It Was a State Fair Week-end

 Friday afternoon we picked up the two youngest grandcrew, after school, and headed to Tulsa for the Tulsa State Fair.  We got to the fairgrounds around 6:00 p.m.

The first order of business was FAIR FOOD!  As you probably know, some of the most calorie laden, artery clogging, heart stopping food can be found at the fair.  We resisted that temptation and settled for the Nacho's Supreme.

A little later we had to have a lemonade.  Who could resist this architectural wonder?

Afterwards we spent a little time scouting out things in the Expo building, rode a couple of rides, then made our way to the car and headed for the hotel.

Saturday was a new day and the grand daughter started by purchasing a couple of hair adornments in the Expo building.  That's little brother looking on.

We headed around the corner to the Oklahoma Sugar Arts show.  I will post a whole other article on this later.  You will find the most amazing cake decorations in the country on display here during the fair.

The hat is real and served as inspiration for the cake. You can see it reproduced in the middle of the cake.  This was my favorite cake of all.  Like I said I will post more photos of cakes at a later date.
Next we headed to the livestock area or at least to one of the exhibits.  The sign over the door, entering the building, said "Birthing Center".  Really! It did.  Inside, there were several pens with pregnant goats.  If you cared to stay around long enough you could witness the live birth of a kid (goat that is).  This might be a great required exhibit for teens and pre-teens.  Just sayin'.

This youngster is only a couple of days old.

On the other hand, this little one was only two hours old.  He had just gotten up on all fours for the first time when I snapped this photo.  Okay, enough for the life science exhibit.  Let's go back outside and ride some rides.

First on the list was the "Viper".  Then after a couple of other rides, the crew finished this year's visit with the traditional ferris wheel.

It was now about 3:00 p.m., so we headed to the car, drove out to Los Cabos in Broken Arrow for a late, late lunch, then headed home.  The 2012 Tulsa State Fair is in the books and a great time was had by all.
Next year, I'm getting the battered and deep fried Oreo cookies...yes I am.
Don't forget to come back tomorrow.  We're going to take a closer look at those cake decorations.  They are something special.

Ruby Tuesday

VACATION 2012

For our family, vacation is all about the lake.  We swim in it, fish in it, tube on it, kayak or paddle boat on it.  From the day that we get to the resort, until the day we leave, most of our time is spent in the water, on the water or near the water.  If we're not around the lake, you can find us around the pool.  It's just the most enjoyable type of vacation ever.  It's better than Disney World...and we've been there twice.  Hope you had a great summer.

Wordless Wednesday

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The Grandcrew 2011

Fifteen

Eleven

 

 Nine

 

 Seven

Wordless Wednesday

The Boys of Summer 2011 - Opening Day

Play Ball!

Ruby Tuesday

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As long as we're at the fair with Nana and Papa, we're not really lost...confused maybe, but not lost.

Wordless Wednesday

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Catch of the day!

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Thoughts

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Click on photo to enlarge

Since fall in just around the corner, I pulled this out of the archives. I took this last November. It was taken in the Ozark National Forest, on highway 23, between Fayetteville, AR and I-40. I actually used it as my blog header for a few days last year. I may do it again.

Last week-end we took the oldest grand daughter to Tulsa to play in a soccer tournament. She was playing as a guest player for a team from Joplin, MO. They are a team that is small in numbers, so Scooter and one of her team mates played for them in order to gain a little more experience. They played for the Pink Panthers. Scooter HATES pink! Therefore, she was NOT thrilled with the uniforms. I took some photos and when I got home to download them, it brought back a few memories. Here is Scooter in one of her first games ever in 2002, playing in an under 8 league. She was not quite seven at the time.

Now, at the age of 13, she is playing on a U14 travel team. You've come a LONG way baby!!

Well, next week is the big week! My bride and I will be traveling to Louisville, KY for the National Quartet Convention of Southern Gospel Music. We will be leaving early Wednesday morning, so there probably won't be a Friday's Thoughts or a Looking at the Sky post. I'll be too busy enjoying some of the best Southern Gospel music and best groups in the world. We are also planning on visiting the Louisville Slugger factory and picking up a REAL wood bat for the grandson. We would like to tour Churchill Downs as well. I just don't know if time will permit many excursions. You can bet on one thing, the following week will be filled with posts related to our trip. Speaking of which, it is time for our weekly inspirational song. Here is another group that will certainly be at the convention with a great song, enjoy Crabb Family Revival singing "Runaway Train".

Wordless Wednesday

Trouble & Troublette or "Double Trouble"

Camping With Nana

Wednesday evening the three younger grandcrew came home with my bride, Nana, to spend a couple of nights with us. Nana thought it would be fun for them to camp out on the back deck. We have an 8'x8' dome tent that we used many moons ago. I set it up, Nana blew up an air mattress of herself and made pallets for the grandcrew.
There are woods right behind our house so that the night air was filled with the sounds of crickets and other critters. They popped two big bowls of popcorn, sliced several apples, got their drinks and headed out the back door, Nana leading the way. Of course everyone had to have a flashlight for the "scary story" time later in the evening. Each of the two granddaughters read a book by flash light. Nana read a book that the grandson had picked out. I left the festivities around 9:30, since there was not enough room in the tent for everyone and I was the only one with a day job. As best I can tell, the party continued until after midnight. Apparently there was a second raid on the kitchen for more snacks. The temperature fell to around 55 degrees that night, which is PERFECT for sleeping in a tent! Thursday morning they got up, came into the kitchen and helped Nana fix breakfast. Breakfast at Nana's house ALWAYS includes bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy,and jelly. That's the rule. They had so much fun that they decided to spend the next night in the tent as well. The second party lasted a little past 10:00 p.m. Friday morning, breakfast repeated itself. I got off work early Friday afternoon and we all went to see G-Force 3D. It is a great movie. I actually liked it better than Ice Age III. The movie was over around 6:30. We dropped them off at their house and headed home. Man, was it ever quiet with the grandcrew gone!!! Next time they want to camp out for real. I believe that's going to mean renting a pop-up and heading to the river or lake. Memories are made of this. Life is good!

On a side note. I qualified for this award over at Sandee's Comedy Plus. I probably should have saved it for a more "artsy" occasion, like the cloud photos in the previous post.

Another Photographer

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that I was giving my daughter a digital slr camera for her birthday. Well, here are the first results. The first photo is the oldest grand daughter. The second photo is the middle grand daughter and the grand son. My daughter e-mailed me these photos. They are virtually straight out of the camera. All I did was save them for the web to reduce the file size and make one very minor crop. I have done NO PhotoShopping whatsoever. I told you that she had an eye for this hobby. Here's the proof.