103 degrees

Today's high temp was 103 degrees. That's quite hot...especially when you happen to be outside between the hours of 1pm and 4pm. We took Ben to the county fair today. I was excited since it was his first time going to the fair (the 8 year old boy, who was turned around facing us the whole ride to the fair on the shuttle bus, said to Ben after hearing it was his first time, "Well kid, your wildest dreams have just come true!"). Turns out, when you're only 43" tall, the little set-up they have once a year in the mall parking lot is no different. Good news, it was free admission day. Bad news, the rides still cost a small fortune (3-5 tickets per person, per ride...$1 per ticket). We spent $8 for Ben and me to ride the Ferris Wheel. EIGHT DOLLARS. For ONE FERRIS WHEEL RIDE. Other good news, as we were standing in line for a ride, someone came up and asked if we wanted some tickets since her kids were worn out and they were heading home. Score! She gave us like 40 tickets (half of which we gave to the folks standing behind us, as they were visibly disappointed they'd just missed out on the deal of the century). That made our day at the fair more enjoyable (and longer and more drawn out in the heat....did I mention it was hot?), as this enabled Ben to go on more rides and get a corn dog and some cotton candy. If it weren't free admission day, they would've wanted to charge $8 dollars each for us adults, and $4 for the kid. (They justify this by letting you into the nightly concert free with admission, which is fine if you actually want to see whoever's playing.)

Here's a hot, sweaty Ben...

Getting ready to take off on his favorite ride of the day...the Wacky Worm roller coaster.

(Sharing this because I think it's a cool angle/vantage point.) That's Jeremy, smack dab in the middle of the photo.