Harvest Festival

We spent the afternoon on Sunday at the Great American Harvest Festival. The proceeds from the fair went towards the Childhood Language Center, a local non-profit agency. The free event had bounce houses (Maggie's favorite), face painting (or hand and leg, as Maggie chose), music, games, booths and food. They chose the perfect day for the event because the weather was mild and sunny and totally pleasant.

The Fair

Sunday we spent the day at the Big Fresno Fair. This trip was Maggie's second time there (click here for last year's post) so I guess now she can be considered a fair regular. We looked at the animals, ate junky food, visited the awesome CBS47 booth and walked around the fairgrounds for a good part of the day.

Maggie getting silly at some booth. I think it was a water safety booth, but I'm not totally sure...

Chad and Maggie in front of the CBS47 booth. There were anchors and reporters there taking photos and signing autographs. In fact, when we took this photo it was the first time they had a fan-free moment. So great!

Obon

Last Saturday afternoon, Maggie, Chad and I went to Obon, a Festival of Lanterns. It was held at the local Buddhist Family Center and we had a really nice time. It was hot outside but they had a wonderfully powerful a/c unit inside that cooled the humongous gym and felt so so good.  Outside they set up carnival games and snow cones (of which we bought) and inside they had sushi, other Japanese food and info booths about various local Japanese and Buddhist organizations. Chad gave Maggie had her first taste of ice (thanks to the top of the snow cone) and you can see that she enjoyed it.  We had plans to go to the 80s party (see post below) or we would have stayed for dinner and the dance. Next year, for sure. At the calligraphy booth we had the artist write Maggie's name on a board to hang in her room. In the the photo you'll see the calligrapher, his assistant (holding Maggie) and towards the front of the photo is her name on the board. Neat!

Big Hats

There's an annual event in town called Big Hat Days. It's a weekend-long festival in April and this was the first year we've been free to attend. With all three of us wearing hats, we strolled along the festival route, stopping and peaking at the goods for sale. We didn't buy a thing. There's wasn't anything that interested us...but it was fun to look and people watch.

The weird thing about Big Hat Days? Despite a huge turnout, we saw maybe three big hats when we were there. Even stranger? Only about 25% of the crowd wore hats at all. Party poopers.

Four Years and the Fair

Friday Chad and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. We went to a steakhouse and had a delicious dinner--thanks Mom and Dad! No photo of us this year--too much going on and taking a photo completely slipped my mind. Happy Anniversary, Chad!

Yesterday was Maggie's first trip to the fair. She loved it. Loved it so much she slept most of the day. After eating some yummy fair food, Chad worked at the CBS47 booth while Maggie and I hung out behind the scenes. The weather was wonderful so it was nice just watching the people and enjoying the day.

Giant Zucchini

Last night we harvested an amazingly big zucchini. And considering we didn't think we'd get any from the plant this year we're particularly impressed with the outcome. Of course we had to use Mags as a measure of how large it really is. Keep in mind, she has adorably chubby thighs, but this monster makes them look slim! Here are the stats:

Weight -

Mags: 12lbs, 13oz

Zucchini: 7lbs, 8oz

Length: -

Mags: 24 inches

Zucchini: 17 inches

Too bad the county fair is over a month away. I think we'd have an award winner!

Fair

When there's a chance to hit up a local fair Chad and I are always there. San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Tulare County, Paso Robles, Fresno, etc. --we've been to them all and most of them more than once. We love going mostly for the people watching, but then there's the home arts, the animals, the food and the photography exhibits that we like checking out too.

At last year's fair we saw part of the Jonas Brothers concert. This year we went for Gretchen Wilson and her show was great. We got there early, found a good place to stand and stayed for the entire show. She played all her hits, a handful of new songs from an upcoming album (they were catchy and fun) and a few rock and roll classics that the whole crowd knew. She put on a good party concert and we're definitely glad we went.