Family Enjoys Big Fun at the Big Fresno Fair

Saturday we piled in the car with Nana and Papa for a family fun day at the Big Fresno Fair. Grandma Christene met us there with our Haitian friends, Walquis and Gerby. This is Meilani's second year to the fair, continuing a long family tradition. Ericlee and his mom made it a tradition to go to the fair together each year since he was in grade school.
Right away she was enthralled by all the colors and sights. A stand with blow-up dolls and balloons caught Meilani's eye. She yelled, "Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!" just to let us know how cool everything looked. Grandma Christene was on a mission to show Meilani some of her favorite exhibits first.
Here Meilani poses with Nana and Grandma Christene near the bears - a giant wooden sculpture we *had* to touch on the way to the Farm Animal area. We almost got deterred by all the fair food booths but Grandma was on a mission and we were all wise to follow.
First stop: Lamb-A-Rama to check out the just-born baby lambs and the larger-than-life cows. Last year, when Meilani was only 5 months, she was a little frightened by the animals. Now that she knows the animal sounds all that Baa-baa, Moo-moo and cock-a-doodle-doo noise was music to her ears. She pointed and squealed.

We got to see a prize-winning turkey, the biggest show duck you've ever seen, bunnies with cute sniffling noses and even some piglets. Meilani enjoyed watching the newborn lambs nursing from their mothers. Wonder why...

Dorina's highlight of the day was her favorite "fair food": the Indian taco, which is made with Indian Fry Bread and topped with beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. Mmmm, baby! She and Ericlee shared. Ericlee chose the hot-off-the-grill roasted corn dipped in butter.

Nana and Papa made themselves *messy* with ribs from Big Bubba's BBQ. You can't keep Papa away from good ribs and the fair has them cookin' out there for everyone to see them. Nana and Papa also enjoyed the exhibits with all the gadgets where they found a few things for their new house.

Meilani was not too interested in the food. But she definitely was interested in a new feature of our fair - the pirate's ship playground. The area was full of draw bridges, tunnel slides and all kinds of places to climb. She and Daddy had a good ole time chasing through the tunnels while the rest of us were eating. Shiver me timbers, I think Meilani girl would be quite the Lady Pirate!
We checked out the Home Arts building where a baking contest was being judged. We visited the photo and art exhibits where we oohed and ahhed over artwork and even some photos by our friends, Troy and Allison. And, of course, the best used quarter of the day was spent on the Footsie Wootsies - the foot massage seats - a fair fave.

By the end of the day, our little pirate was tuckered out and she fell asleep just as we were leaving the fair. Perfect timing for the rest of us. All in all, it was a day of big fun at the Big Fresno Fair.