Yesterday was Fair Day, and all in all it was a fair day. The day was hot and humid, and the Fair was crowded – so crowded in fact that I was unable to enjoy my annual Fletcher’s Corny Dog. I did manage to sneak myself some Funnel Cake so all was not lost.
We arrived at the fair around 10:20 and parked in our usual, totally terrific parking space that totally rocks. That parking space is the best money we ever spend at the fair.  We entered in at the swine gate gate near the Pan-Am arena and looked at all the police horses before it was time for the Pee-Wee stampede. Our cowboy is now too old to participate, but our little cowgirl barrel-raced her heart out! She did a great job, galloping around all the barrels in 11 seconds! Even though she came in third in her division we were very proud of her!
Then it was off to the pig barn where we saw some pigs in competition, but really it was just to cool off for a minute. We went over to “Little Hands on the Farm”, one of our perennial favorites, and our little farmers picked peaches, milked a cow, planted and harvested vegetables, fed chickens, sheep, and cows, and sold their wares at the market. That is always such fun.
By then, we were wondering where Matt was. We headed over to the Petting Zoo and the kids fed an ostrich, saw kangaroos, camels, and turtles, and pet a baby pig.  We even were able to watch several piglets and a baby donkey nursing from their mothers. As we headed to meet Matt, we passed by the kittens, puppies, baby rabbits, ducklings, chicks, piglets and ooh’ed and aah’ed appropriately. We met Matt at the fountains and grabbed a quick lunch and sat on the ground near the Mercado to eat.
Then it was off to the Automobile Buildings. Oh, the glory of air conditioning! We finally saw a Fit, which is what Matt things will be his next car, and Crisana was able to sit in a convertible T.E. Pooper. Trey, of course, loved the trucks. He looked mighty good sitting in the Ford Ranger.
We then headed over to the Discovery Gardens where we enjoyed a little treasure hunt as a family and learned about recycling, composting, and conserving energy. We all received a little treat for the great job we did, and took a break in the shade to enjoy some massive snow-cones, because, after all, it was so HOT. After cooling off and rehydrating ourselves, it was off to the Midway. We had enough coupons this year for the kids to ride 6 rides, 3 of which they rode together. They had a blast and we had so much fun watching them have fun!
After all that hard work, it was time to go get a snack, so we hunted down a funnel cake stand and watched the Human Cannonball blast off while we ate. During this time, the front arrived and so did the cloud cover. We enjoyed cool breezes, a drop in humidity, and a break from the sun. We took a brief stop inside the arena to see Big Tex’s sandbox, which was nothing but a Big Disappointment. Next week, we’ll have much better sandcastles to look at, at a much larger sandbox: the beach! As we left, we could feel the rain approaching and we knew it was time to leave. We headed to the car and were able to get to nearly 75 & Mockingbird before the rain really started falling. By the time we reached home, the clouds were gone, the rain had stopped, and the temperature had dropped nearly 20 degrees. We were worn out, but we had enjoyed a fun time at the fair.