Everyone knows that for kids, the whole point to a Fair is the rides.

Our County Fair in San Diego has two separate areas with different rides, at opposite ends of the Fair grounds. One area is called Kiddieland and all the rides are geared towards ages 3 – 11. The other ride area is called, the Fun Zone, and that’s where all of the insane rides are.

We ventured into Kiddieland early in our day because we knew we couldn’t keep our little hopeful ride-goers waiting for too long.

I’m  pretty sure this ride was there when I was small enough to go on it. If not this exact one, then something very similar.

Talk about a slide! Wow!

My adventurous four year old rode this one twice.

My eight year old was done with it after the first try. I don’t think he liked the “climbing up so high” part of it.

The Fun Houses were always my favorite as a child. Both my kids liked them too, but they wished they were more intricate and took longer to go through.

And then there was this ride.

This ride was not in Kiddieland.

This ride cost $80 to go on and once you were done, you would receive a DVD of your terror stricken face while on the ride, to be embarrassed with over and over again when your friends and family put it on at gatherings, to mock you.

No thanks.

And then there was this.

This, I will never understand.

The Fair is also filled with games.

Bananas seemed to be a popular prize option this year. Nearly every booth had some kind of banana or monkey.

There were also a lot of these body pillows of $100 dollar bills.

There is something sort of unsettling about picturing small children and teenagers cuddling up at night with a body pillow of a $100 dollar bill.

Maybe that’s just me.

Is it just me?

And I sure don’t remember electric guitars being a prize option when I was a kid. When did that happen?

I saw one girl getting in line for a roller coaster with one of these in her arm. I wonder if they fall apart when you strum them?

They looked real enough. But I’m no expert.

The problem with playing games at the Fair is that they cost too much.

We let each of our kids choose one game to play, so both of them and my husband played two games total.

It cost us $18.00.

My husband won one of those light brown monkeys pictured above.

The kids were really excited about him.

But he definitely isn’t worth $18.00.

I liked these.

I thought they were pretty cute.

I don’t even want to know how many times you had to win a game and trade up your prizes to get one.

Whenever they hang a prize up high, you know it’s not win-able on the first try.

When ever I go to the Fair, I like to save the Fun Zone with all of the crazy rides, for the night time.

Sure…

That wiggly slide looks pretty neat just like that.

But…

This is what I’m lookin’ for when I go the Fair!

There is something magical and amazing about the Fair at night with everything all lit up.

Just looking at this picture, I can almost hear the music and the crowd and all of the excitement.

I actually used to ride these things when I was a teenager.

Now I just like to walk by with my kids and watch everyone else who is riding them.

The one thing my kids were excited to do in the Big Fun Zone was go into the bigger Fun Houses. They went into this one, and another one that they really loved called the Moscow Circus.

Now this I would still ride.

I didn’t last week because we had the kids with us and they didn’t want to go, and my one year old was of course to small to go, so it just didn’t work out.

But I love this ride.

Ah the Fair. It’s my friend. My dear old friend.

More games. More prizes. More lights.

There’s even a log ride at the Fair now. I thought that was reserved for Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. Wow!

What will they think of next?

I’ve done this ride twice in my life.

I don’t plan to do it again.

It just doesn’t make sense to go that high up and then careen toward the ground on purpose.

No sense at all.

This one was fun to watch.

Every time they started it up the air would fill with smoke from a smoke machine, just for dramatic affect.

And then higher and higher it would swing into the air like a pendulum, while the disc full of people spun.

Even the food places look more magical at night.

The Gingerbread Shop always looks magical… but at night… when it’s all lit up… it looks amazing!

And last, but certainly not least…

The ride voted “Fair Favorite” by my 8 year old…

The Crazy Mouse Roller Coaster.

He loved it!

My four year old sobbed in the stroller as my hubby and my son rode it, because she wasn’t tall enough to go on.

It did look like a lot of fun.

It’s a typical little roller coaster, but you sit in these round cars that look like barrels and as they go along the track they spin in circles.

My eight year old highly recommends it!

And I highly recommend you plan to take your family and visit a Fair this Summer.

If it’s anything like My Fair, you wont be disappointed!

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