NWW Fair & THE Crash

The NW Washington Fair

Our hometown annually hosts the NWW Fair for a week in August.  Now that we have a wee one at home, we try to make it an effort to go each year.  Something we haven't done since high school. 

We had a great day walking around, visiting the animals, checking out the booths...  I really wanted to take Monkey on some kiddie rides...but the going rate for a ride pass was $25!!  With the adoption, the remodel, and Monkey's birthday rapidly approaching...that was just NOT in our budget this year.  We still had a lot of fun without the rides though.

My parents (and my brother) joined us for the first part of the day.  The conversation with my family (that we see way too infrequently) made the day a little extra special and we got to enjoy a nice lunch before my parents headed back to work and we layed Lil Man down for a nap. 

Checking out the bunny rabbits and chickens...

Checking out the tractors...and trying them on for size...

The Week-Old Goat...

(real life...right?)

The Toddler Tractor Maze...

AFTER Nap Time:

Farewell Dinner for Uncle Tony (who just left for college) and THE Crash

After dinner we went to my in-law's house to hang our for a few and pray over Tony before he left.  Hubs and I almost didn't go because we were suppossed to meet my parents at the fair.  My parents were flexible, so we decided to go last minute.  SO thankful for that moment of prayer as a family.  Turns out, the next morning Tony left for the long trip to school.  On his way (and only a few days after this pic) he and his friends got hit in his truck on the freeway.  It was a horrible collision...his truck was hit so hard it turned 180 degrees before rolling several times onto the shoulder of the freeway in South Dakota.  During the crash, his friend was knocked unconscious, with a terrible bleeding headwound.  His friend's fiance was in and out of consciousness.  Tony was alert and panicked, but disoriented, running around the scene of the crash, trying to make sure everyone was okay and figure out where they were.  His friend was airlifted to a big hospital, while Tony and his friend's fiance were taken to a small, nearby hospital.  Both his friend and friend's fiance had only minor wounds and were released from the hospital the next morning.  Tony got the brunt of the crash....had stitches in his arm, two staples in his head, a black eye, and a partially collapsed lungs.  Thank GOD he is okay.  Looking at that truck after-the-fact (and just in pictures) we have no idea how he survived that and thank the LORD, who had guardian angels surrounding him.  I'm in tears (again) thinking about how close we came to losing our brother.  He was in the hospital for several days.  My mother-in-law and sister-in-law flew to S.Dakota to be with him and take him the rest of the way to school (collision was on Friday, school started Wednesday).  Hubs wanted to be there SOOO bad, but his mom asked him to stay here because he had a family to be with and an adoption to pay for =)  Its probably for the best, he was a mess after hearing the news...I think he would have fallen apart had he been there.  (P.S. Guy who hit them was arrested for the equivalent to "Reckless Driving" here in Washington.  It was his second huge collision in less than a month.  No, he was not drinking...just stupid and careless.)  My MIL and SIL did get Tony to school on time, and took him shopping to replace all his electronics (all his possessions were in his truck and almost all of them were completely destroyed).  He is doing fine now.  School dorms are making some extra-special accomidations for him because of his condition.  His lungs are improving, but it will take time to heal and he REALLY has to take it easy.  His truck is totaled (which is obvious from the pictures).

Back to the fair.....

After the farewell dinner and prayer time at my in-laws, we headed back to the fair to meet with my parents.  Mom and I went shopping to get a special trinket for Monkey (my annual tradition).  Honestly, the booths are almost the same every year so it is becoming a challenge to find something new.  Monkey ended up picking out some maracas that he has been having fun making music with since.

My dad and Hubs were looking at trailers, and boring stuff like that...but right before we were getting ready to leave, we spotted this:

The Strider Pre-Bike...

This bike was the coolest thing ever!  No pedals....made to train toddlers (started before age two preferrably) how to ride a bike.  So they sit on the seat and run...it teaches them balance, and then eventually they learn to go fast enough they stick their legs out, and then eventually up on the bar and ride.  The people in their booth had their three-year-old demonstrate for us, it was amazing!  And he was surprised to see how well Lil Man was doing at this age already.  Seriously want to get one for our little dude!  Eliminates the need for training wheels....how cool is that!?!?

Anyway, so that was our fun at the fair!!!  (And the horrible details of the accident for those who were asking...)