Del Mar Fair

Ah....the Del Mar Fair....all I think about when I hear those words are crowds, spending WAY too much money, and ridiculously unhealthy food. But I have to say, taking Ben actually makes it so much fun. I don't think Jim and I would ever go just the two of us (except for a good concert), but the Fair suddenly becomes fun when we see it through Ben's eyes.  Ben is still not quite 42" (the magic number when it comes to riding rides). but he could do about 80% of the rides in the kids area of the Fair and he was determined to ride them ALL! :)

I believe this is the 3rd year we have gone with Ben (I think we missed it last year) and it was definitely the best.  We got there right as it opened and didn't know the kids area opened an hour later - oops!  So we just got some hot chocolate and walked around for a bit.  One of the carnival ride guys let Ben hop on a ride while he was testing it, which was nice (or scary depending on how you look at it!).  The day started out overcast and a bit chilly, but the sun came out in the late morning and then it was pretty hot.  We spent all morning flying through ride tickets so Ben could go on everything.  He especially loved this one obstacle course/slide thing - I think he did it about 5 times!  Ben and I rode the ferris wheel and got a great view of the Fair and all the way out to the ocean.

After a couple of hours, the Biggie's joined us, so Ben was excited to take Reagan on all of his favorites rides again.  They also tried a few new ones before grabbing some ice cream/beers and hanging out for a bit in the beer garden.  We left about 5 hours after we had entered - skipping nap and all - and Ben did so great.  And we actually skipped all of the crazy deep-fried, bacon-wrapped goodies this time around.  Maybe next year. :)

Checking out the livestock on our way in (Ben had no interest)

We were hoping he's hit that magical 42" this time, but no dice

Compared to 2010 - where did this baby go????

First ride of the day (before they were really open) :)

First roller coaster - this one had one section that went pretty fast - he loved it

This was his favorite of the day

Time for race cars

This one was hilarious - it whipped around the corners!

First time trying bumper cars - he just went in circles in the back :)

Helicopter ride

Now checking out the airplanes

A Thomas ride - he just loved ringing the bell the whole time!

Ben and I at the top of the ferris wheel - don't worry, I was holding him!

View from the top

Reagan is here!  Riding the trucks again

They both wanted to do this boat ride so bad (it was so slow!)

Bumper boats!

Time to head home.  What a great day at the Fair!