Memorial Day - St. Mary's Fair

Every year we go to St. Mary's fair, which is held every Memorial Day weekend. The largest high school fair in the country, its a great event indeed.

As usual, we got there just before the gates opened so it wasn't as crowded as it would become as the day went on. This meant less lines, more rides and less rowdiness.

The fair provides an interesting yardstick to watch the kids grow. From what feels like just last year when they could only do the little baby rides, they're now off and doing the bigger kid rides like Cliffhanger and Pharoah's Fury and Vertigo. It won't be long until they're doing the seriously major rides.

They did the dragon coaster on their own:

The kids would even go on these big rides alone, repeatedly. Just yesterday they were either too short to ride or if they were of size, you couldn't get them on the rides for love or money.

Amazing how time flies.

Both kids loved the Cliff Hanger

Last year Leah was too small to ride it, but this year she made the height cut-off and came with me and Abby so we had a whole hang glider just for us, and went on the ride twice.

They also loved Pharoah's Fury, and this was the first year for both of them:

That ride swings back and forth going higher and higher until it feels like you're 90 degrees away from where you started. Lots of funa nd they went again, and again, and again, and even put their hands up in the air while the ride went back and forth.

The view from the top of the ferris wheel gave a nice overview of some of the fair's attractions.

For lunch at the fair we had the by now traditional Polish Combo - Kielbasa, stuffed cabage, saukraut, pickle and rye bread and three pierogies. I also had a nice cold glass of Tyske beer to accompany the meal. It was a decent Polish lager, not a great beer, but cold and refreshing.

As every year, it was a great time and a nice tradition continued.

Saturday At St. Mary's Fair

As we do every Memorial Day weekend, we go to the United States' biggest High School Fair at Orchard Lake St. Mary's.

As before, its a fun boisterous place packed with rides, food, and fun.

Abby and Leah are now that much older and can enjoy more of the rides.

The kids did the tea cups, bumblebee, and kid roller coaster like last year, all with me aboard with them.

But this year, Abby was big enough for the Cliff Hanger, so I finally got to give it a try:

On this ride you lie on your front looking down with your hands on a bar and a security cage locking you in place.

Then it lifts off and starts rotating.

And then it gets higher until you're way up there, only to swoop down again and then climb back up.

Abby was hesitant on the first ride but she did it, loved it and then demanded to go again. That's my girl.

That was a very fun (and high at the apex) ride, and I highly recommend it.

After a nice Polish lunch, followed by more rides, we went home.

Then some friends came over and we had a nice dinner with the kids outside and the adults in and had a very pleasant evening of conversation.

The kids left some remains of the meal on the back deck, so we had a little visitor right after they came inside:

He left the deck quite spotless then went off on his way.

A fine day indeed.

Saturday At St. Mary's Fair

As is now a memorial Day tradition, we took the kids to St. Mary's Fair, the largest high school fair in the USA.

The weather was cool and overcast, and while the day began with showers, it kept the crowds low and the temperature cool to make it an enjoyable event, at least until the major rainstorm later/

Its fun watching them grow and be interested in and able to ride a lot more of the attractions. Of course, since Natasha doesn't like rides like roller coasters and such I was the accompanying adult on all these adventures.

Of course the carousel is a classic that they had to ride and was just about the gentlest they went on that day:

They could both ride the bumper cars and Abby was able to drive in her own car for the first time. Suffice it to say once this kid starts driving my insurance rates are going up.

They then decided to set their sights higher and higher:

It then started raining heavily so we took a break for lunch in the food tent and Tash and I shared a great Polish combo that had kielbasa, stuffed cabbage and some other fine delicacies that was great. The kids being less adventurous had the more standard fair fare.

The rain stopped and we returned to the midway. It turns out that Leah is the more fearless of the two, or at least lacks a greater sense of self preservation. She enthusiastically went on the kiddie roller coasters, swings that took you very high into the air and swung you around so you were parallel to the ground in your seat, and many other attractions. I was required to go on them with her so I was able to get the full experience.

