Captain Underpants Does the Puyallup

We're now two weeks into Operation Underpants and it's clear that we're not out of the woods yet. Casualties have been minimal, but consistent. We have yet to experience an accident-free day, though today was very close with only 1/2 an accident.

Don't ask.

We have determined that we can minimize homeside issues by forcing Captain Underpants to go commando. While he doesn't seem to care too much about peeing in his pants, he isn't thrilled about the prospect of peeing on his toys so he's more likely to head to the potty when prompted.

Commando works at home, but not so much at daycare or on excursions into the outside world. Daycare... whatever. Not my problem. Excursions? Definitely my problem.

Particularly when said excursion is our first trip to the Puyallup Fair! Allow me to preface this story by stating that many of my fondest summertime memories growing up were at the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY - which is also where my brother and Chelsea Clinton got married this summer.

Not to each other, thankfully. Nothing against Chelsea - I'm sure she is a very nice woman - however I would not look forward to explaining to my father-in-law that we would be spending the holidays with the Clintons.

The Puyallup Fair is bigger than the Dutchess County Fair by a magnitude of infinity (there's a sky tram and a Tesla/Queensryche double-bill!), and while I love me some summer fair, we've never before made the trip in the 15 years that we've lived here. But Finn needed a corn dog, fourteen separate hot tub dealers and a midsized tractor/backhoe (pictured above), and there's only one place you can find that.

Puyallup is about forty-five minutes south, but it might as well be Mars. Mullets, jean shorts & Harleys abound, as they do in certain areas of Seattle, however here it's not intended to be ironic. Weird.

Suffice it to say, we had an amazing time. Probably the best morning (that did not involve a Bloody Mary) that I can remember in ages. Finn was overload-stunned into catatonia for 85% of our time there, but we did catch a couple of rides and eat some fair food. And the only accident of the day was on the car ride down - from there on out, he used the surprisingly clean fair restrooms dependably.

But the absolute best part of the fair was the Mutton Bustin'. In fact, this may be the absolute best part of my year. We shot some video, but I found a compilation on YouTube that's even better.

Behold: Mutton Bustin'. I've watched this video at least 18,465 times since yesterday and it has yet to get old.

Finn better be ready for his six seconds next year. We need to get him bulked up on corn dogs, stat.