged flowers. My favorite were the dahlias. I just imagined the gardens they came out of and thecare each person tookin choosing the one flower tbey would present. Adi's favorite were the chickens and roosters. She laughed hysterically each time one crowed. The judging for these went on earlier,so we sought out the placed and best in show fowl. There were also rabbits and ducks as well. Out in the main farm area were the larger farm animals. We saw a sow (she was massive) and her piglets, sheep, lambs, goats, and cows.

If you ask me, this is what a state fair is supposed to be like. I had a blast. I wish it was less crowded, that the weather was milder, and that I was less pregnant, but overall, I loved the entire day.