After some persuading, Abby agreed to try the roller coaster and announced she liked it, so I ended up riding it another 10 times in a row between the two of them, in every possible seat. I can report the very front is fun as you can't see what is immediately ahead, but the very back subjectively moves faster and has wilder side to side motion.

The three of us then went on the Ferris wheel for some high aerial views of the fare:

Yet another great day at St. Mary's Fair.

Memorial Day Weekend - Monday Parade

Memorial Day is of course to recognize the sacrifices of our soldiers. Originally called Decoration Day so called to appeal to people to decorate the graves of civil war soldiers with flowers to commemorate their sacrifice to both preserve the Union and end slavery, its now to remember the sacrifices of our troops in all the wars, that, and now a reason for a long weekend to mark the start of summer.

Every year Keego Harbor has a Memorial Day parade on Orchard Lake Road. It's a slice of small-town patriotic Americana, and a lot of fun.

The kids were given little American flags to wave and the parade went by and it began with two Police cars with their lights and sirens on leading the way:

In addition to the vehicles and people pictured above, A variety of classic cars, marching bands, boy and girl scouts and a variety of businesses joined the parade, throwing candy to the kids and handing out coupons.

One sad sign was a lack of any auto dealers in the parade.

A worse sign as to the state of the US Auto industry was this:

Yes, that was Uncle Sam in a Porsche and Lady Liberty in a BMW. Looks like this year was the Memorial Day to commemorate the American Car industry.

It was a fun parade and the kids had a great time, along with a lot of neighbors that met at the parade to watch it go by. A very happy, well mannered, crowd at a nice family-friendly event.

Not a bad way to end the Memorial Day weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend - Sunday shopping, cleaning and BBQ

Sunday started as usual but with more emphasis on cleaning as friends were coming over for our memorial weekend grilling.

So I went shopping with the girls.

First to Walmart, when amazing enough there actually was some 40 S&W ammo available for sale. I bought 5 boxes which I'll shoot up in short order with two reserved for my friend Rob. Walmart is limiting purchases to 6 boxes and i should have bought a full six as they were sold out within the hour. Still no 9mm ammunition however.

Abby had saved up her chore money, tooth fairy money and every other dime she could scrounge so she could buy a Polly Pocket doll set she had picked out. She was very proud that she had $7 (we won't mention it cost 10, you have to credit her for saving up for it).

We then bought some flowers to be planted at the front of the house and the kids got to pick -- of course both girls picked pink and white flowers. The we bought play sand, also pink. All I'm saying is I am glad Walmart had some ammo to buy, ok?

Walmart also had an interesting new Pepsi product - Pepsi Throwback. It's Pepsi made with sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) sweetener.

It does taste lots better than the HFCS sweetened pop (and its supposedly "better" for you than HFCS anyways, hopefully we'll see Coke retro sometime soon too. Good on Pepsi for bringing it out as it is better tasting.

Then we prepared for our firends arrival - soaking the corn on the cob in the husk before grilling it, cleaning the patio furniture and preparing to burn up other people's carbon offsets.

Oh yes, there was carbon produced to be offset when delicious hot dogs, freshly grilled corn and other grilling delectables were prepared. Good times with good friends followed, then to the beach with the kids to splash around followed by a healthy fruit dessert and a not so healthy but real good cheesecake.

Memorial Day Weekend - Saturday at the fair

Saturday, to begin the weekend, we again went to the Orchard Lake St. Mary's High School Fair - The biggest high school fair in the united States, now in its 37th year.

Lots of rides, a family-fun carnival atmosphere, good Polish food and some out of this world ice cream.

The kids could now do enough rides that wristbands were in order rather than tickets and they had a great time on the carousel (multiple times), train ride, airplane ride, bumblebee ride, super-tall slide...you get the idea.





After that, pleasantly exhausted we went home then to the lake to play in the sand, and the kids were hot enough they waded right in.

Then home and to tuck the kids in bed and plan the next day.