I Love The State Fair!

I love love love the State Fair! I have been going every year since I can remember. I think I have enjoyed it even more since having kids, although having small kids at the fair brings on added stress: potty training during that time and finding a clean bathroom QUICKLY, dealing with tired tots while I go to the car show (my top fave event), etc. But I love it and look forward to it every year.

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I have loads of great memories there. I took Jason there when I was at UNT and he said he had never gone. What???? How can that be possible? I took him and he insisted on us riding all of the rides that make you go upside down, round and round, etc. We rode quite a few and then it hit us....our stomachs could not take anymore. I still have in my wallet the pictures we took in a photo booth. Gosh, we look like babies!

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Every year my sister and her kids come up and go with us, my mom, and step dad. This year they could not make it, so I invited my good friend Jennifer, who has never been and always wanted to. She has a son Aidan, who Joshua LOVES to play with. He can't say his name well so it comes out "aints". Aidan calls him "Joshy".

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Here is Aints and Joshy just giddy with excitement. We are in line waiting to take them to the Little Hands Farm. It's an interactive farm for kids that is just so much fun for them.

All 3 still waiting in line and just could not stand still!

Here, Aidan and Sammi got their aprons on and baskets, ready to go.

The first thing to do was water the peaches, then take a peach to put into their basket.

Then feed the chickens corn and take an egg for their basket.

Milk a cow and get a milk carton for their basket.

Plant a seed and water it.

Pick what they planted and put in their basket.

Quick stop in the middle for a photo-op.

Take a bag of feed in the tractor.

In the end, all that they collected in their basket, they turn in to sell for money. Then they take their money and get to buy a snack. They do this every year and it never gets old. The kids just love it. I like that it teaches them something good.
Now, off to the Midway to the rides! Here Lito is a great sport and rode with Sammi....who had more fun? It's a toss-up.

I just loved seeing Joshua watching the people walk by. I think this was the only time he was quiet, except for his quick nap in the stroller.

Aidan and Sammi riding the canoe ride. We had to keep yelling at them to keep their hands out of the water.

There were WAY too many rides that my little man (literally!) couldn't ride. :( Lots of tears, but he finally found a ride he was tall enough to ride alone that he liked.

And here is the ride...he kept saying "I want the boat", so the boat is what he got.

Here, the kids were watching and listening to a buzzard in a tree talk. This buzzard was like the Wizard of Oz. I kept looking for a man behind a curtain that talked for the buzzard. He was a very sarcastic buzzard that made the adults laugh and the kids go "huh?" It was funny.

Sammi playing on the elephant. I had to pretend we were going to leave her to get her off of the thing!

Us taking a brief break. Our legs and feet were so sore from walking so much, but it is worth it since you have to work off all of the calories from the fried carbs we ingested. But they were oh so good! Isn't that really why we come to the fair? For the food? Speaking of, the winner this year was Chicken Fried Bacon. I kid you not. Fried bacon. The line for it was so long. There was also fried Jelly Belly's. I have no idea how you fry a jelly bean. Fried grilled cheese actually sounded good, but I did not try it. I stuck to my beloved Fletcher's corny dog. Yum!

My and my amazing, wonderful step dad.
Sammi and Lito...she loved watching Big Tex talk and wave his hand. I thought there was a real person in there when I was a kid.

Joshua and Lito....Lito is such a great granddad....look at what he has to put up with from Joshua. It took him a lot of wipes to clean off the fingerprints from his glasses.

My tired kids riding in the back of the stroller together....see his bare feet? Yea, he kicked off his shoes, which Lito saw him do. Later on I heard Josh in the front call for me. I go to him and he says "I don't like my socks" and I look down to find his bare feet. He had one sock in his hand and we could not find the other one. Somewhere in the fair a sock was swept up and thrown away.

So for you very observant ones, did you notice anything different from the first set of pictures to the last set? That's right, Joshua's shorts changed. The well prepared mom that I am (ha, I lucked out this time!) brought and extra pair of shorts for him. He is very famous for peeing out of his diaper and getting his pants wet. I think this kid holds it all in for a long time, then lets it all out and the diaper just cannot hold that much.

We were there for several hours and it hurt for my legs to bend to get in the car. Am I that out of shape? Sheesh! But both the adults and kids had fun and that was the goal!