Fair 2012

Our county fair was in September, but I never got around to posting the pictures we took at the fair.  I really love the fair.  I mean I LOVE the fair.  It could be because I was crowned the Washington County Fair Queen way back in 1999.  Being at the fair just feels like being at home.  I really enjoy walking up and down those hills of dirt and gravel.  I love hearing the sound of music in the background and the sound of animals making their presence known.  I love watching all the old-timers sit around and admire their tractors and engines.  I love seeing all the kids running around without a worry in the world.   I love seeing the neon lights light up our town sky for one week out of the year.  I love eating an ear of corn and sharing a funnel cake with my mom.  I just love being at the fair.  And I am grateful to be able to share the fair with my children.  They will grow up running up and down the same dirt hills and gravel roads I did.  They will grow up learning how to care for animals in the same barns that I and their dad did.  I hope that they will grow up loving the fair just as much as I do. 

We didn't miss a day of the fair.  We went to Cajun Fest the first night.  We went to Gospel Fest the second night.  We watched the crowning the fair queen.  We participated in the fair parade.  We watched a rodeo or two.  We ate an ear of corn and shared a couple of funnel cakes.  We fed the ducks.  We played on the tractors.  I think we did it all.

The kids rode in a red wagon for the fair parade with our church group.  Their little troop was called "Party with the Animals."  Sandy was a cow and Brazos was a pig.  Their Granny was a lively yellow chicken leading the pack.  The kids were all so cute dressed up in their costumes.

After the fair parade we headed down to the fair grounds to enjoy a tall glass of sweet lemonade, do some serious train playing with our new "Fair Train", play with Granny some more and watch them crown the newest fair queen.  Maybe some day Miss Sandy will be the fair queen!

 

The next day we went to Gospel Fest to listen to some good-ole' country music for the soul.  We even played in the dirt and shavings.  I think my kids have already found their favorite part of the fair - dirt!

 

We walked through the Country Creations Building and admired all the creativity the townspeople have around here, from beautiful flower arrangements to scrumptious cakes.  I entered three pictures in the photography contest and each one recieved a blue ribbon!  In a few short years Brazos will be able to enter his pictures in the fair contest, cause you know he likes to click a camera just as much as I do.

 

 

The kids enjoyed getting up close and personal with the farm animals.  Cock-a-doodle-do and MooMooMoo!

 

 

It's always a little boys dream to be able to climb all over the tractors.  Brazos spent lots of time climbing on tractors and kicking dirt around.  He even fed some ducks by hand!

 

 

You don't experience the fair to its' entirety without tasting some country fried food!  A high school friend of ours', Callie, has a local restaurant called Smitty's.  She had a booth at the fair and we gave her goodies a try.  Matt chomped on a Red Velvet Whoopi Pie, while I tasted the Fried Cookie Dough.  Brazos was the sensible one and stuck to a hot dog.

 

 

While in the food court we even ran into Brazos.  No not our little Brazos, but Big Brazos.  Yes, he was the inspiration for naming our Brazos.  I had this young man in my second grade class SIX years ago.  Well, I also had him in the fourth and fifth grade only three and four years ago.  Whew...that sounds better than six years ago.  He was the most darling little second grader and I wanted to keep him as my own.  Since I couldn't keep him...I just had to get my own.

 

 

The rest of the week was spent climbing on more tractors, feeding more ducks, listening to music, and Matt and I participated in the Back Seat Driver Contest.  He was blind folded while driving a lawn mower while I sat in a trailer behind him yelling directions on how to steer through an obstacle course.  We didn't do too well.  I was laughing so hard most of the time that I couldn't yell a word to him.  And at times he didn't know if he was stepping on the gas or not, so we would go slow and we would speed up.  It was a crazy ride!

 

 

It was a glorious week in Washington County and we can't wait for another year to roll around so we can experience the fair all over again.

 

 

 

 

By the way....I learned of this cool new website called PicMonkey that lets you create photo collages for free.  As you can see I tried it out and I really like it.  You should try it too and create yourself a little collage or two.