2013 Texas State Fair

Last year we managed to skip the State Fair .... and I have to say that I wasn't broken up about it.  It's loud, it's crowded and it's ridiculously expensive.  That said, Kendall, Nana, Saza and I had a pretty good time this year and picked a pretty good day to go.  In stark contrast to the 90-something degree temps of the previous day, we had 60-something degree temps this day.  It rained most of the morning and then from about dinner time for the rest of the day.  We were there for the only 4 hours of the day that it did not rain.  The discoveries made this year are as follows:

Rides that Kendall can now go on by herself, thus saving $4 and, more importantly, saving me from having to ride with her, are now officially "boring."  

So guess who went with her on a bunch of spinny and/or leave your stomach in the air, thrill seeker, make you want to puke rides?  

The one pictured below about undid me and I required a plastic cup of bad wine to recover.

This one was actually pretty fun.  

Kendall showed much more interest in feeding the animals this year.  But is still afraid of chickens.  Not afraid of roller coasters, nasty camels or huge cows that have horns that could poke an eye out.  Chickens.  

But BY FAR my most favorite part of the Fair this year was the 2013 fried food of the year ... FRIED THANKSGIVING DINNER!  Oh.  My.  God.  It was stuffing with turkey chunks, rolled in corn casserole, then rolled in corn meal, then fried.  Served with gravy and cranberry sauce.  This meal is almost worth making suffering through a second trip to the Fair this year.  Almost, but not quite.  I may, however, be looking into purchasing a deep fryer.  

Aaaaand, it just wouldn't be an "outing" without a trip to the corner for a certain someone.  Note that she picked the sparkly corner.

BIG THANKS to Nana and Saza for sponsoring this year's State Fair adventures!  

Lamplighter School Carnival

We all attended Kendall's school carnival last Friday afternoon/evening.  Of course it had to be held in the middle of the afternoon on the LAST day of the year that temps were in the 90's, but aside from that, it was a great time!  There were several neat rides.

Including a zip line!  All parents are required to volunteer at one of the attractions for an hour and I wound up at the zip line catching kids for an hour.  It was not boring.  But it was hot and more aerobic than I would have liked.  If we're there next year, I will make sure to sign up early so I can work the petting zoo. That entails sitting in a chair in the shade squirting disinfectant gel into kids hands as they leave the area.  Much more my speed.  

We almost didn't make it to the petting zoo but at the last minute decided to walk down there.  A certain Nana was SO glad we did!  Pig heaven.

This picture cracks me up.  Saza did a lot of sitting and watching the children at play.  

Fall at the Arboretum

The first morning of Nana and Saza's visit, we took a trip to the Arboretum.  Always love that place in the fall with all the pumpkins!  Got some good pics like these:

... and then reverted back to the recently more typical scowling pics, like these:

We checked out the new Children's Garden and it is HUGE!  We didn't see nearly all of it because it got too hot and we got too tired.  Kendall's school carnival was that afternoon and we were all in danger of running out of energy before even getting in the car to make the trek across town to the school.  We will definitely be back here, though!

School Field Trip

Kendall's class took a field trip to Old Heritage Farmstead in Plano.  It was a pretty neat old timey farm with a fabulous old farm house (colored pink) and other neat farm stuff.  Unless you looked up and over the fence/wall, it was possible to ignore the nail salon, seedy massage place and liquor store across the 4 lane highway.  The kids had a great time!

Here is Kendall grinding corn to feed chickens (of which she is still afraid),

milking a plastic cow,

pumping some water,

doing a little laundry,

playing with a (tin) pig,

and doing a little learning in the one room school house.

Random Pictures from past few weeks

I have gotten very behind on my blogging so thought I'd post some random pics to catch up a bit.

 

Once she has the strength to actually squeeze the handle, this could be the start of something good!

 



 

 

 

These are pictures from her class parent visit on the playground.  Kendall played with and introduced me to a lot of kids.  This little blonde girl, however, is not in Kendall's class but pretty much latched herself onto Kendall and didn't leave her side.  Neither of us can remember her name.  

 

 

Apparently a ring pop is required on the way to school if mommy has to stop at a store to run a quick errand on the way.  Breakfast of champions?  She walked into school at 8AM with a very green mouth.  I guess it didn't seem all that odd to anyone there because no one ever said anything to me about it.

 

 

I appear to have created a pedicure addict.  I am no longer allowed to go have one without her - sigh .... 

 



 

 

 

 

Ralphie continues to be an involuntary but ever-so-patient subject of much of Kendall's imaginative play.  

 

 

And he may be as tired of the Sofia the First book as I am.

 

This is just weird so I took pictures ....