you'd think it be easy......

Fair Day.
First day of the fair to be exact. Pete and I have been looking forward to this for a few months now. More me than Peter, but he's excited too. We decide to go the first day b/c if you bring canned food before noon, you get in free. Easy right?!?!?
We got there at 12:30. We left the house at 11. Does it take an hour an a half to get to Puyallup?????not usually. here's the play by play:

11:00- Mom, Adam, Pete, and I leave the house after planning to leave at 10. Already this is not looking good.

11:15- we hit traffic WELL before the fair exit. panic starts to set in.

11:17- FALSE ALARM, we are speeding forward, fair exit in site! :)

11:23- we're sitting in an unreasonably long line on the exit ramp, waiting to turn left

11:25- someone (probably me) has the brilliant idea, to go straight, skip the huge line, whip a U-turn in the South Hill Mall parking lot, take advantage of the free right turn and skip all these losers on the exit ramp! We even used a big ugly red van to measure our progress.

11:26- it's happening!

11:27- Mom sees a sign for a shuttle bus to the fair. Mom: "Why don't we just park here at the mall and take the shuttle bus?" Us: "But Mom, the bus is going to be stuck in the same traffic that we're in now." Mom: "Let's just try it." The bus turns out to be our downfall.

11:35- We have circled the ENTIRE mall, found a parking spot, and walked up to the bus, which has a line of at least 30 people waiting for it. Adam is carrying our free entry, a giant box of Top Ramen.

11:37- Three of us have realized that we are not making it to the fair on time. Mom goes to see how much the bus costs.

11:38- Bus is too expensive, therefore negating our "free admission". We scramble.

11:40- Back in the car, headed down the hill to the fair. We are stopped at the very top of the hill. The ugly red van is just barely visible far, far in front of us.

11:50- Massive making fun of Mom ensues for thinking the fair shuttle bus was a good idea. Also, some making fun of other people around us. We are in Puyallup remember.

12:15-not even half way down the hill, Mom loses it. After being incredibly hard on herself, she realizes how funny this is. She is literally crying from laughing. The three kids are scared.

12:20- We pull into a "parking lot" and marvel at how much money this guy must make everyday. He can fit at least 100 cars in his yard and is charging $5 a pop.

12:32- WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!!! $40 bucks later, we're in. We're all a little exhausted from the ride there. We get in line for scones to replenish our energy. duh.



We hit the Young Life booth, which tasted especially good this year, saw the baby pigs, ate more food, saw some photography and crafts, ate more food, did the hand washing booth (woo!), ate one more thing, felt a little sick, and had a great time!

Ironically, we spent about as much time inside the fair as we did sitting in the car on the way to the fair. It's funny how the whole fair experience can be collapsed and streamlined to about an hour and a half now that we're older. We used to be able to spend the entire day there. Nowadays our threshold of tolerance for the sights and behaviors on display there tops out at about 1-2 hrs.


Puyallup '09, we're already planning!