I know, I know. Disgraceful.

"This fall, I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm definitely not missing the fair." That's what I said. And then suddenly, somehow, there were only 3 days left and we still hadn't found the time to go. 

So last week, Patrick, my brother, and me went to the Dallas State Fair for the very first time in the history of our lives!!!

We took Dusty on his first public transit experience on the way, where soon he would learn there's not many public events in the city one can attend with a huge knife in their pocket.

Then set out on an adventure to see the brand new Big Tex, find a Fletcher corny dog...........

(We actually ate 4 between the 3 of us. Patrick even had his very first French mustard covered dog, and dare I say he liked it.)

...........watched a mini parade.....

......saw the Chinese Lanterns, and waited in a ton of lines in the short couple of hours we had to cover the gigantic spread of deep fried heaven and carny booths.

After giving up on my dream to ride the Ferris Wheel (the line was outrageous and we had a train to catch so I could get to work on time)..........

........I talked the boys into paying 10 tickets a piece to squeeze (literally) into a tiny rail car made for kids, and see me scream my head off in most ridiculously lame haunted house.

I'm still calling it a justified scream since everything in the house was a plastic mannequin until the last second of the ride when a real person jumped out targeting me personally, lunging about 3 inches from my face.

I should have known something was up when the guy taking tickets asked me in the most creepy and inappropriate way, "Are you ready to be touched?"

We probably had way too much fun in the green house.

There was just something entertaining about the mini towns, seeing Thomas the train, and posing with abnormally large pumpkins.

Before heading out, we splurged on some last minute munchies (deep fried Snickers, deep fried Oreos, deep fried buodin, fresh squeezed lemonade), and sold our leftover tickets to a girl who wanted a deal but didn't know how to haggle, so broke even, leaving us with a clean conscience and a good giggle.

 All in all, I'd say I needed an entire day and an endless supply of tickets to really discover what the fair had to offer, but given our circumstances, had a pretty good time!