This is How We Do: PNE

The summer is drawing to a close.  I can feel it in the sunny days that are not as hot and the cooler nights.  I can see it in the days that are getting shorter and the nights that settle over us earlier and earlier.  I know the summer is almost over because we went to the PNE this weekend.  For me, going to the PNE is a sign that I will be returning to work soon and we will start getting back into our routines.

I love this little family tradition of ours.  The act of doing this same activity each year.  I love the anticipation leading up to it and hearing the kids recall other years, what we did and what they loved.  I hope that this will be one of their stories.  A story they tell when they are grown up.  A recollection of a moment when they ate cotton candy, got pecked by a baby chick or cheered for Puff Daddy at the Super Dog show.

We have been attending the PNE as a family since 2007.  That first year, Sarah just three months old, was nestled in a carrier as we wandered around the fair.  This year, heading down to the fair, Jack could only talk about seeing the baby chicks that he loved so much last year. Sarah was intent on going through the Safeway Market Place where each child gets the chance to be a farmer and experience the different jobs on a farm. Plant the seeds, milk the cow, pick the apples and all those other steps that gets the food onto the grocery store shelves.  I was really looking forward to devouring a deep fried oreo!

This year, we finally got to see the Peking Acrobats.  It was worth the two year wait!

The kids enjoyed the pig races.

Jack did get up close and personal with the baby chicks.

Of course the kids ate cotton candy.  This is Sarah licking every last bit of sweet cotton candy off of her fingers.

Our parking ran out and I did not get a deep fried oreo, so we stopped at La Casa Gelato on our way home for a treat.

Not a deep fried oreo, but chocolate oreo cookie gelato.  Yum!

We can't wait to do it all over again, next year, at the PNE!