A Last Summer Hurrah at the State Fair!

Look at Mr. 10 bravely riding the Octopus with me! Both kids start school this week, so we had our last summer hurrah this past weekend and spent this Saturday at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. I’d never been to the State Fair before, so hadn’t really realized quite how big the whole thing is — we really should have dedicated two days to the fair, or at least gotten a much earlier start.

Mr. 10 is already angling to go back next year, so if you’ve been to the fair yourself I’d love to hear can’t-miss highlights; we really just scratched the surface this time. Springfield is also a good three hour drive from us, so we spent the night in a Hampton Inn in Bloomington on the way home. ($68 got us an indoor pool + free breakfast — although the pool was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g, so the kids quickly abandoned swimming in favor of watching the Cartoon Network we normally don’t have at home, lol. Priorities, right?)

And yes, there was a Cracker Barrel, and yes, the peg game repeatedly defeated Mr. IMSA here. It’s the simple things! Like hotel TV. 😉

Oh, and what I also didn’t anticipate? Just how many things you can fry, lol. I think that “Fried What!” is a fantastic name for a food stand, however…

All of the kids, including the big one, did pretty well for themselves with that fried food, plus large cups of lemonade and various things on a stick. I stuck with the corn on a stick, though (especially after a midway ride or two…).

But, how cool is this? The real reason we made it down to the state fair this year was for MashupDad to be inducted into the 4-H hall of fame. They had a nice little ceremony (once we finally found the right building), and check out his snazzy medal! He was nominated because of his beekeeping work with 4-H kids and commitment to conserving honeybees.

And on the way down: These are the voyages of the cloud ship: Enterprise…! 🙂

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Political content warning, for those who wish to avoid that sort of thing

On that futuristic note of egalitarianism: I do not normally talk about politics on this site or even on the Internet in general, for obvious reasons if you’ve been on Facebook over the last couple of years. At the same time, however, I find it impossible to ignore the fact that, at the same time my family and I were enjoying the fair, all hell was breaking loose on the other side of the country. While I was sitting on that Octopus ride with my son, my phone was blowing up with news alerts, updates from friends, and images in absolute jarring and horrifying contrast to our sunny and peaceful day — and I found it almost as jarring to write the above post today as if nothing else of import was going on.

I thought about whether to post our happy photos at all, but thought I’d instead end with this one-time note that’s easily skipped over if desired. We’ve reached the point in our national discourse where silence tips over into complicity, and how can I continue to condemn not calling out white nationalists, racists, domestic terrorism, and neo-Nazis by name when I’ve myself been silent online? #oneside

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Now, back to your regularly scheduled food and life content. Please be sure to keep comments civil. Thanks, all!