The state fair ramblings will post roughly about this time nightly, give or take. Also, for a more full effect, stalk my Facebook page for pics, videos, and other tidbits that might not be in the blog post. Please excuse any typos, as these posts are being posted rather late in the evening. Thanks. :-)
Mother's Day
I wasn't sure if mom was going to be able to make the fair this year. She has not been feeling all that great the past few days, but this morning she was up and ready. She loves the fair too, and we really enjoy going together, so she grabbed her walker (with seat) and we headed out to the Kansas State Fair. When we arrived, our first objective was to find her artwork in the Oz building. She had carved on a walking stick and took 3rd place on it! We found my nephew's wood-burning project, and it had a red (2nd place) ribbon on it! Our family did well! As we headed to another building, we were approached by the Dish Network people. They're pretty aggressive. We have been on the fence with our current cable company, as the rates go higher and higher. The Dish guy was very nice and gave us a great offer with some fine services that will save us almost $100 monthly. We are officially Dish customers effective next Friday, when they come to switch us over. It has become such a headache to see our cable bill skyrocket, and the Dish guy gave us a rate-lock guarantee. We're going to give this a chance, and see what we think.
We got to see the Lumberjack show, which was pretty entertaining. The show is actually a competition between 2 lumberjacks as they race against each other in events such as sawing logs with a manual saw and a chainsaw, sculpting, climbing poles, and log-rolling. I'd recommend seeing it! Before the show started, a cold breeze started to blow. We had not brought jackets, and we were cold, so I bought us matching vibrant-yellow hoodies. They were warm and very comfortable. However, throughout the day we received numerous comments on how bright they were, how good we looked, and most of the comments were from total strangers. If I had a dollar for each time a comment was made, I could treat all of you to a Pronto Pup! Mom and I just smiled to ourselves when we heard these remarks. None of them were negative at all, the comments were compliments. Afterwards, we were hungry, and mom was craving a BBQ parfait. I thought that sounded pretty good myself. On our way there, some guy looked at me and shouted, "Hey, Luke!" I just smiled and waved. Some guy just saw his friend Luke today, or so he thinks. :-) There are several places that sell BBQ parfaits, but the stand we used was just to the east of the fountain. The food truck is bright red. They also sell BBQ nachos and Moink balls (meatballs wrapped in bacon). The BBQ parfaits are $9. A bit over-priced I think, but pretty much all food at the fair as pretty expensive. Unless you count Allen's P-Nut stand, just north of the Oz building. His bottled beverages (Coke & Pepsi products) are $1.50 a bottle, the cheapest you'll find on the fairgrounds. Anyway, the parfaits were hot, the meat was tender, and the service was great. An A+ to these good folks.
From there, we began walking through the commercial buildings. I directed her to as much free stuff as I could find. She was impressed with the Union booth. We got full-sized frisbees, chip clips, and cups. They always have such good stuff. Mom also liked the booth in the Meadowlark building that offers free samples of dips. Grab some pretzel sticks with the tongs, don't double dip, and try them out. they're good! We also found the coffee and bread samples. At this point, I got ratted out! My friend Jenise came by and said, "You've already tried these, I read your blog last night!" Not sure if the attendant heard this. If she did, she didn't acknowledge it. So, Jenise, your plan to thwart my second day of these samples was foiled! I indulged and enjoyed it! LOL, :-)
After our building tour, mom wanted to see my prize-winning cookies. On the way there, we met my friends Karla and Karen, sisters. They are educators, and I have worked with them in the past. We enjoyed chatting and catching up. If you are reading this, gals, I have learned a lot about teaching from you. As we continued toward the Domestic Arts building, we were met by a gentleman who asked us if we'd like a free personalized horseshoe. We were about to pass by until he mentioned that it had John 3:16 engraved into it, along with our name. During the 15 minutes it took to prepare the horseshoe, we were taken to a circle of chairs, where another gentleman shared the Gospel of Christ using a Gospel cube that folded and created new pictures. We felt very blessed by this ministry, and we thanked them for being at the fair this year. We made it to the Domestic Arts building, looked at my cookies, and then headed to the Bretz & Young Arena for one of our annual fair traditions. The Ron Diamond hypnotist show. It was a great show as usual, but was cut short by about 10 minutes, due to a steady drizzle that had begun. As soon as the show ended, so did the drizzle. From the arena, we headed to the Pride of Kansas building for bierocks and apple dumplings ala mode. Again, A+! We enjoyed the rest and nourishment. Our next destination was the Birthing barn, where we saw newborn piglets and cows. They were adorable. Then we hit the grandstand. A trip to the grandstand is not complete without a trip to the Dairy Bar. I will admit, I'm still upset that they nixed the Caramel Cow Crunch this year, but I'm slowly healing. In my opinion, this is the best ice cream on the fairgrounds. Mom got the chocolate, and I got the cookie dough. Then, mom wanted to see the Midway, where all of the rides are. We watched the thrill ride, Speed, which is a device of pure torture that spins you around and upside-down at a high rate of speed, hence the name, Speed. Definitely not the ride for me!
By this time, it was 9:00. Mom and I couldn't believe that we'd been there almost 9 hours! We were pretty worn out, and decided to call it a night. I'm so glad that God gave my mom the stamina to spend the day with me. I had to stop every so often and ask if she was doing OK. She said she was doing great. She had to stop and rest every once in a while, and I enjoyed resting as well. Tomorrow is Father's Day, when I take my dad out for his day at the fair. I once tried taking both of my parents out on the same day, but their interests are so diverse, it was better to take them out individually. To be honest, I enjoy the one-on-one time with both of my parents. It is after midnight, and I have to get up and teach Sunday School tomorrow, so this would be a time to say good night...rather good morning. Thanks so much for reading, excuse any typos (I'm so tired), and God bless!
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