Evergreen State Fair

Last week we went to the annual Evergreen State Fair. When we left the house in the morning, it was absolutely pouring down rain! So we donned rain coats and rain boots and brought the umbrellas. As soon as we got to the fair, the rain subsided, and didn't appear again until we got in the car to drive home that evening!

Here are a few (very few!) highlights:

Kade and one of his cousins got to go on rides together this year. They had a blast!!!


Best buddies :)


This was probably Kade's favorite part of the fair this year. We spent a lot of time looking at all these wood carved creatures. We got to watch a man create Kade's favorite animal, a turtle! Kade wanted his picture taken by every single carving that he thought was cool. I have about 25 pictures like these:


The tallest guy at the fair:


When Kade spotted this HippoCampus on the carousel, he was entranced. As soon as the gates opened, he made a beeline straight for it. He grinned so happily during the whole ride:


I was showing these photos to a friend of mine, and she liked the HippoCampus so much that she hand carved a stamp of it!! Here is is:


Isn't that amazing?! It looks JUST like the picture!

Anyways, I always feel like the Fair is a sign of the end of summer. Leaves have started to turn, it's getting dark earlier, Kade's starting Kindergarten on Monday. Summer went by too quickly! But, Fall is my favorite season, and I can't wait to see what it brings this year :)

The first year he didn't need me

I am so used to Kade clinging onto my arm or leg, hiding behind me, not wanting to do anything by himself. This year at the fair he completely took me by surprise. He would not allow Jer or I to do any of the rides with him! Well, actually, Jer did go on the first two with him, but only because we thought Kade didn't really mean that he wanted to go by himself. After those two, however, we were officially pushed to the sidelines. Jer was fine with it, but someone told me I looked a little sad... and I kept thinking to myself, "he better not unbuckle himself!" I guess I was a little forlorn at first, because he didn't need me... wow, how selfish am I?! Mostly, it was really a relief to me to see him being independent, especially with him starting preschool this year and being away from me for the first time. It's great to see him making these steps on his own, happily and willingly. My shy baby is growing up and starting to come out of his shell, little by little.