The kids were out of school yesterday for Fall Break, so we decided to hit up the State Fair of Texas. It was the perfect day for it. Blue skies, mild temps, but on the way to the Fair we got news of a most tragic sort--Big Tex had burned down!
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| We were a little dismayed, but when we got there and saw the enourmous ferris wheel, we perked back up! The kids were so excited, and truth be told, so was I! |
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| The carousel was first up. It was Lila's first and only ride of the day. In fact, about half way through she asked me to get her off the horse. So, we just rode around and around with me standing near a horse with her on my hip. What can I say? She tried! |
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| Madison and Jackson were loving it from the get go, though. |
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| No hands on a stationary horse--such a daredevil rider! |
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| Next up were the kiddie swings. Turns out there is such a thing as being too tall for a ride and Jackson was over the limit. A few tears fell, but he recovered pretty quickly. Thank goodness. |
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| Lila was much more content hanging out and watching everyone around her ride the rides. |
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| Gigi was able to turn J man's frown upside down by joining him on this high flying ride. |
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| He loved it! |
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| Boom joined him on the next spinning ride. Turns out, a 5 year old's stomach is much better equipped to handle these spinning rides than that of a grandparent. They were such good sports, but said "no more" after these rides! |
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This was about as close as the little one got to entering a ride again.
We did find out that she's 35 inches tall, though:) |
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| After a few more rides, like the Happy Swing, we were ready for lunch. |
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| We definitely perked up when we saw the Fletcher's Corny Dog stand. No doubt, the best ever made. |
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| My dad finished his off before I even sat down to start on mine! |
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| Jackson and Gigi both loved every bite of theirs... |
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| while Lila preferred to have hers without any of the batter. Weenie only. I, on the other hand, ate the whole kit and kaboodle. |
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| After lunch, we walked over to get in line for the iconic ferris wheel. The view did not disappoint! |
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| While we were waiting, though, Lila Lou fell asleep, so she missed the whole thing. Oh well, guess we'll just have to go again next year:) |
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| After checking out the Dallas skyline, we just had to take some time to share a delicious funnel cake. I really think they should just stop frying all other silly things, like twinkies and oreos, and just stick to the good ol' tried and true funnel cake. It's just too good to be beat. |
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| We love the State Fair! |
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| Even though we didn't really want to see a skeleton of Big Tex, we just had to walk on over and go see him. Imagine our surprise when we walked up and saw this. A big pile of nothing. It was crazy! He was completely gone. We heard they carried him out on an enormous stretcher of sorts. So sad! |
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| To lift our spirits, we headed over to check out the cool animals in Big Tex's Barnyard. We saw this beautiful giraffe... |
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| and got to feed lots of baby goats and chicks. |
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| We even got to say "hook 'em" to a little longhorn! |
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One of the highlights for me was petting this cool camel.
Lila liked seeing him, but passed on the chance to pet him. |
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| She cracked me up, though, when she saw these two strange animals and said, "Those are some trazy yooking dogs. Yook at their chins!" I still have no idea what kind of animal they are, but I do know that they are not dogs! |
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After checking out the zebras, we went to feed this very animated and aggressive ostrich.
Thank goodness he didn't bite one of my fingers off! |
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| Jackson opted to feed the much more docile llamas... |
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| and all of us were amused by these strangly shaven alpacas. Seriously, do they not remind you of a shaved standard poodle? |
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We ended the petting zoo rounds by feeding this wacky 4 horned sheep. Yes, 4 horns!
Have you ever seen such a thing? |
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| To say that the kids enjoyed the barnyard would be an understatement. I am so glad that we went! |
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| I may not know anyone who likes ice cream more than my dad, but Maddie sure did put down this entire ice cream bar just like her Boom! |
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| Jackson passed on the ice cream, but ate a serious amount of cotton candy instead. |
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We ended the day with a few more rides and the kids used their last 16 tickets to ride the Crazy Mouse. I was so proud of them for going on their first roller coaster. They loved it! "Look Mom, no hands!"
We had so much fun at the Fair and are already looking forward to going again next year.
I wonder what the new Big Tex will look like? Guess we'll just have to wait and see! |
