And today's holiday...

Happy Labor Day! In Alaska, it marks the last day of the State Fair. Fair season usually means rainy season in Alaska. The weather has called for rain every day, but fortunately it hasn't stormed all day, so we were able to make it out earlier this week. We like to go right after school to beat the crowds...and it was perfect. The weather was overcast. It drizzled a little, but it wasn't bad.

As usual, Erica wanted to ride all the spinning rides...and I learned this year that I'm finally too old to handle them. Fortunately she is tall enough to be able to ride by herself. She also climbed the rock wall again. The weird thing is, this time she didn't want to let go of her one hand to ring the bell...she finally did, but it took a while. And on her way down, she became proficient at repelling (I'm not sure the operators liked it much...but she sure did).

The standard big pumpkins were there. This one weighed in at 1200 pounds and another one was 1700...but it was disqualified for having a hole in the bottom.

This year they had the outback in Alaska. I'm not sure how Erica was able to do it, but she got Jeff to pay $5 for her to go into a cage with birds. They gave her some food and the birds climbed all over her and literally ate out of her hands.

And last, but not least, we got our standard family picture on the Tilt-o-whirl. Thank goodness it was a short and sweet ride...the spinning was a bit much after all the other spinning I had done. We were the only ones on the ride and the operator started it as soon as we got in, and came over to let us out as soon as it was done. He was a bit impatient, so I didn't get the pix myself, as usual. Instead, he took our picture. Not quite the same, but that's OK, I guess...

All in all, a fun time at the fair!!!