The 2008 State Fair of Texas

October means one thing - the State Fair of Texas! This was Ellie's first trip, but it was also my first trip. No, I'm not kidding. I've lived here my whole life and I've never been to the State Fair. We got to the fairgrounds around 10AM and they were already frying up the Fletcher's Corny Dogs so Lee had to get one right away and let Ellie have her first taste... it was a hit! There was also fried ribs, chicken fried bacon, fried Snickers, fried oreos, and fried grilled cheese, but the corny dog was the only thing we tried.



Our next stop was the petting zoo, which was also a big hit. There were goats, a giraffe, emus, an ostrich (which tried to pick my arm off), some things with horns I'd never seen and a lot more animals. At first, I was feeding the animals with my hand, but then Ellie tried to do the same and I was afraid they'd bite her hand off so we switched to the little shovels.

There was also some sort of a rabbit competition there which they were judging when we were in the exhibition hall. Whichever rabbit wins must win based on the talent portion, because they all looked the same to me. White with pink eyes, white with pink eyes, white with pink eyes. I hope she never asks me for one because she'll get a quick "no". The only pet we'll ever have will be a dog... *maybe* a fish, but that's pushing it. Still to this day, I'll never know why my mother ever bought me two gerbils, but it taught me three valuable lessons: 1) Never swing a gerbil buy the tail because it will come off in your hand and no amount of therapy can make you forget that. 2) Gerbils can have heat stroke if left in an enclosed garage in August. 3) No exotic pets. Ever.

Around noon, I noticed her putting her head down on her stroller and about 5 minutes after that, the meltdown occurred. The corny dogs, zebras, airbrushed t-shirts, midway, and car show had finally worn our little munchkin out so we headed for the car and she was asleep before we hit the highway. Later in the afternoon, Lee met Mike to watch some football and we stayed in on Saturday night.

The pumpkin patch is back at the Arboretum this fall so we went to church and then there for a photo op. Ellie did not want to cooperate with picture taking so I didn't get one picture of her sitting there with the pumpkins like I did last year. She kept saying "ball!" and wanted to play with them. I had her dressed in a pink striped dress, bubble gum tights, and hot pink shoes, and at lunch, a lady at the club still told me what a cute boy I have. Are you kidding me? Does anyone have a son who dressed him like that? Pay attention, people.

I also played a whole round of golf for the first time ever this week. Some guys asked me to play on their team for the Society of American Military Engineers scramble. I am NOT GOOD. There was a lot of whiffs and missed putts, but I am interested in playing and I thought it was really fun. Now to get some lessons... Lee told me that he can teach me, but that may be more of an exercise in frustration for him.

New words in the past two weeks: Yellow, bracelet, please, thank you, slide, swing, fish.