State Fair of Texas 2014

Yesterday was the final Saturday for the State Fair, so we headed out to eat some fried stuff and walk a million miles. We had chosen that Saturday to go all along because Collective Soul was doing a concert that afternoon for free at the Fair. Otherwise I might not have chosen the last weekend to attend because the weather was gorgeous and it was super crowded in the afternoon and evening.

We loaded up our Fiat with Brad and Andrew and headed to Dallas. Kimilee had to meet us later in the day. We took Kate's stroller because I knew she would get tired and quite frankly, in those kinds of crowds the idea of her walking is super stressful. It's much easier to know where she is when she's strapped into a stroller. (Do they make them for big kids?)

Kate took this photo. 

They added a kids boardwalk area this year, so Kate got a Big Tex tattoo on her hand and they had pumpkin "painting" (also known as coloring with Sharpies), some fun little Chevy cars that were painted to look like sea creatures and police cars, and a few other things for them to do. It wasn't fantastic, but since it's new I am guessing it will get better in the years to come.

Of course we did all the typical Fair stuff - we took a photo with Big Tex, we ate some fried stuff (Fried Reese's & Cream and Fried Smores Pop Tarts), and I had my Fletcher's Corny Dog. Pretty much the only time of the entire year that I eat a corny dog is at the Fair. They just taste better there.
We also walked through the new car pavilions, browsed the craft items, walked a lot, admired and discussed the giant butter sculpture of horses, shopped a little, walked some more, watched the parade, looked at animals, walked, and then walked some more. We didn't ride anything this year, which kind of bums me out because I do love the photo opportunities from the Texas Star ferris wheel, but Kate refused to ride.

Kate can officially say she has been to her first rock concert though. Collective Soul performed for just over an hour, and at first she kept her hands firmly over her ears, but after a little while she relaxed in her seat and eventually she was up dancing like a wild woman. I think she and Andrew entertained all the people around us quite a bit.