Fall family fun!

When Brian and I first started dating, I remember going with him to the fair. His parents owned a pool shop then, and they had a booth in the TradeMart. After we swung by to visit them, I remember going on some rides and having our pictures taken in one of those Old West booths.

But since we've grown into adulthood, we've just not put the fair on our priority list. I mean, it's dirty. It's expensive. The food will harden your arteries in a hot minute.

But then, last year, we thought that booger might be old enough to enjoy the fair. And dang it all if he didn't LOVE every minute of it! It's fast becoming a fall tradition at the Bradshaw house, so here's our 2011 report:

We started at the petting zoo, which is completely free to enter. If you want to hand feed llamas, camels, goats, cows and more, you can either pay $2 for a bag of carrots or drop a few quarters into the feed machines throughout the tent.

The llamas and the wooly cows were amazingly soft. And the camels had long, dark lashes. There was even a zebra and a giant tortise in the back, though you couldn't feed them.

A few scenes from the day:

Clay and hubs atop the ferris wheel. Clay really wanted to ride this, but I think he was bored once we were aloft. Not enough risk for my little speed demon.

The dragon coaster was HILARIOUS, mainly because it was completely rickety and jarring and you felt like it would fall apart and kill you at any minute. We absolutely loved it. I honestly could not stop laughing the whole time.

As usual, the boy loved the vehicle rides. We rode this Jeep ride, a motorcycle ride, and another one that was designed to look like race cars.

We enjoyed all beef hot dogs and a lemonade at the Mississippi Cattlemen's Association booth, and we couldn't leave without sampling syrupy biscuits from the biscuit booth! Clay took a whirl down the big yellow slide with me (a perennial favorite), and we *might* have bought a bag of Malone's taffy when we left. (A bag that may or may not have lasted 24 hours once we got home.)

All in all, a GREAT TRIP! Think we'll be going every year for a while!