MO State Fair

Well the State Fair is still the State Fair....fattening, fun and a tad bit freaky. The kids and I went on Saturday, yes that ratio is one mama to four children. We all arrived home safely but that was thanks mostly to the free balloons from the Baptist Tent. Luke, Sissy and Charlie (in rented stroller) got the strings from their balloons all tangled together. The result? They had to stay close, walk the same speed and stop at the same time. Since I was pushing the stroller that one of the "chain gang" was riding in, I had complete control. This may sound cruel, but they didn't want me to cut the strings and let the balloons go! I didn't have to yell, "Get back over here!" even one time because the string cutting into the flesh on their wrist got their attention real quick.

As a treat on Saturday we got the Fair refreshment that goes the farthest....kettle corn! The big, honking, $7.00 bag. We even had corn to bring home for Dad that night. When we first started eating it the bag was fresh out of the kettle and it was warm and gooey. I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it. Yum, yum, yum. Fat, fat, fat.

Charlie noticed the "freak factor" several times on Saturday. I noticed him leaning out of the stroller, wide - eyed, staring at someone we had just passed. Good thing he was strapped in or he'd have fallen out! Pick your lip up, farm boy. This isn't home.

On Sunday, we went back to the fair with Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, and 3 cousins. The occasion was Dalton's entrance into the Mo State Fiddle Championship. My farm boy was focused and ready to go until a gentleman who came over to watch him warm up gave him 2 free pork burger tickets to the Pork Palace. My children have a love affair with pork. Well, with meat in general, but especially pork. He was completely starry eyed and distracted from that moment until we packed it up and headed for the pork palace. As he opened up the doors to the "palace" I could almost hear the music playing in his head and the fireworks going off in his mind's eye. Sadly, for this family, the pork disease doesn't get any better with age. Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy and I were all as excited as he was! And I must say, it wasn't as great this year as in the past. In fact, we all agreed that our county fair pork is better. Don't take it to hard, state fair pork producers, there's always next year! The same goes for Mr. Dalton who had to compete against 16 year olds in the fiddle contest....there's always next year! He said, "That was fun Papa, do you think they'll let us do it again next year?...let's go to the conservation building and look at...." and then he was gone with Grandpa to do "their thing". They came back with conservation pins and shooting targets. There is no boy in the world happier than my oldest. He has the two best granddaddy's the world has ever known. He plays fiddle, shoots and hunts with one and the other he gets to farm with and follow around every day. What farm boy could ask for more? Not this one.

Well, my favorite part of the fair was my family. The big ones, the little ones, the in-between ones. We had a ball and always do. There's nothing that brings a family together like cheering for "Lindsay Loham" in the pig races while passing around a $5.00 jug of lemonade that everybody's taking a swig off of so we can get it refilled for $3.00. That right there is good times.

Here's to you and yours - hope you act funny enough to laugh at yourselves a whole bunch!
The Campbell Crew