"Howdy folks..."

For those of you not from the Great State of Texas, "Howdy folks..." is the signature line of Big Tex, our state fair mascot of sorts. Big Tex stands tall over the fairgrounds, welcoming all who enter in grand Texas fashion.

Visiting the fair is a long-standing tradition in my family. I honestly don't remember a year we missed, I'm sure it happened, but in my mind's eye, we went every year without fail. Most of my personal memories consist of midway fun, funnel cakes and corny dogs. Since my kids are a bit young for the midway, we instead ventured out to a new type of fun - although there were still corny dogs!

I am a big fan of public transportation, but in keeping with the "great state" theme, we're a bit too great (read: spread out) for public transportation to work well. But, we do use it whenever we can. The rail system was recently expanded to drop passengers off right at the front gates of the fair, so we took the "choo, choo" down to meet NiNi and Pop. The boys had a blast!

We had a bit of rain, but it really made for a great day. Not a lot of people braved the weather, so we had the place to ourselves. During one of the particularly heavy downpours, we ducked into the car show. The boys were in heaven, they turned every knob and opened every door. Great entertainment!

We watched to dog show and had a blast seeing the boys get so excited about the jumping dogs... and the cotton candy we fed them helped to keep them in their seats. Yes, we bribe around here.

We also headed to the petting/feeding zoo. This was a big hit with Stone and Cash - Hold wanted nothing to do with the animals!

Our last stop before heading home was the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit. This is something that I always wanted to do with the kids, but the line is generally extremely long. But, the rain played in our favor and the kids had a blast learning how food goes from the farm to the store. What an amazing teaching tool!

Holden was the only one we could get to pose in the cut-outs... he makes a pretty cute pig, huh? Did you know that pork is the most consumed meat on the planet? More than beef or chicken... I learned something new! Stone had a blast milking the cow and Cash did an amazing job driving all of our goods to the delivery plant. What little helpers we have!

If you and your family are heading to the fair, don't forget your coupons. McDonald's had the best deal for us... free tickets for the kids and $4 off coupons for adults. You can grab them off the counter at any participating McD's, no purchase necessary!