  Some families camp out in Yosemite National Park. Some families roadtrip it to see the Grand Canyon. Other families may even spend their weekends at the beach playing volleyball or burying one another in the sand. However, Saturday my family went to the Orange County Fair. Now don't get me wrong. I'm just teasing...my parents have taken my brother and I to many very cool places.
We've been around Europe, the east and west sides of the Caribbean, two islands of Hawaii, Orlando, Florida etc etc I could go on and on. It's just that as we get older my family goes on far less "family vacations" together. And I guess a part of me misses that. So...as our "family togetherness" this year we went to the Orange County Fair and are also going to San Diego for Labor Day weekend. I guess we're going to Sea World and some Wild Animal Park. I don't know...it sounds like fun!
I haven't been to Sea World since I was very young and as for the Wild Animal Park? Never. So it should be good times. Originally we were all supposed to go Lake Tahoe in August, which is what we used to do every other year, but we're hoping I'll have a job by then and my brother should be back in school as well. So it's turning out that my brother and I will have a parent-free week in August instead. I THINK I can handle that.
Ok back to the fair. Well we left around nine in the morning to avoid traffic seeing as how it is over an hour away. I think we made it before 11am so it wasn't too crowded at that point and we didn't have to park that far, which was nice. In fact the whole day we had pretty nice weather. It wasn't so hot that I was roasting like a pig, but it was warm enough that I could literally feel my skin turning brown by the minute. Tan lines are not pretty no matter what any guy says.
They just like them because it reminds them of the chicks in porn movies. Apparently that's a flattering look in porno world...anyway...once we walked through the gate we treated the fair like any normal soiree. When entering a social event that involves a crowd and entertainment you must always do the "once around" before committing to a location. I believe I got that tip from Cher in Clueless . So we walked...and we walked...and we walked...passed the game booths, passed the food stands, passed the petting zoos and passed the random mini stages where local unknown bands played. And what do you think the first thing my family wanted to do???
If you know my family at all, I'm sure you guessed right. We ate. Actually they ate, I watched and waited. And what was the first thing they tried out? Fried chicken and garlic fries. Nothing but health food for this fit family.
After that we decided to check out the exhibits. That was fun....for my mom and I at least. Basically it was shopping and the poor guys just had to go along with it. I purchased tiny (obviously faux) diamond earrings for $5. I've wanted to replace the silver balls I've had as my second piercings forever with diamond studs. I also bought some dangly chandelier-like earrings that are silver and pink, also $5.
Very fun I must tell you. And last but not least the best purchase of the day...my Hawaiian tote bag. Only $1.99!!! It's so cute too! It's cheap but doesn't come off totally cheap looking ya know what I mean? Later I went back to buy more but they were all out of the cute pattern.
The rest were kinda eh. Sorry guys otherwise I would have gotten one for each of my CBD girls. Then it was time to sit and have something else to nibble on. My dad and I got some ice-blended coffee drinks (not nearly as good as Coffee Bean but what can you do? ) my mom had an iced raspberry tea thing, which turned out to be a bit tart so she didn't like it and my brother had an iced mango tea thing, which was really good and a cheesecake on a stick, not bad. All drinks had whip cream of course.
Once we refueled we were ready for round two and headed for the games. My brother played several, some he lost some he won. I played a few and won once. My dad played a couple and won once. My mom on the other hand played one game....and lost. BUT she got a prize just for playing so she didn't leave empty handed, but neither did anyone else who played that game too.
In the end our prize list consisted of a large picture and frame of Al Pacino in Scarface (why? ), a somewhat medium/large mad looking red dog, a large Nemo-looking yellow fish, a smaller yellow duck wearing sunglasses and 2 red, 1 pink and 1 yellow velvety stuffed roses. I'd say we did all right. As the sun was getting ready to set and our feet were getting more swollen by the minute our stomachs began telling us that it was just about dinner time. The next thing I knew....we were on our way to Irvine Spectrum. For those of you who aren't familiar with Irvine Spectrum, its a large open mall-like area filled with department stores, shops, restaurants, bars etc.
It's quite a hang out for the younger generation. Some of us even have memories of going to Irvine Spectrum right Janelle? (wink wink) We walked around a bit there before deciding on sushi as our dinner. We went to Maki Maki, which turned out to be really yummy yummy. And of course it being "My Family" we ordered too much. But it WAS worth it.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Once we ate til we were busting at the seams we wrapped up our leftovers and headed for home. Unfortunately for my dad, he had to drive while the rest of us got to pass out from our food coma and our all around exhausting day at the fair. I believe it was about 9:15pm when we walked through the door. I had planned on possibly going out with some friends that night, but once my butt hit the couch I honestly could not move. So people....that was my family day outing at the Orange County Fair.
Was it as good for you as it was for me? 
