State Fair

Since we are new to the state, and really want to experience the culture, we decided to go to the State Fair today. Okay, let's be honest. The fairgrounds are only 20 minutes from our house and Jeff really wanted an Elephant Ear. It was about 1000 degrees but we managed to have fun anyway.

Andrew had a BLAST visiting all the animals. Who would think a rooster would be so exciting! They were crowing non-stop...and Andrew crowed right along with them. In fact, he couldn't walk while crowing, so every time he'd hear a rooster crow, he would stop walking and "Cock-a-doodle-doooooo". There were HUNDREDS of birds...so you can imagine the speedy progress we made through that building. Then he spotted a turkey, and ran at top speed yelling "gobble gobble" until he reached it. It was the mule and cow day at the fair, so we saw lots of cows (which Andrew really could have cared less about) and HUGE mules. Did you know that mules can be as big as stallions??? I guess they are called "jacks". HUGE. ENORMOUS. Where is my thesaurus. And so handsome. Andrew got to pet a few of these...and showed no fear, unless they moved unexpectedly. If they turned their head quickly or nuzzled his leg, he was finished. Let's move on the the next mule. Using his sign language for more and everything to get the message across. Cute.

Jeff got his elephant ear (yummo! as my dad would say) and Andrew and I chowed down on a pork sandwich, gyro, sausage, ice cream. We won a ribbon for "Most weight gained in 2 hours". Pretty cool. We ate this wagon-load of fair food while listening to a blue-grass band under a tent. Andrew was grooving. And everyone around us thought it was hilarious. That boy has rhythm! He grooved in his stroller..swaying his head like Ray Charles. Then we let him get up, and he was bouncing all around, swiveling his hips and moving his arms to the music. We've got to take this boy to more concerts!

Anyway, it was a lovely birthday for me. Oh yeah, did I mention that. Going to the fair for my b-day...I am truly not the girl I once was. When in Rome... We drove home and Andrew took a 15 minute power nap. So for my birthday, he didn't take a nap AT ALL. Literally Jeff and I are laying around the house, suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, while Andrew bounces off the walls. Celebrities get to go to the hospital for those things, and we are expected to keep an almost 2 year old safe all day. Needless to say, he went to bed at 6:30. And we are truly cruel parents. While we ate my birthday steak and mushrooms for dinner, Andrew had hot dogs. And we put him to bed before breaking out the cake. No "best parents" ribbons for us!