Texas State Fair

Dear Friends:

This weekend, we traveled north to Dallas, Texas.  There, we had the chance to spend quality time with my son, his wife and my little grandson.  We decided to all go to the Texas State Fair and see what it had to offer.

One happy Grandpa

Before the fair, we had a LOT of fun just letting the kids play together.  Some may think it's really strange that my grandson loves to play with his aunt and uncle - they're only a few years older than he is ; )  Everything works out in this family.  I can't tell you how fun it is to watch the kids play together and have fun.  My youngest son is really good with little kids and loves to find out what makes them laugh.  Here are some video clips of the kids playing.  The first shows G-Man and L working together as a team, to play with the dog.  G-Man would get the toy away from the dog and give it to L, who would "attempt" to throw it for the dog to fetch ; )

We also stopped by an Apple Store, to see the new lineup of iPhones.  My youngest daughter marched right in and started playing with the devices like they were her own.  I see a lot of expensive gifts in her future:

After that, we were off to the big Texas State Fair!  I had always heard about it and wanted the family to see it.

Our first stop was all about animals.  This was the last weekend that the fair was open, so it was really crowded.  Fortunately, the kids had the chance to see lots of animals - particularly baby animals ; )

Lauren was fond of feeding the Scottish Highland Cow

My favorite picture from the entire weekend

The other big reason that we wanted to go to the fair was - the food.  State fairs across the country offer some pretty unique choices.  In Texas, it's all about the fried foods ; )  Trust me, there was no end of crazy food options.  Let me illustrate:

Hmmm....bacon....

After looking through all of these choices, we decided that everyone would get to pick just one of these crazy items.  My oldest son went first - he picked the Fried Biscuit and Gravy.  Basically, it was an inverted version of the old Southern favorite.  The biscuit  was fried and then gravy was inserted into the middle.  It was delicious:

My wife made an awesome selection.  Her choice? Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Waffle Balls! They were as awesome as they sound:

My choice? It didn't happen until we were just about to leave the entire fair.  I went for the Fried Thanksgiving Dinner.  Yeah...it was awesome:

Basically, it was stuffing that was rolled into a ball, with chunks of turkey throughout.  Then, it was lightly battered and fried.  To top it off, you have either gravy or cranberry sauce to dip it in.  It was amazing...

For a final note, we ordered the Fried Sweet Texas.  Never heard of it?  It's basically fresh pie dough that's deep-friend, with crunchy pecan pie, juicy peach cobbler and creamy buttermilk pie inside. Yeah, you read that right. It wouldn't be a Texas specialty without some Blue Bell ice cream on the side. Seriously awesome combination!

We took the kids on a ride on a tram overlooking the entire fair.  The view was beautiful, especially when you see how large the ferris wheel is:

As I said, the place was crowded.  Especially in the Midway, where you could spend lots of money to play horrible games, to win giant stuffed animals.  It was fun to watch, however...

That's it for now.  It was a great Saturday and we loved spending time with my son, his wife and the adorable grandson.  Life is truly great!