There are many good things about us moving back to Texas. But honestly, the #1 thing is the Sate Fair! We used to go religiously before we moved to Alaska and I only managed to time it right once on our annual trips back to Texas to attend. I loved the Alaska State Fair, but it was so exciting to be going back to the original! ;)
The one trip I made with the boys and Nonni a few years back was fun, but it was nowhere near the food extravaganza that it should have been. But with them being a few years older and having their dad along, I figured we could do a little better. Starving them a little helped too since they were ready for food as soon as we got there.
I’m kidding a little, we did go pretty much as soon as it opened, so I didn’t let them eat a big breakfast. ;)
Natalie is pretty hit or miss on food, but she seemed pretty intrigued by the Texas nachos!
The cinnamon rolls and nachos are just as good as they always were. Loooove starting the fair days off with the old classics!
It took Natalie a while, but she was determined to eat that chip…! Also glad to see Big Tex back into the blue and red color scheme. I really didn’t like the years he was wearing a yellow shirt. ;)
I tried to plan some indoor activities around when Natalie needed to eat and it lined up perfectly with the pig races! The boys thought the racing pigs were hysterical and Natalie liked them enough to chill in her dad’s lap while I fed her. Win-win!
We finally met up with Nonni and Grandpa! They rode the train over from Fort Worth, so we definitely made it there sooner. I was on a mission to find the kid’s play area that we enjoyed so much back in 2015 and everyone was happy to just follow the determined momma.
Along the way, we ran into this cool map where you could put a sticker on where you were from. You can see it was near the end of the fair by the number of yellow dots already on the map!
We took it to mean where everyone was born because that was more fun. Henry was super excited to find Alaska, but didn’t understand why it was sooooo small? You people do know it’s bigger than Texas, right?
As we kept walking, I finally realized that the kid area just wasn’t there this year. I was so bummed - the kids loved it last time. But we stopped to figure out what to do next just in time to catch a milking demonstration. The boys were quite entranced by the whole operation, but I have no idea why Thomas suddenly decided to put his arm around his brother. It was super cute though!
It was way past due for Natalie to take a nap, but she wasn’t having it. I tried to encourage nap time by laying her stroller back, but she was not encouraged. She did launch her shoes out of the stroller though… Someone nicely handed one of them back to us when we didn’t notice it go sailing.
I kept craving a funnel cake, but none of the stands we walked by had one. I finally spotted the fried golden treats and abandoned my family to go get one. A craving is a craving!
Once we were done devouring it (I did share!), there was a pile of powdered sugar left on the plate. Well their dad was going to let that just go to waste…
Henry thought it was awesome, but I think Thomas was less impressed by the face-full of powdered sugar. ;)
Thomas didn’t remember a lot about the fair visit 4 years ago, but he did remember seeing photos of himself on the kid rides and was very insistent that they got to ride some rides. So once Natalie was crashed out, we went over there to let them ride some rides. And of course the motorcycles was Thomas’ top choice. He was much too focused on the ride to look at me, but Henry smiled for me!
Ice cream time! We all got our favorites! :)
And more rides. They were a little hesitant to climb up the never-ending stairs to the giant slide, but they loved it so much! They asked to go again and again, but I cut them off after the second run. Based on how much we paid and the crowd present at this ride, this ride was raking in the big bucks!
Also, the guy at the top flipped Thomas’ hat around for him so he wouldn’t lose it. I told him he looked like a super cool dude. I was a little bummed that they didn’t need our help for the slide rides anymore, I loved riding down with them in Alaska. But I also didn’t really want to climb all of those stairs either… Bittersweet, for sure!
Annnnnd done! Henry was out before we even got out of the parking lot. I think Thomas made it a little bit longer, but they were both worn out. Fried food, rides and heat worked it’s magic for a great nap time. Can’t wait for next year and hopefully Natalie will get more of the food fun than a chip. ;)