There's No Place Like the State Fair of Texas

It's that time of year again in North Texas, time for the State Fair. I love the Fair. The exhibits-who can resist a sculpture made entirely out of butter, or a giant sandcastle depiction of the Dallas skyline, or sitting in all the latest models of cars, that we will never in a million years actually own. ( The most comical thing was to watch all of the people,including ourselves go gaga over the newest model mini van- we have so gone down a level on the coolness scale.)Then there are the animals-for instance, there is Boris, the gigantic pig who seriously weighs 5,000 lbs or something crazy like that. There is something grossly intriguing about an animal of that magnitude. Of course there is also the petting zoo, where you can get your hat stolen by an ostrich, spend a fortune of animal food, which mostly gets spilled on the ground by your four year old, and hope your other child doesn't climb into the pen with the billy goats. Oh, and where else on earth can you possibly call it a day, only after you have had the chance to catch a show entitled " Dancing with The Dogs" I am so not even kidding. This is an actual new dog sport called "freestyling with your dog"( Mom- you and Jonah- so should get started on that!) Let's just say, we wished we had seen the other dog show instead. Dancing really should stay a people sport. Now we come to THE attraction of all attractions at the state fair- the FOOD. I fully believe that most people go the fair for that reason alone. The corny dogs, funnel cakes, nachos, cotton candy, turkey legs, and I can't even begin to list all of the fried nonsense that is being sold - the two new ones that I had never heard of were Fried Coke and Fried Latte. Did you make sure you had your IV drip of Mylanta before you came? Some things were just not meant to be fried. This year the fair had a different feel for me, because due to WW- I knew better than to eat any of that food out there, so I think that I may have been the only person- plus my two children, who brought their own lunch into the fair grounds. There were a few stares and gasps as I pulled out my turkey sandwich and grapes from my cooler. I thought I may get kicked out at one point for not partaking in the traditional corn dog, but I have to tell you, boy did I feel better at the end of the day, when all I had partaken in was a Nutty bar-eaten with saved up points! Not that I think that it is bad for anyone else to eat that food, for goodness sake, that was Luke's top reason for going, and he enjoyed every bite!I just knew how sick I would feel at the end of the day, and how dissapointed I would be on Saturday when I weighed in! Another great part of the fair is the Midway- and what was even greater? That we managed to avoid it altogether! Lastly, I must mention the people. We all know that the most interesting part is to people watch at the fair. We happened to have gone on Senior Day, and I tell you I have never in my life seen so many motorized riding vehicles. It really was a deliberate effort on our part not to get run over. You really do see some of the strangest things. All in all we had a great day. There were lots of fun hands-on things for the kids to do and see and Rylie even participated in her first Pee Wee Rodeo! Her Mimi would have been so proud of her barrel racing skills! The best part of the day? We did not leave having bought a Veggie Blaster 2000, an Oreck vacuum cleaner( seriously saw someone walking out with one),a magic, super absorption cleaning towel, a pet rock, or a jacuzzi hot tub!