North Carolina State Fair 2025

 

Wake County Schools scheduled Monday as a teacher workday and I thought we deserved a trip back to the North Carolina State Fair!

A cool morning turned into a beautiful fall day - a high of 70! We arrived early enough, parked at Carter-Finley Stadium, and was walking through the entry gates at 9:30am. 

We stopped in the Expo Center to check out the prized pumpkins!

This also housed a few animals and the NC State's "Milk-a-cow" for $5 - sadly they were not quite ready for business just yet, but Kade said he was game to do it! 

We stood in quite a long line just to redeem our ride voucher for the ride card. Pre-sale opportunity $12 for 18 rides tickets - basically 3-4 rides for each kiddo. 

Unfortunately, we just could not decide on a ride that both Brock and Kade wanted to do. Kade and I ended up doing one ride together before Brock agreed on the Sizzler!

Stopped for a little snack - and for our almost-teenager to get his phone time in. He's very cautious with his phone and wanted me to hold it in my purse the whole time! 

Brock asked to play a carnival game and he really thought carefully about which he could have the highest probability winning. He settled on this throwing game where the ball had to stay in a tilted bucket - pretty hard as you had to have two balls in a row to win! He still liked his chances and gave it a go. 

Spoiler - he didn't win. Five balls for $10 - and then Kade thought it looked easy, so he asked to play - another 2 balls for $5. Nope, no one won. 

Water shooter game - and this one had really great odds! They were the only two playing - 100% a prize was going to be won! 

Brock ended up winning - and between a duck and a dog, chose the dog! He was very sweet and told Kade they could share it. (ahh... there are moments)

Right after taking the above picture, one of the teachers from Kade's school spotted us and offered to take a family photo!

We walked around a bit more looking at good ride candidates and settled back on the Sizzler for Round Two! 

After a quick stop for some ICEES for both (Cotton Candy for Brock and Cherry for Kade), we started our journey back to Gate 8 to exit. Lots more people in the walkways now! 

I convinced the very reluctant boys to walk through the Flower & Garden Exhibit on our way out. 

Kade and I did stop to get a free hushpuppy on our way out as well, but Brock was done. Too many people. 

We were back at our vehicle by 1pm and I think it was the perfect amount of time - the boys still had a good amount of day to relax! I totally get how the boys were feeling though - it is a bit of an overload to go to the Fair! 

And I would like to do a sweet shoutout to our youngest family member! Last week Moose celebrated his 8th Birthday! 

Brent went all out and cooked up a feast! Two Porterhouses and one Delmonico Ribeye from the Butcher's Market! No number 8 candle though- so we stuck a glowlight in his mountain of steak! 

Happy Birthday big puppy!! 

Dad's 75th Birthday

It was my Dad's 75th Birthday earlier this month and we were so fortunate to all be able to spend time together to celebrate! 

Since all the grandkids were together, we wanted to do something everyone would enjoy - so off we went to Dave & Busters to play arcade games! 

I think all the grandkids had a turn playing against Papa in air hockey. 

Some tough competition!

None of the boys or Papa went easy on each other - there was some major competition! 

Of course Brock had to try out the pitching game in front of Brent. 

Maddox and Brock were hard at work! 

Finally it was Asher's turn to play against Papa!

Oh my goodness his face was adorable when he scored a goal! 

All had a great time at Dave & Busters! 

Asher 3 1/2, Papa 75, Maddox 8, Brock 12 1/2, Kade 10

We returned home and started cooking our epic dinner - filet mignon, crab legs, mashed potatoes and vegetables! I did share a little photo montage of various pictures of my Dad throughout the years - we all enjoyed so much, I'll add just a few here! 

Happy Birthday Dad! :) 

First Day of School 7th & 5th

First Day of School for the 2025 - 2026 school year! Second year for Brock in middle school and very last year of elementary school for Kade. 

This was the summer that both boys learned to sleep in, so getting up early on Monday morning before Brock left for school did not happen - alas the first day of school picture happened at the END of the school day. 

Brock and Brent attended the "walk your schedule" event prior to the start of school - but he was one of only a handful of seventh graders to attend - guess it's just no longer cool! He has some pretty interesting electives this year - Mythology, Botany, Famous People, Soccer, and Astronomy, just to name a few! 

Kade has a brand-new-to-Washington teacher this year for 5th grade, but really only has him for Science (and homeroom). Since he is in SSA Math taking 6th grade math in elementary school, he will be taking it asynchronously through the NCVPS (North Carolina Virtual Public School). Jury is still out on how I feel about it... right now it's not great. We will find out in another week which electives Kade received. 

Kade's elementary school had a cool thing happen on the first day! North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, Superintendent Mo Green, and Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor were all in attendance during the morning arrival! Alas, Kade takes the bus in the morning so he did not see all these people, but pictures were shared from the Principal later that afternoon! 

Here's to a fun and memorable new school year! 

Dorothea Dix Park - Gipson Play Plaza

On the last Wednesday of the summer, I took the boys to the newly opened (June) Gipson Play Plaza at Dorothea Dix Park. I had heard weekends can get incredibly crowded, so I figured this would be the perfect time to check it out.

Brock is just about at that age where playgrounds are just so not cool anymore... but he seemed to really like the climbing and sliding parts. 

The playground has so many really cool features - I had only read about a few of them, so it was definitely a surprise to see the whole water area! Guess it was a good thing they only wanted to wear crocs! 

This is a view of the climbing area across the way. 

Kade loves these open slides - he would have been there much longer if Brock did not push him to move along!

The water area - appropriately called Watermill Mountain! 

So many little (man-made) streams to explore and configure! 

Numerous pumps increase the water flow, while stones redirect it by blocking certain paths.

I wish this was built like 7 years ago - my little aquarian would have lived here, he was even more drawn to the water! 

Kade had no problem wading in the water with his Crocs - it was a pretty warm day!

Let's explore some more! After walking around the waterfall wall, we passed the House of Many Porches. Really cute!

This was an interesting sculpture on our way to the swings - they are huge! 

The swings are built on one 91 foot long pole! Nice way to cool off swinging and relaxing. 

Of course there was a bit of bickering going on here - one wanted to go high and the other one did not! 

The swings were nice, but we needed to cool down a bit more. I did a little research while the boys were swinging and yes! - that house of many porches does sell treats! I treated us all to amazing popsicles by the Raleigh Popsicle Company - all fresh ingredients - while we rocked on the porch!

Peaceful view of these old oak trees as I finished up Kade's mango popsicle - "I didn't know it was going to have real mango in it!"

Made our way back around the park to check out the Sensory Maze Garden. 

I was genuinely impressed with the park! The City of Raleigh did an incredible job and I think this is just one more reason to visit this amazing park! I hope to bring the boys back soon! 

And one more fabulous Moose picture to add to our end of summer festivities!