SC State Fair 2012

The SC State Fair is in town!!

The fair was one of the things I looked forward to when I was younger and I continue to look forward to it today, but for a totally different reason. Watching my child's face light up in excitement is the one and only reason I look forward to it now. It is no longer about the rides, playing the games, elephant ears or any other fair food, it's literally about watching Gray get so excited about every single ride and pointing at everything he wants to do/see.

This year we decided that we would take a day off of work and take Gray to the fair during the week, that way it wouldn't be so crowded. We didn't mention anything about the fair to Gray but what was really surprising was that he didn't mention anything to us (even though he saw the commercials). So, Monday morning gets here and we get up like normal. He thought it was odd that his Daddy was still home (Brandon is usually gone before Gray wakes up) so he asked if he was going to school today. Brandon and I both said "yes" and that was that. We leave the house about 10 a.m. and we go the opposite way of his school. Gray, being the smarty pants that he is, said "Daddy, you're going the wrong way. My school is the other way." Brandon plays dumb for a little bit and then finally we tell him we are going on a field trip. He was so excited about that but he didn't really ask any questions.

Finally, we get to the fairgrounds but Gray still didn't see the rides (as we came in from the ONE side you can't see anything) so we turn in the gate and are riding along when he finally spots one and these were his expressions....

He said "I want to go there" and that is when we told him that we where were going there.
Once we got inside and received our wristbands, we were off to ride all the rides. To be only 3-years-old Gray was not afraid of anything!

We started off by riding the first roller coaster and of course I had to ride it with him. Unfortunately it was too quick for Daddy to get a good picture though.

And these are some of the things after that....

 This train was the first thing he could ride by himself. Overall, he was able to ride alot of rides by himself.

I really thought he would be nervous to ride the chair lift but of course he wasn't....I was. For some reason this freaked me out. Maybe it was just because he is always moving and I thought he would do the same on this ride but fortunately for me, he didn't. He just looked around and pointed at everything. Then he kept asking where his Daddy was.....so I kept having to point him out.



After riding rides all morning we eventually took a break for some lunch.

After eating we headed to see the animals and the pig races....

Gray loves watching the pig races. Each year we watch them race and it never gets old. :)

This year we let him ride the elephant and he absolutely loved it. It was crazy to be on this HUGE animal but again he wasn't scared.

After the elephant ride, we went back to riding more rides and finishing up the day....

 We ended the end by watching the sea lions. We missed the show but we were able to watch them swim around in the pool. We were hoping that they would jump up and get the ball but they never did.

We had a blast at the fair this year! Once we got back to the car Gray said "Thank you for taking me to the fair. I had fun." And let me tell you he said this all by himself. Made my heart melt. Love love this sweet boy.
Fair Tickets (admission & POP wristbands): $56.00
Food at the Fair: $39.00
Elephant Ride: $10.00
Seeing Gray's Face: PRICELESS!