State Fair 2010

We visited the State Fair twice this year (well I got to go 3 times because I snuck off with co-workers to have fried Frito Pie for lunch one day and ride the wild mouse roller coaster, but I digress). Lea got a day off school and a ticket to the fair as part of the Dallas school system so they had a Big Tex day (we did not go on fair day, nor did we use the ticket). The kindergarteners colored Big Tex and here she wrote her version of "Howdy Folks" There is something about this interpretation (HAOD FAOK) that makes my heart sing. I don't know why I find her writing so cute, but I love this Big Tex drawing.

Our first trip was on a Tuesday for 5 ticket ride night. Everything was about half price to ride. So we got a lot of Lea's rides out of the way. We were lucky enough to be joined by Becky, Gonzo, Hopens and Sherry (mere days before her trip to London!).

In this photo Becky, Sherry, Michael and me

In this photo Lea rides the airplane ride while the Singletons were way up on the Ferris Wheel.

Dan, Lea and I went to the kiddo midway while Becky, Gonzo, Sherry & Hopens took off to ride the Texas Star. It worked out perfect! It horrified me and they didn't need to watch Lea ride 5 rides, so by the time they got done Lea had ridden almost her limit of rides. No one was standing around waiting for anyone for any length. It was so easy and fun.

Lea on the Go Cart Ride. It went up and bounced. She giggled and had a blast.

Lea on the hang-glider ride. It was impossible to get a photo so I just videoed it. She rode this last year too. I asked if she wanted me to come on it with her and she said "No, Mommy I'll do this by myself."


The swing ride. This was too calm for Lea. She was actually bored on it.

By the time they got done Lea had one more ride to ride (Lea picked a Pirate adventure obstacle course that she loved) and we were off across the park.

We were in search of food. Hopens tries the fried Frito Pie. It was very super mega yummy!

Sherry before the Fried Beer (that was at the end of the night and not so yummy). She also tried the fried Frito Pie.

Gonzo taking our picture while Becky worked at the giant turkey let. She is quick to point out that Gonzo helped her eat the giant thing. In fact I think everyone had a small bite.

Dan got Fried Bacon.  I had fried butter - it was like the best fresh hot piece of bread you've ever had with warm garlic butter. It was fantastic! That was one of last year's big treats. We all grabbed something to eat and sat at a picnic table.

Then, we turned around and there was a parade! The starlight parade with light up floats and weird costumes on stilts. It was the most perfect timing. Unfortunately I said as much and as Karma took it out on me. I spilled a whole beer down my pants. But a little wet pants was a small price to pay for such a wonderful evening!

Ahh.. fair beer and good friends. We'll keep our beer cold and not fried.


Then on Sunday, Oct. 10 we went to the Fair for our big family day. Aunt Teresa came with us and we spent the whole day out there from about 11am to 5pm. Silly mommy forgot her camera, but on the upside I was able to just enjoy things without worrying about capturing the special moments.

We went through Lea's favorite Little Hands on the Farm. Lea's got that down pat. She knew all the little activities and waited patiently in line to ride the tractor. This year she could really pedal and did a great job on the tractor.

Lea also did the Pee Wee Rodeo where Lea got to lead the parade of kids with a spangly flag vest and carry the American flag. Lea participated in the barrel races where mostly girls run around barrels on a stick horse. Last year Lea got confused and threw down her horse and raced around the barrels. Her time suffered when she was forced to go back and get the stick horse. So we talked about what she would be doing this year and she really wanted a trophy. Well she was first up and she did great, but her time was second best so she did not get the trophy. She got a ribbon and we told her she was the only one in the whole group who got to wear the spangly vest and carry the flat. So she was ok with that. Its fun just to participate. Maybe next year she'll win first.

Lea and Teresa played two games. Teresa did the burst the ballon with a dart game and won a stuffed sheep. The guy at that game was very sweet to Teresa though she was a bit afraid of him because he was missing some teeth. Then together they played the Pick a Duck game. They each got a panda. We pretended they were brothers and on the way home in the van Lea & Teresa had their pandas pick places on the State Fair map to pretend to go. It was very cute!

 Dan had his sausage plate. I got spiral potatoes after waiting in a VERY long line. We all had ice cream before heading home. Lea got to play in the giant sand box as the very last thing and we all went home exhausted.

We love the fair and it gets more and more fun the older Lea gets. Next year I promise I'll bring my camera every time we go to the fair.

DMA with cousins

Around the end of Sept. we had an awesome outing with our Sorensen cousins
at the DMA family day. They had a free day with a new exhibit for kids
called Spaces. It was about how different perspective produce
different art. We got to build a little cardboard house and Lea put
hers on their display shelfs. Very cool.

They also had this great play house where you could write on walls and play with magnets. One of our cousins wanted to pile all the magnets together, unfortunately it was a horizontal stack.

So we did an experiment to see how many magnets would stick together. 22 magnets before they fell off!

We visited with Arturo (the DMA's puppet mascot) in his nest and heard a story.

The kiddos had a blast in that room.

But my favorite was the cardboard room. It was upstairs and on its last day. Lea liked that there was a play house with little people.

I liked the art. This was my favorite. It inspired me.

So a week or so later Lea and I made pictures using cardboard and string. I remembered the image as a bird cage so we painted, cut, colored and glued to make these pieces.

LEA'S BIRD. The black dot above the bird is the moon. The orange line is him peeing. The orange stick to the right is a broom to clean up the pee. The squares and circles to left are eggs. We talked about if the bird was happy or sad to be in a cage and that some birds need to be free, but Grandma & Grandpa Jones have Bart who lives a very happy life in a cage. But she drew a sad face on her bird. He is unhappy in his cage. But he is singing (see the music notes to the right) about being free to fly. And of course some Tinkerbell stamps to round it all off.

Mine is just a bird in a cage with some circles. Lea signed it for me.
 It was a really fun project to do wtih Lea and I loved that the idea came from something we saw in the museum.