State Fair of Texas

Like most things in Texas, the state fair is big.  I mean BIG.  We had someone from Tennessee stop us and asked us about it, said he'd never seen anything like it.  Big.

Yesterday Mom and Dad took off of work and treated Ashley, Luke, and I to a trip to the ole fair.  Just like old family times.  Except this time we had an extra kid in tow.  And he was a very good kid!  When we first walked in there was a display of working trucks.  Luke was in heaven.  He wanted to touch them all.  But not get in them.   He seemed scared when Dad got up there with him.

Then we hit the pavement and saw all there was to see.  We saw people selling just about anything you could imagine.  Giant hot tub half the size of my back yard?  Check.  Cheap crap toys worth nothing but selling for $5?  Check.  Quilting machines longer than my arm span?  Check.  A picnic table that is also a swing?  check. 

There was also any and every kind of fried and "American" food you could imagine.  I shared a Fletcher's corn dog with Luke.  He mostly wanted the mustard. 

I also got a Belgian waffle smothered in powdered sugar.  Mmmmmm.  Later we wandered over to a petting zoo.  What petting zoo doesn't have giraffes?

He wasn't too sure about petting some of the animals, but he got braver as the minutes ticked by. 

Then we arrived at Big Tex.  Have I mentioned before how much Luke HATES to get his picture taken, particularly with me? 

Obviously it's pure torture.  Finally we headed over to the neatest place.  It was this huge green house, and it was BEAUTIFUL inside.  Plus it smelled so good- fresh and green and ceder-y.  Lovely.  They had all these little trains running throughout the plants, and for the third time that day (second was when Papa let Luke "drive" all the cars in the car show.  I sat outside cause this Momma was t.i.r.e.d.) I figured he was in hog heaven. 

I even tried to get a picture with him again, and this time instead of giving the camera the evil eye it just looks like I'm strangling him.

After we were done with the fair it was about dinner time, but it was also smack dab in the middle of rush hour traffic.  We decided to head to Ashley's apartment (only 15 minutes away) to wait out the traffic, plus I would be able to get Luke to rest for a little while. 

WRONG.  I laid down with him for 30 minutes and the kid turned into a babbling octopus.  He would not stop talking.  He would not stop moving.  I even tried to pin him down with my arms and legs and he STILL couldn't calm down.  Finally I gave up.  Eventually it was time to go eat and we went to Jake's Hamburger.  Oh, it was soo good.  But I ate way too much way too fast and ended up feeling highly car sick on the way home.  I felt so bad that Mom and Dad came home with me and bathed Luke and put him to bed so I could catch a shower and hit the sheets myself.  It was very sweet.  I mean, we didn't get home until 9:30! 

So all in all, it was a fun day.  Thanks, the State Fair of Texas.  Maybe I'll see you next year.