ice cream, bacon, and balancing on 5 chairs: the OC Fair!

Summers in Orange County, CA as a kid always meant a visit to the OC Fair.  The fair!....this magical playground of lights and food that rolled into town for a few weeks, then rolled off to another town to enchant new kids (and empty new wallets)

I always loved the fair, and the rides and overall atmosphere.
And from the moment we arrived my brain was scheming what special treat I was going to buy.
I mean, the food. The food!
It's overwhelming.

So on our month long adventure this past month we joined our cousins for a morning adventure on the same rickety old rides.  And they loved it!  Owen was nervous to try the rides but was easily swayed by peer pressure...and always exited the ride later claiming, "Best. Ride. Ever!" 
We all loved the Family Fun Circus where a dude did a headstand atop a stack of wobbly chairs. 
Clara wanted to touch every single toy and rubber ducky in sight.  And she absolutely loved the animals. She's an animal girl.  It's in her heart.

Lucy loved everything about everything and enjoyed being the "older" kid with her cousin Ava, making sure all the kids were part of the fun.  She's always been my peacemaker kid. 

And for me?
Yep. I got a treat.  And it was bacon-dipped.
But the real highlight was glancing over to see a sight that looked all too familiar.....
Another family taking pictures for a blog post.
and um....wait, look at that cute gingham dress....and those girls....Is that Ruby?

It was!  What are the chances that I would run into Ruby Ellen of CAKIES and her 4 sweet girls? (more on Ruby and her book in this post here) She is just as charming and cute and adorable as you can imagine.  A virtual friendship come to life.  I love those moments!    
And her girls were perfect models.
Mine was not.
Probably because I told her to stop touching the rubber duckies.

And that was an Orange County Fair adventure.

We topped off the experience with treats all around.
And the Frozen Banana dipped in dark chocolate and bacon did not disappoint.  The bacon was actually kind of subtle, adding the perfect amount of salt to the sweet.

Till next year!