State Fair 2008

Last Thursday, we had flu shots at the office. Mari had never had one before, but her doctor strongly encouraged her to get one, so I figured this was a good chance to do just that. Well, she did cry a little bit, but as soon as I distracted her with a toy and some food, all was better.

Unfortunately, the next few evenings and days weren't as great as a result of it, but I'm glad her immune system is building up. Anyway, as a reward for her bravery, we ventured out to the State Fair. I was so excited since this is something I go to every year and I was very afraid that we were going to miss it this year. You have no idea how much that thought saddened me. Me, not going to the fair??? Horrific!

Luckily, Don finished up early and met us on over here for a flu shot and an adventure to the fair. It was all so last minute that we were going to go directly from work. Let me tell you, I've never been happier for wearing flats to work in my life! My work gifted us with tickets to the fair, so we were off. We immediately parked right off of 30 for $5. It was a short walk, definitely shorter (and cheaper) than our super secret parking spot. I'm glad we had blankets for Mari because there was a slight chill in the air. We get to the front and are so excited by the progress that DART has made. Next year, we just might ride the rail. Anyway, there's this family of four who spoke very little English. They were ripped off by a guy selling sodas out front so you could get a discounted ticket. They had enough cash to buy 1 soda, which would only yield a discount for 1 ticket. They would save $7, but still have to pay full price for 3 more. When we walked up, we didn't need all 3 tickets since Mari got in free. I ran over and gave them our extra ticket. They were very thankful and I'm glad they could use it!

We walk in and take an inventory of our cash. We already said we weren't going to put anything on credit. So, we had $25 cash. Not a whole lot of cash, but it would have to work. Plus, it wasn't cheap ride night, so I was really scared how much the slide was going to cost. We bought our corn dogs from Fletcher's and while Don was doing that, I snapped the picture of Mari. She was still kinda sedated from the two drops of infant Tylenol I gave her just before the flu shot.
We hungrily ate our corn dogs, while we strolled along the Midway. I was greatly disappointed by the lack of creepiness from the carnies. Usually, they are dirty-looking, raspy-voiced, chain smoking, pushers of their games. These guys were ordinary, normal looking "volunteer" types, friendly and unassuming. What gives?? Only one even asked us to play a game, all of the rest just stood there smiling waiting for someone to walk up to play. This was an alternate reality. Oh, and can I say that there were people there, but not that many, it was far from crowded!

We turned the corner and there it was: The Slide!! Yippee!! But booooo!!! It cost 10 tickets!! That's a whole sheet of tickets for both Mari and I to ride. BUT, she had to be a minimum of 34 inches to ride, so no slide this year. I liked how the sign said, no pregnant women, but that wasn't an issue last year either. Nice. Oh well, she'll just have to wait until next year and so will I. Since we still had our tickets, we went off in search of Tornado Taters (another favorite of mine). I found 'em and even though they were cooked extra crispy, which I really don't like, they were good because this time, I was brave enough to not only douse them with hot sauce, but with vinegar as well. Surprisingly, it was delicious, albeit salty and tangy. Next up, fresh squeezed lemonade. Mmmm...not as good as the lemonade stand at the Lubbock fair, but it was still pretty good. It quenched our thirst, that's for sure. We headed to the livestock arena so Mari could see a cow up close. We pushed the stroller up to a calm one and they both just stared at one another. Mari seemed unimpressed and turned away. Then, we headed on over to visit the sheep. They were a little more active and cute. Jenna, maybe you can explain this one to me: why were they wearing hooded blankets??? I quietly leaned over to Don and uncomfortably said, "Um...are these sheep members of the KKK?" He laughed, and said, "I doubt it. The probably just got sheared and these outfits keep them warm." But why were they hooded, then??? I was confused. I snapped a fuzzy picture of one chewing on some hay and but it was too fuzzy from my shoddy camera phone. Oh well. Again, Mari was about to hit the snooze button. We then trekked on over to the tractors. Don was drooling over them and I must say, I have had a secret crush on tractors ever since I was a child. I like the old school ones that are shaped like a sneaker. Someday, I'll buy him a fancy one with a built-in Bose speaker system and air conditioning. It will come in handy when we're living on our vineyard or whatever it is we decide to grow.

Finally, we finished off our fair treats with frozen yogurt made with Dole pineapples. mmmm...delish! I put it in front of Mari to entice her and she perked up just a bit for a taste, then immediately went back to her frozen far-off stare. The Starlight Parade did NOTHING for her. She just sat there. Note to self: no fair visit after a flu shot. Poor thing.

That was hands down the cheapest and shortest fair visit ever, but you know what, we still had a great time!