State Fair of Texas

Yesterday was my Fair Day and I love the State Fair.  I remember going almost every year as a kid and even as I grew up.  Karie and my first day was at the State Fair so needless to say it means a lot to me to go every year.  This year was even more fun because Samantha is old enough to partake of the food and the fun.  We also went with my sister, my nephew and his wife and their little girl.  The fair is always more fun with more people.

If you have never been to a fair then you don't understand that the food is one of the main attractions.  Pretty much everything is fried.  If you are going to go to a fair then eating healthy really isn't an option. We had corn dogs, funnel cake, cotton candy, corn on the cob, 1/2 lbs hot dogs, cheese fries, fried buffalo chicken flapjack, fried Oreos, turkey leg, root beer, lemonade, fried mac and cheese and others I can't remember.  

The fried buffalo chicken flapjack won the award for best food and it was pretty good.  The loser of the day was the Kool-Aide Pickle.  I saw it advertised while we were eating out lunch and I just had to give it a try.   The Kool-aide pickle is a huge dill pickle soaked in Kool-Aide then sprinkled with sugar and kool-aide mix.  It was just too weird, the dill was too much of a contrast of the sweet kool-aide. Samantha's favorite food was the fried mac and cheese.

We also went through the childrens animal barn which is generally a big hit with Samantha.  This year she was old enough to walk around without being carried so she could go up to the animals herself.  However, she isn't quite old enough to feed the animals.  She seemed to be just as happy just to look and to play with the scoops that were attached to each cage.

After we looked at the animals we wandered around the car show and picked out all the cars and trucks that we would love to have but won't.  Samantha really liked this red Dodge truck but mean ole mommy wouldn't let her take it home. 

Samantha did get a little model VW Beetle to take home.  It rode around in the wagon with her all day.  The only time she put it down was to get something to eat or drink.

There were a lot of cool cars and trucks.  Every year we see more and more electric or hybrid vehicles at the fair.  This year they were really hyping the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.  I got to take a look at the Leaf, the electric motor just looks odd under the hood.  But I guess one of these days we will all be driving electric cars.

The hit of the day had to be the aquarium.   Samantha loved to splash in the water in the open tanks where you can touch and feel stuff.  Evidently, Samantha didn't seem to care that there were "NO SPLASHING" signs posted all over the place.  Her and Karie had a couple of battles over the splashing that didn't end well.  Within a couple of minutes Samantha was covered in water.  The Manta Ray tank in the back of the aquarium is just too cool.  They rays swim right up and you can touch them.  Samantha seemed more annoyed by them than anything because they were interrupting her splashing.  They would swim by and suck on her arm looking for food and then move on.  I was able to feed a couple of them and it startled my how much they can suck.  It was actually quite creepy.  But they are beautiful animals!

And of course, you can't leave the fair without riding at least one ride.  I scoped out the rides and the "Winky the Whale" ride seemed to be the least threatening.  The minimum height was 30 inches so Samantha was good to go.  I could tell this ride was going to be a problem for me when I got in and realized I didn't really fit.  I had to put my legs sideways to keep my knees from banging around and had to force my arm against the front bar to keep from smashing Samantha.  So when this thing finally started to move Samantha starting laughing.  I then realized it moved faster and more violently than it looked.  Every time Winky the Whale went up and down it slammed my spine and knees against the hard seat and from of the whale.  As I cringe from the next movement, Samantha is laughing and screaming.  She loved it.  This was the first ride she had ever been on and it opened a whole new world for her.  After that she knew what all these spinning, noisy things were and she would point at the rides that were too big for her and clap.  I am sure she would have ridden everything in the midway.  Next year , I am sure I will be on a lot more rides with Samantha. 

As the way went on, I could tell that Samantha was starting to get tired.  Since we took the wagon Samantha didn't have an opportunity to take a nap like her cousin did, who was in a stroller.  We had left the house just after 9:30 am and didn't leave the fair until around 6:15 pm.  As soon as we got into the van to head home, Samantha was out cold.  It was a long, fun, and exhausting day.  Karie and my feet were both sore from all the walking and standing.  But it was an awesome day and year after year we hope there will be many, many more.