...It's the San Diego County Fair, of course! :0)
This was my first time back at the fair in 3 years. 2 years ago Rick & I were in the midst of our "poor days," and so we couldn't really afford to go to the fair...and last year, I remember we were dieting during that time (I think the diet only lasted while the fair was in town) and so we skipped it yet again.
But this year, I HAD to go to the fair...our kiddos are super stars, and they were performing their dance routines on the stage...and as their chaperon, I got in free, and I got free parking! :0)
I wish the food had been free too, LOL!
The kids' performances were pretty much the first thing we did. After the kids performed, we were allowed to leave so we didn't have to sit through all of the other performances. However, wouldn't you know, Beatrice was the 2nd dance in the line-up, and Wyatt was the 2nd to last dance in the line up. My family was able to break away and go ride some rides in between the 2 performances, but this mama was in it for the whole shebang!
As I mentioned, of our 2 kiddos, Beatrice was the first to go on stage...
It's a good thing she looked pretty (in my opinion), becuase her performance level was at about a "2"...TOPS! She pretty much just stood still the entire time, and cared more about SINGING the entire song, rather than dancing to it! She cracks me up, and just to see all the little girls completely cuted-out made it all worth it...these are the times when it is SO much fun to have a girl! :0)
After she performed, I changed her into her casual clothes and then she took off with the rest of the family until Wyatt's performance.
Wyatt and I had about an hour and a half until it was his go-time, and this was one of my
favorite mother-son experiences. The boy was radiant! I don't know what it is about stage performances, but he LOVES it! He loved that people were there to see him...he LOVED watching all of the other performances...he loved giving Beatrice the most precious encouraging pep-talk before she went on stage...he loved schmoozing with the other dancers as they were waiting for their time to shine...he had a smile on his face that was impossible to wipe off...and I LOOOOOOVED watching him completely in his element!
While we were entertained by the other performances, my family was kind enough to bring me back something fried. This was the first thing I ate...
I made a decent dent in the mountain of cheesy fries, but my arteries were waving the white flag when my sister came back to chill with me. Luckily, she took over the fries. And apparently, she wanted to save a little for later, hahahaha!!!...
Next up was Wyatt's performance...and he did not disappoint! On this day, he only performed his group Hip-Hop routine...at the real recital he will perform this number and his group percussion movement routine (like the theatrical performance of "STOMP.") Wyatt was focused, he had charisma, he was AWESOME! I don't know if it was the build up of watching him over the previous hour and half
so ready for this moment, or if it was the performance itself, or if it was the cheese fries kicking in, but Wyatt literally brought me (and my other peeps) to tears. This was one of my prouder moments of him. I occasionally get burnt out on taking the kids to all of their lessons, but these token performances and recitals make all of the work and sacrifice completely worth it! I wish there was a way for me to post the video of his dance, but these pictures will have to suffice for the blog...
We stayed for the final performance, and then we were off to live it up chubby-diaries-style. My mom hadn't been to the fair in over 10 years(!!!) and so she definitely wanted to try a few things. We had all decided before we went that we would try almost anything and everything, but that we would split the food between all of us...that worked really well...except I still ate too much!
Post cheese fries, we then went to "Chicken Charlies" where they sell all of the crazy food...chocolate covered bacon, fried oreos, fried twinkies, etc. But this year they had something new...fried koolaid! I was so excited to taste and see how you fry koolaid!?
Jenni ordered the fried koolaid...
My stepmom ordered the fried Thin Mint cookies...
And I ordered the fried brownies (also new this year)...
We split these up amongst everyone, and hands down, my favorite was the fried brownie! It was SOOOO good! The fried koolaid was really good too, but I'm a brownie girl. :0)
All of the kids got an ice cream...
We saw our great friend Barbara's blue ribbon painting...
Samantha shared Grammy's corn...
We had a cinnamon roll...
The kids rode some rides...
And then Jenni had to leave to go to work. :0(
That left me with my mom, my dad, my stepmom, and my kidlettes. We walked through the Bing Crosby halls. The kids rode some horses in the hall...
My "mothers" got suckered into buying some
neat cleaning product, and then my dad and stepmom headed home.
As my mom and I were leaving the Bing Crosby Hall, she noticed a cupcake stand. My mom is OBSESSED with having us try cupcakes from every cupcake company that we come across in life...for comparison purposes, of course. :0) We she said that we were going to have cupcakes, I cringed. I really wasn't up for it. Cupcakes are NOT fair food...in my opinion. But 3 cupcakes she did buy! :-0
I can't even remember the flavors other than the one pictured above...Key Lime. But what I do remember is that I only took a single bite of each one, because they were not worth the calories. When you pay $3 for a cupcake, you don't want it to taste like a boxed cake mix, and canned frosting...at least I don't!
After that we slowed down the eating. We took the kiddos to the barns, and petting zoo.
I then found an unlimited-ride-wristband laying on the ground. When I saw that no one was stopping to see if they had lost it, and when people were trampling over it, I picked it up, and slid it over Wyatt's wrist! That was a neat turn of events...the kids were dying to ride more rides, but I only had about 12 tickets left. Now I was able to use all of the tickets on Beatrice, and that got us more bang for our buck. :0)
After about an hour, the kids ate a non-fried dinner, and I decided to finally try one of those HUGE turkey legs!
This thing was an animal (literally), and I felt like an animal eating it! It was DELICIOUS! I was so bummed for myself thinking about all of the years I had passed these bad boys at the fair and had never tried it before! It was out of this world!!! I will never EVER go to the fair again and not get one of these. It was THAT good! Seriously. No, seriously!
I'm embarrassed to admit, that after all of that eating, I still made room to eat one more thing! When we passed by the stand, there was a sign that read, "Snow Cone." It sounded so light...so refreshing. I hadn't had a snow cone in "aaaaages!" (Shout out to my stepmom!) So I indulged...yet again.
That was my final eat for the day. We had a GREAT time...no regrets! I thought for sure I would get sick in the night, but much to my disappointment (when I saw the number on the scale the next morning), I was able to keep it all down.
Luckily for my waistline, this is only once a year.
And turkey leg, I got yo numba next year! ;0)
