End of Summer--Part 1

We have some good friends that go camping every Labor Day weekend.  In past years we have said "no thank you" (because Sam really doesn't want to go and it's a lot of work) but this year we decided it was time to go and let the kids get super dirty and enjoy a great weekend and lots of memories.

Sam took Friday off so we got everything loaded up early and headed out to the fair.  The kids have been so excited all summer for this event.  We spent several hours that morning just wandering around and enjoying a beautiful day.

 One of our favorite things to do is watch the kids show their animals.  This particular one was steers and it's always so interesting to try to figure out why that animal wins.  Okay maybe it's just a farm, ffa thing...

 And we always have to hit all the animal barns.  The girls are teasing an emu here and hoping it doesn't peck them.

 And of course the mandatory random pictures (and no we are not U of I fans but that's all they had).

 The fair always has an exhibit on old machinery and that is one of the boys favorite things to look at.  They could spend hours looking around.

 Acting like chickens.

And we checked out the model train exhibit just for Luke.  He was in heaven.

Afterwards we headed to Arctic Circle for some lunch and a special treat and then took off for the mountains.  And all I have to say is thank heavens for good friends.  We loaded most of our stuff in our friends camping trailer since our van's storage space is so small, which we also shared meals with them too so it made it so much easier (especially because we used their camping stove to cook--thanks guys!!).

 Immediately after arriving it was a mad dash to meet friends (including out good buddy dirt).  These two were covered within minutes of arriving.

 Luke was busy setting up a store that everything in it cost $100 (good thing you could just use fake money) and he is trying to convince Jake to buy a certain item.

 And of course the other popular item was the fire.  Here the kids are pulling off pine needles to "help" the fire burn.  The boys were constantly running back and forth getting more wood to add to the fire.  If you ever needed to know where one of the boys were--check the fire.

Then we ended the night by listening to the BSU game on the radio and visiting with friends.  So fun!