Howdy Folks!

Last Sunday we took Luke to the State Fair of Texas for the first time. Since Luke was only a month old last year during Fair season, we decided to not take him to the craziness that is the Fair, and just went by ourselves for a couple of hours. That actually happened to be our first time away from Luke since he had been born. As much as we enjoyed getting away last year, it was fun to introduce our little guy to some of the things we enjoy about the Fair. 

For the past 6 or 7 years (I have lost track) we have planned a Fair date with our good friends, Sterling and Shannon. This tradition started out with just the four of us, but has since grown to including our little ones. One year we were joined by Sterling's brother and his girlfriend and this year we were joined by Scott and Vicki. Our original plan was to go on Saturday, but the weather was a little crazy, so we decided to hold off. I am so glad we waited because Sunday was beautiful! Apparently, a lot of other people thought so, too! It was packed!

Our first stop was to visit the new Big Tex. The Big Tex that we grew up with caught on fire last year and, unfortunately, was unable to be saved. We stopped by to introduce Luke to Big Tex and meet up with Scott and Vicki. 

Our little sleepy-head who was powering through with no nap!

Luke with Uncle Scott and Aunt Vicki. Look how stinkin' cute Luke is in his cowboy boots!

We headed straight for our first "snack" at the Fletcher's Corny Dog stand. It is a given that we have corn dogs when we go to the Fair. Luke and I "shared" a corn dog. 

Here we go!

Shannon mentioned that we pretty much have the same picture in front of one of the fountains at the Fair from every year that we have been going together. So, of course, we had to take this year's picture! 

You can tell how excited the little guys are to be stopping for a picture...

After checking out the new cars in the car buildings, we decided it was time to get another fried treat for dessert. We usually try something new, but this year we went with what was close and easy: funnel cake. You just can't go wrong with getting funnel cake and we hadn't had it in forever. The little guy wasn't too sure what he thought of all of that sugar...

He wanted to make sure he got it all off his little fingers!

The boys.

Before heading home, we ended up stopping to take a break and watch the end of the Cowboys' game. (Too bad they lost!) Luke, again, was not interested in this stop. He was a squirmy little thing who was ready to keep moving! 

At least he was a happy little squirmer!

I remember the days when I used to be so annoyed with people who brought their kids who were in strollers to places like the Fair. We are officially those annoying people! Luke has the whole people-watching thing down and seemed to enjoy himself. I fear that next year will be a challenge because I won't be able to contain him as easily in a stroller. He is already showing signs of independence at times, so we'll see what happens! We lucked out with having free tickets to get in, extra coupons my parents passed on to us, and ended up only paying for parking. Not too bad! I can see how easy it will be to one day blow quite a bit of money once kids want to ride rides, play games, eat their own food, you name it! For now, we'll stick with being those stroller people and enjoy our fairly cheap tradition!

Until next year...