Howdy Folks!
On Sunday Mommy, Daddy and Bubbe took Caleb to his first ever Texas State Fair! Even though he wasn't quite old enough to try the Fried Beer (that's this year's top new fried food), he had a great time people watching, animal petting, puppet seeing, and generally absorbing all the exciting sites and smells the fair had to offer. We started out with Caleb's first tram ride from the parking lot. He loved having the wind in his face as he sat in Bubbe's lap:
Once we got there we decided that hat might have been a little small, and his outfit was a little too warm, so we changed clothes right before we entered the park.
Our first stop inside the fair was a visit to the horses, then the pigs. Caleb thought those were pretty cool, but he was REALLY excited when we got to the petting zoo:
The giraffe wasn't interested in feed, but we still got to pet the cow:
We pet lots of other animals too, but the camera was slow and the animals had short attention spans, so this is what we got - Caleb petting Bubbe:
The look on Caleb's face - fascination mixed with surprise and a little happiness was interspersed with shouts of excitement and approving smiles. No fear in this one!
Then we went to the little farm that they had set up. We got to pose as animals:
And Caleb got to wear an apron! We didn't do all the activities, but they were really cool! The kids would "feed" corn to various different animals and take one of their produce (eggs, milk, wool, etc) for their basket. At the end they "sold" their produce by sorting it out at the farmers' market and got a "dollar" to spend on a snack in the general store.
Caleb was too little to actually drive the mini tractors around the circle, but we was big enough for a super cute photo op!
Then we went to a puppet show. Caleb wasn't so impressed with the Marionettes, and couldn't care less about the ventriloquist, but he LOVED the black light puppetry (where the puppeteers wear black and move neon things around the stage under a black light. After the show we got to meet this guy. We aren't quite sure who or what he was supposed to be, but he looked "fair"ly official and was willing to let us take a picture with him. Caleb totally dug the sparkliness of his vest.
In the Food & Fiber Pavilion we met Elsie the Borden Cow:
And then it was time for a nap at the Automotive Pavilion. Caleb was dreaming about fast cars like this Corvette...
We woke up just in time to meet Big Tex:
And see the parade! This is just before the parade started. The goofy looking one is Mommy - the other one is a clown with a squeaky glove:
After taking in about as much sight and sound as his little brain could hold with the parade and a walk through the midway, it was time to go home. We asked Caleb what he thought about his first State Fair experience, and he clearly stated his approval:
And so we headed back to the tram for a quick ride to the car and a not so quick navigation of the labyrinthine parking lot to the wholly unmarked exit. That's all until next year when Mommy and Daddy may have to reconsider their disdain for the infamous baby leash...
