Welcome to the State Fair of Texas, Y'all!

Tuesday was a very fun day full of surprises for Miss Meredith, especially. She has been begging since this summer, when we drove past the fairgrounds when she could go. We have never been as a family, so I was determined to make it happen this year. So, after talking about it here and there, on Monday night, Neal and I decided if we were going to go, the only real day we could make it happen was Tuesday. Ironically, that night Meredith had also sadly commented that Daddy never gets to pick her up from school. So Neal planned to take a half day off and head home early so he could not only take us to the fair, but also pick Meredith up from school. He made me promise to keep it all a secret, and I did, but it was so hard! I knew she would be so excited! Around 2, we headed up to school and I waited in the car, and I watched a little girl grinning from ear to ear bounce out to hop in the car. I asked her what she was most excited about - Daddy picking her up or the fair. She just smiled and said "I am most excited about BOTH."

We talked all the way there about what she wanted to do: the ferris wheel was a must and she really wanted cotton candy. We also told her about Big Tex, but I guess she did quite grasp him because as we entered the parking lot and she spotted an attendant, she shouted "There he is! I see him!" I think she was more impressed when we finally found him!

Meredith and Daddy waiting their turn for the ferris wheel. For a minute, I thought the size was going to scare her off, but she decided she was going to be brave and do it! I was really proud!
Jillian and I hung back and danced and had snacks while we waited.
So excited!
She was brave, but it was a good thing daddy's thumb was there to cling onto just in case!
The Texas Star down below...it is so tall!

Next up, we headed to the kids areas, first we went to see the Backyard Circus. And Meredith was even part of the show as a Butterfly Ballerina!

In rain boots of course!

We were getting a little hungry, so we stopped by to try something new....Fried PB&J! It was pretty good. And it filled our need for a random fried item.

Fried PB&J

The hit of the day had to be the petting zoo - and this is no normal petting zoo - it has giraffes and zebras! Jillian could not get enough of it!

The girls spent quite a bit of time trying to convince the kangaroos to hop. They didn't go for it.
The goats did appreciate the food that Meredith had, though!
Jillian was determined we needed more food (or thought she would get some candy from the little machines) so she had to stop at all of them to see if she could win a prize!

We headed back to the midway to see what else we might want to do and all Meredith could talk about was an airplane ride she saw earlier. Luckily, we found it for her again and she was ready to fly!

Happy as can be.
Jillian loved waving to her sister, but after the ride, she tried to climb in and go all by herself! I felt so bad! Darn those height restrictions!
A sweet end to the fair - cotton candy! And on the ride home, we heard "When can we go back?" So I guess it was a success!