Fair Fun

We had waaaaaaaayyyyy to much fair fun this year. Last Sunday afternoon Aaron's Dad and Anna rode into town in their fifth wheel camper with Spanky, Beebop, Keough, and Piper (their 4 dogs :)). They were able to park their camper in the field behind our house so it worked out really well. On Sunday night we ate at Babe's Chicken (yum!). On Monday Aaron took his day off for fall break and we went to the State Fair. I really enjoyed this trip to the fair because the crowd was very thin and Steve and Anna had never been to the fair before. It always makes it more fun to go with people who haven't been. We saw the dog show, pig races, bird show (which Aaron's Dad really enjoyed), looked at the Grand Prize winning animals, cotton bales and bowls in the food and fiber building (which they were really interested in because cotton is not a Colorado crop obviously), the butter sculpture in the craft building, and of course we ate lots of fair food. We tried the Fried Frito Pie which was the winner for this year but it wasn't that amazing. The turkey leg was good as always though. The weather was also perfect on this day for walking around and seeing the sights. We were all worn out by the time we got done. Plus all of us were struggling with allergies thanks to ragweed. uggg!
On Tuesday we went out to DBU so Anna could see the campus and then we went to Whataburger


On Tuesday we went out to DBU so Anna could see the campus and then we went to Whataburger because Aaron's dad wanted to try one out. It was yummy as usual. Aaron had to go to some meeting so we came back to the house and just tried to rest and get a few necessary things done and then Anna made her delicious spaghetti sauce for supper. After supper we went to the camper and looked at pictures of the rest of their trip through Texas. They had gone to Padre Island and Carlsbad so those pictures were really fun because I haven't ever been to either place. I would love to take a trip to Carlsbad sometime.
Anna got a couple of great shots of Maddy having a good time in the camper with the dogs.
Maddy discovered ketchup at Whataburger. Why bother with fries when it's so good by itself?
Steve and Anna headed back toward Colorado Wednesday morning. We all felt like the visit was too short but we were so glad they got to come by for a little bit. I had a couple of days to do some homework and get ready for the next wave of company. On Friday all the Eckstein/Skidmore/Embry/Joyner clans started coming in. Tricia came over in the afternoon and her and Tammy made some excellent pumpkin cookies. As Maddy would say, " 'um! 'um! 'um!". We got ready to cook hamburgers and hotdogs and Nat, Jessica, David, Matt, Brittany,Rachel, and one of Aaron's students all came and joined us for the cookout in honor of Tricia's birthday. We had so much fun talking and playing games.
Maddy has started loving her stuffed animals and she was excited to show them off. Saturday morning everyone except us and Matt and Brittany did a 5k for Tricia's b-day gift. I wish I could have gone. It looked like they had a great time and the shirts were really cool. :) We met them at Tricia's house and after everyone was ready we drove a little bit and parked on a street about a mile from the fair and walked in so we didn't have to pay for parking.
We split off from the crowd and went to the Texas Tech/Baylor game with Ethan and Jenna. Maddy enjoyed the bands at halftime but she was a tired little girl and finally fell asleep. It was pretty warm in the stadium but we fortunately got some shade pretty quickly into the game. It was fun but I was so hot and thirsty after the game, and hungry! We got some fried pickles after the game because that stand was right there and then we found a DP for me and I got some tamales that were good. We met everyone else and went to a Doberman show which turned out to be this woman who had trained all these poor Dobermans to do these strange dance routines. Disappointing.
After the Doberman show we got some more food and then went to the bird show....again. Aaron wanted to see if he could get picked to get the bird to land on him and take his money. The bird show actually ended up being much neater than usual because we got to sit right up front for once and so really got to see the birds. After that show a few of us rode the ferris wheel. I wanted to take Maddy because I knew she would love it and she did. However, what she really wanted to ride was this 360 roller coaster that was next to the ferris wheel. Maybe in 5 or 6 years Maddy. She loved the thing and got a little upset when they stopped to unload and take on a new crowd of riders.
This is us waiting for the ferris wheel.
The line was a bit long but once we got on it was great. You get a great view of Dallas and Maddy loved being up high and seeing everything. She wanted us to let her sit by herself on the step into the ferris wheel carriage, crazy girl! Of course that didn't happen but we did let her sit on the seat between us like a big girl.
View of the midway from the ferris wheel.
Maddy enjoys the view!
After the ferris wheel we went to the craft building so everyone could see the butter sculpture. We found some cotton candy so everyone could spend the last of their coupons, said goodbye to Ethan and Jenna who had ridden the DART to the game, and headed back to our house for some sandwiches and coffee and rook. We stayed up way to late but it was so fun. The next morning we went to church and the went to Aaron's favorite place in the world, North Main BBQ. Everyone ate way too much there. Then we came back and watched football, talked, sang with the guitar while Brittany and Nat played, went on a walk, sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather, and played rummikub and bananagrams and ate frozen pizza. Yeah we ate way to much and didn't get enough sleep but it was worth it. Another successful fair season. :)