Well it's that time of year again and the Kansas State Fair is in town. Living in Hutchinson the fair is our entertainment for 10 days. The kids are thrilled and wake up asking to go and fall asleep walking home daily! Day one was yesterday (September 10th), Kale got home from school and the first words out of his mouth were asking to go. We hesitated to take him yesterday because he had been complaining at school of having a head ache and stomach ache all day. They told us he had not been acting like himself most of the day but was still interacting with others. His temp never went above 100 but stayed very close for most of the day. When he got home we gave him his allergy meds and a dose of Tylenol and he was good as new. We still made him take it easy and ride in the stroller but we headed off to the fair after dinner time.
The girls went along with us. Monica had already been at the fair for a few hours but walked to our house because her stroller tire had deflated and she needed it aired up. It seemed like a good idea but the tire had a bigger hole in it and would deflate almost immediately after airing it up! Hopefully today Erin can help her change the tube cause that stroller will be getting a lot of use in the next 9 days!
Kale and Marisa love the dress the part at the fair! They both hav
e cowboy/girl boots and they love to wear them with their jeans....Maks and Malea on the other hand could really care less! Maks actually fights us about wearing his boots and Malea likes her Abby Cadaby shoes much better! They are not in the least bit amused by the cowboy look!
Well on to the best part of the fair.....THE FRIED FOOD! This year there are some interesting new foods (most of which are fried but not everything). On the top of my list is the fried Kool-Aid! I wasn't actually able to find it yet but don't you worry I will! The first food of the 2011 State Fair that we consumed was an accidental find! As Erin and I were walking out to leave we found the Fried Cookie Dough booth! We had no idea it was there but once we saw it their was no doubt in
our minds we had to try it! 2 minutes and 5 dollars later we were biting into what could quite possibly be the BEST fried fair food of the year, maybe century! It was AMAZING! One LARGE scoop of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is scooped up and dipped into a sweet batter then immediately dropped into pipping hot grease! The cook time is minimal but perfect to give you the crispy golden brown crust on the outside and perfectly warmed dough on the inside. The warm center melts the chocolate chips perfectly for a gooey center that is swirled with creamy chocolate (even though I have a love/hate relationship with the mess it creates) it is wonderful! The serving size was more than enough for me. One order consists of 3 Fried Cookie Dough balls. Coming from someone would can't eat a lot of sweets I was able to devour about one and three quarters of them before I decided I either needed a glass of milk or to just stop! Erin was perfectly fine with my inability to eat the entire plate of them because that meant he would actually get to try some! ;) In conclusion Fried Cookie Dough is amazingly wonderful, worth the money and something you should NOT eat on a daily basis (I don't even want to guess that calorie content in one of those)!
Other foods to come....within the next ten days I plan to eat at least one of the following: ear of grilled corn, baked sweet potato, Nitrogen ice cream, gourmet cupcakes, bacon wrapped meatball, caramel covered apple, fried oreos, homemade biscuits and gravy, an ice cream burger and possibly anything else I happen to walk by that I feel is worthy of being called fair food!
*Health Disclaimer....In my defense we walk A LOT during the fair, we never drive to get there AND I push the stroller the entire time we walk around so I burn at least part of the extra calories that I consume for these 10 days.....or at least I tell myself that I do! ;o) Oh and also, almost always when we get fair food I don't consume the entire portion by myself (that why I bring Erin)! So that has to help some too!
Well that's about it for now, I am working this morning to administer the Official Practice Test. After I get off work and the kids wake from their naps we are heading back to the Fair so watch for more updates to come but until then Happy Saturday.
Here is a picture of the letters I made from a Pinterest. I first started with the cheap paper maiche (sp?) letter blocks! I think I got them for about $1.39 each. These just look like brown cardboard letters. I then purchased a can of Gold Metallic spray paint. I took them outside and started to put light layers of paint on them. I did this on a very windy day so the paint took no time at all to dry! I put a few layers on let them dry and then Viola I had nice gold letters for my bedroom wall that look metal and expensive but actually super cheap, light weight for easy hanging and cardboard! 
