Sunday, February 12, 2012

Florida State Fair

It's that time of year again... time for the state fair! Even though it was about 30 degrees when we headed out this morning, we bundled everyone up and had a great time. There was a method to my madness in that I was hoping arriving early and arriving when it was cold would prevent us from running into huge crowds. Mission accomplished!

For me, the weather isn't that bad. It was cold (definitely by Florida standards) but it was sunny. The wind wasn't too bad and it was actually pretty warm in the sun. When we woke up this morning, it was 65 degrees inside our house and about 32 degrees outside. Apparently there's a cold front, but it will be cleared out by Tuesday and be close to 80 degrees again.

We arrived at the fairgrounds around 9am, when the fair opened and parked pretty close to the front gates. There wasn't a line for tickets, unlike last year when we waited for almost 20 minutes to buy tickets. We entered the fair and headed to our favorite exhibits... the animals! We saw pigs, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, horses, rabbits and dogs (just to name a few). My personal favorite were the piglets snuggled up together against their mom. Oh my goodness, they were so tiny and so adorable! Bella enjoyed brushing a calf with Ian and enjoyed making me nervous with her fearlessness. The child has no fear and approached the animals in the petting barn without hesitation. I knew the animals would be gentle, but as a mom, I still worry.

Naturally, we ate... nothing too extreme but we did indulge in some yummy fair food. Bella wanted ice cream, which we allowed her to have at 10am and Ian and I indulged in a combo platter of fried goodies. We tried fried Oreos, fried Reese's peanut butter cups and a fried Snickers bar. All of the fried goodies were delicious but I think my favorite was the fried Oreo. And don't worry, not every we ate was unhealthy... we found a citrus tasting exhibit and ate all sorts of yummy oranges, grape fruits, lemons, tangerines and other fruits.

We walked around a little more and then headed out around noon. I cant believe we spent 3-hours at the fair. Time flies when you're having fun and we certainly did have a lot of fun. This is Bella's second annual trip to the state fair and I think it is officially a family tradition. The Strawberry Festival in Plant City and Fall Festival in
Bradenton are also annual family traditions. Next up, the Strawberry Festival next month!

And we are happy to announce that our friends, Paul and Lisa, welcomed their baby girl, Daniella, into the world this morning. We are so happy for them and cannot wait to meet baby Daniella soon!

Love always,
Ian, Kim, Bella & Baby #2

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