Wisconsin's Best

Adding to the list of things I swore I would never do, yet have done, yesterday we all went to the Wisconsin State Fair. We figured it would be a little less crowded on a week night and we knew that G's little internal clock would be a good barrier to staying too long.

Once we parked and got into the gates we started down the lane-o-cholesterol and made an immediate pit stop at a cheese curds booth. And so began our eating fest! Genevieve was a big fan and disaster was barely averted when she managed to snag the cup of ranch.

Gimmie that

We continued down the road with booth after booth of food, souvenirs, and general crap for sale (which actually serves a purpose. The House of Harley-Davidson has a booth there and we're clearing out tons of our junky t-shirts!). Matt desperately wanted to go to the milk booth but the line was insane. At just $0.25 a cup it's easy to see why it was popular, but seriously, the line rivaled the one at the gastric-bypass booth. Instead we went into one of the animal barns. Yes, even I went with, with the strict instruction that NO ONE touches ANYTHING (even though I was prepared with antibacterial wipes and gallons of Purell, props to the fair administration for having hand washing stations outside each of the barns). We saw roosters, goats, and llamas. Some of the goats were for meat and some were for milk, and a few of the girls who were for milk looked pretty full and uncomfortable. Now having nursed a baby I felt for them like never before. Genevieve seemed to like all of the new sights but was most taken with - what else? - all of the fans that were blowing about. She also enjoyed it when Matt and I made asses of ourselves by hollering "cock-a-doodle-doo!" at the rooster. When in Rome...

Hello Mr. Goa...hey there's a fan!

While en route to the cow barn (which I also entered but we stayed in for all of 45 seconds. Also, some farm girl seemed to be hair-spraying the fur on one of her cow's rear-ends. Is this some kind of judging pre-requisite? Are our bovine friends more attractive if their butt-fur stands up? I'm stumped...), we stopped for some photo ops at the animal cut outs. G thought that was great. We also stopped at the giant tractor. Matt was impressed.

Good fun


Matt telling me to hurry the hell up and take the picture. Quality family time!

We continued on in search of more calories, stopping first for an ear of grilled corn. While waiting in line I couldn't help but notice one especially fine specimen of WI WT. Mullet? Check. High likelihood that it's permed? Double check. Acid-wash jeans? Check. Earring? Check. Extra points for having a dangly nautical-inspired earring? Check. Thank god I had the camera on me.

classic!

Are you dying? I know. Anyhoo after the corn we continued our search for the famed Wisconsin State Fair cream puffs. We were looking and looking for a booth and couldn't find one...what the heck?...until we realized that there was actually an entire BARN dedicated to the baked goods. Sign us up!

What is this, mother?


Ooh yeah, give me more


Heh heh, cream puffs gooooooood

By this time it was getting late and G was starting to cash out so we headed back toward the parking lot. Lest we leave hungry, we made one last stop for a pretzel (my personal fave) and bbq turkey sandwich.

Still eating, just like at home

If the chunk of pretzel that I found in her belly button later that night was any indication, G seemed to enjoy her first trip to State Fair. And as long as the mullets continue to flock to West Allis every year, I suspect so will the Maio family.

Relaxing with a full tummy


Thanks for the lift, dad


Can't wait to go back next year