State Fair of Texas

Saturday morning Riley had an 8:00 soccer game, so afterward we headed out to the State Fair.  Apparantly half of Dallas/Fort Worth had the same idea.  It took us 2 hours to get there & then all the official lots were full.  My dad ended up dropping us off & then going to find a spot in a lot in a not so good neighborhood.  This may have been bad in the daylight, but it was downright creepy after dark.  We walked really quickly and really closely to the car after instructing the kids to get in the car as quickly as possible and lock the doors.

Our first stop, per Riley's request, was the farmer's patch.  Last year Alex slept peacefully in the stroller while Riley played farmer.  This year Alex got to participate.  She loved to follow in her brother's footsteps. 

 

Our precious little farmers with Nana & Gampa

 Scenic picture on the tractor

This is a great little exhibit.  They start off by getting their aprons & baskets.  Then they grab a baggie full of "feed" or corn. First stop is to pick some peaches & "water" the trees.  After that they planted some seeds.  Then it is off to feed the chickens and gather some eggs.  Up next is milking the cow.  If that isn't enough they ride the tractor around to drop off more feed for the animals.  Finally they take all that they have gathered to market.  Each child gets a fake dollar bill for their goods.  The best part is when they take their dollar to the store and get to buy a snack.  They had a choice of several kinds of chips, trail mix, cookies, or other snack food.  Riley chose a trail mix that we had to make sure that Riley didn't share with Alex since it had peanuts in it.  Alex really wanted the cheetos.  I made her choose something different because I didn't want her to get it all over her white Halloween tshirt.

I should have just let her have the cheetos.  Because our second stop was the food pavilion.  I LOVE that place.  We tried dozens of food samples, from juices to barbeque sauce to quesadillas and washed it all down with a chocolate milk from the Borden area.  The kids are able to pet Elsie the cow & Beauregard her baby.  Riley loved it, but Alex was a little scared.  But Alex LOVED the chocolate milk, she had it all over her shirt!  By the time we left this pavilion Alex was filthy.  So much for looking cute in pictures all day. 

On our way out, we saw that Jay Novacek was there signing autographs.  So Dad got in the line and took his picture with him.  I was a little amazed at how short he was.  He's not really that short, I just always think of professional football players as being really big guys, not just normal size.

Then we did some shopping.  I bought a necklace & earrings, a new scentsy fragrance, and had my rings cleaned while Mom & Dad had their tennis shoes cleaned.

 After all this shopping we were discussing the things we wanted to do before leaving.  I mentioned that we are always trying to be so good about not spending money, but I thought we should try one of the fried foods, and let Riley try out the midway.  While standing there, this man walks up and hands me a handful of tickets.  He told me they were on their way out and I could have them.  He handed me 46 tickets, which is $23 worth of tickets.  I was so surprised.  Then I knew that we had to splurge!  So we headed off for our dinner of Fried Frito Pies and cokes.

 Here is Alex enjoying her bite.  They looked disgusting, but so does most fried food.  They actually tasted more like nachos, but pretty good all the same.  Nothing will ever beat the Fletcher's Corny Dogs though!

Following dinner, we watched the parade.  Alex and Riley loved it.  They were both so mesmerized.  I can't wait for Alex to see the Light parade at Disney, she is going to LOVE IT!  As this float passed with the ladybug and all the pink, Alex's face lit up and she said, "Mine!"  Still claiming everything pink as her own.

 Finally we headed over to the Midway to one final ride.  We wandered around forever in the over stimulation land until we found the kids area.  Riley & Alex together picked out this really fun little ladybug ride.  Unfortunately you had to be 36 inches and Alex was only 33.  She was very sad and didn't understand why she couldn't ride the ladybug ride. After all it was her birthday party that was ladybug themed!

It turns out the ride really went a little too fast for her, but Riley and I had lots of fun and laughed the entire time.

But I decided that it was important that we find something for Alex to ride.  So we had to go buy $3 worth more of tickets, but both kids were able to ride this ride.

Riley did a really good job of helping Alex get on the ride.  The first ride without mommy was a huge success. They loved it.  Alex never stopped smiling.  Oh my little daredevil.

Overall the fair was a complete success.  We left with two happy, but very exhausted children.  And at least the car was still in one piece where we left it.