The city boys hit the country

In MA, I had no interest in going to the county fairs. There is no country in eastern MA, so what kind of fair would there be? Crowded, full of rides and games, but no real fair feel.

Now that we are in the heart of Ohio, it's time to introduce the boys to the good 'ole country fair. I had no idea how citified my boys were though.

Firstborn decided he was far too sophisticated to go to a fair. Lastborn could only think of the food. We attended the Green County Fair. Not that we live in Green County, but the Montgomery County Fair is in the city and it's exactly what I was trying to avoid in MA, though there would still be more livestock to see in Montgomery County than in any of the county fairs in MA. The Green County fair is really small compared to the Altamont Fair that I grew up with. They have very few events and the barns are newer and smaller. They did have some livestock judging which Firstborn decided was boring. He also decided that the fair was for people younger than him, even though I showed him kids his age and older who were showing livestock. He said they had to be there because they were showing their animals. No, you can't explain to a 12 year old that they don't have to show their animals, they want to. He was deep in his angst. There was no pulling him out.

Until I bought him a rare treat; Gatorade. We did try out all the fair food. Pizza (boring), corn dogs (not for Lastborn), a bucket o fries, funnel cakes and deep fried candy bars. We tried a game and walked around the midway, which was not quite open.

The best part for me was bringing the kids around the livestock barns. The kids showing the animals all smirked at my boys' comments.

"that's a goose? I thought it was a duck."
"I got a feather from that chicken thing down there with the feathers that fan out." (That's a turkey, son)
"What's that brown thing there?" (It's hog poop, son)

Lastborn loved it (except all the walking). He had to touch every kind of animal and was so excited to see a llama close up. I asked the teenager girl showing a llama if he could pet the llama. So he got to see it really close up. He hugged it's neck and petted its fur. All I could think of when looking at it was fiber! She had an alpaca too and explained to me why alpaca hair is used more often for yarn than llama hair. Lastborn also got licked by a cow and sneezed on by a goat. He was in heaven.

I think Lastborn wants to raise a hog now. After all, he loves bacon.

Both boys agreed that they were glad they had come because the deep fried candy bar was awesome.