The Texas State Fair

Yesterday we visited the Texas State Fair in Dallas, which was huge and a lot of fun. We tried to avoid some of the crowd, but it was still crowded -I can't imagine what a Saturday must be like! We visited the huge sand sculpture of King Tut (that exhibit is currently in town), saw a 1,100 lb pig, visited the petting zoo (more on that later), and watched a really interesting bird show and visited the butterfly exhibit.

In true Southern fashion, the fair offers EVERYTHING fried, and I mean everything! We had fried chicken on a stick for lunch followed by the award-winning deep fried s'mores! They were wonderful (but then, what doesn't taste good fried?). We also had the fair staple of a funnel cake and tried the deep fried jelly belly beans (those were actually terrible). Sofia was mesmerized by all the people, music and lights from the carnival rides, and all the things to watch. Just before we left the fair, we watched a band and she was able to stretch her legs a little bit after being in her stroller for nearly the whole day. Of course, as soon as she was in her car seat she feel asleep.

Sofia in her shades - ready for the Fair!


The sand sculpture - this is only one part of it!


Deep fried S'mores!


CK and Sofia infront of the ESPN Game Day set (for Saturday's Texas vs. Oklahoma Game)


Sofia and me in front of Big Tex


CK and Sofia in front of the Cotton Bowl (this is the center of the Fair)


The Butterfly Exhibit - there were more butterflies outside the paid exhibit then inside!


Sofia enjoyed the wood chips more than the butterflies


Tasting her first funnel cake (yes, she likes it!)


Watching the band

The Petting Zoo

While at the fair, we visited what was the very best attraction - the petting zoo! There were the usual goats, ponies, pigs, etc, but also a lot of exotic animals and most of the animals had babies. Plus, we bought some animal treats, so we were able to really pet all the animals - especially the goats! Here are some pictures:

Feeding the goats


Watching the camel - (only got the nose in the picture)


I don't even know what kind of animal this is, but Sofia pet him


Even pigs have to nurse - so cute!


The family

Sofia's 1 year pediatrician appointment

Yes, so we're a bit behind in the scheduled pediatrician visits, but it all works out in the end I think. Our new pediatrician's office is a little bit of a drive, but I really like her. She split up Sofia's MMR shot, so she got her measles and polio shots. She now weighs 24 lbs and is 31.5 inches long, and in the 95 percentile for height (and 75th for weight)! She is getting four molars right now, but other than showing a preference for soft food, she's not too fussy and is sleeping through the night.

Lately, Sofia is obsessed with turning lights on/off, which of course requires me to lift her up to mess with the switches. Her very favorite is turning on the fan in her bathroom - that is very funny and exciting! She also opens and closes the garage door -again, with a big smile. She also enjoys closing doors and then letting me open them - she thinks this is very funny too (unless I don't open it fast enough and she thinks she is locked in her room).

She's also learned "no, no" and particularly likes to use her new skill when we are returning from our afternoon walk to let me know that she doesn't want to return home. She understands everything, which amazes me and CK and I always play the "where is the...." game at dinner. We ask Sofia where the flowers, duck, pumpkin, penguin, ball, moon, etc are and she points to them! Its cute when she doesn't know what we're talking about and she'll just give a general point all over! She's growing up so fast and is such fun.

Sofia carries our letters to the mailbox


Going for our daily walk in the neighborhood. She loves stepping on the dead leaves to hear the noise they make (although it isn't exactly what I think of as "Fall" weather at 85 degrees!)


Opening the door to her bathroom - all very exciting!


Playing in her room with her books and toys


Kissing her puppy. CK recently taught her to give kisses


Sofia in her jogging stroller on an afternoon run - she fell asleep a few minutes after this pictures was taken....

The Fort Worth Zoo

On Saturday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo, which was really fantastic! Sofia loved it, especially the penguins (more on that later), and she wanted to get in and pet all the animals! There was a petting zoo, but by the time we made it there Sofia was exhausted and the animals weren't really near enough to touch, so we'll have to try next time. Here are some pictures from our day.....

My primates looking at primates......


Sofia hanging out - the hat was tossed out of her stroller at the very end of the day, which resulted in CK and I returning to the zoo from the car and walking the entire length of the zoo before we found it...


Zebras!


Watching the giraffes- All day, Sofia had this fantastic look of excitement combined with pure happiness on her face - I don't think I ever really captured the look, but this is close.


The giraffes


Playing with the 'baby elephant'


The lion cubs - they were playing while we were there, which was really fun to watch


CK and Sofia with the Ibex in the background


Parakeets - Sofia LOVED this exhibit, and really wanted to touch the little birds.

More Zoo pictures...

Here are a few other pictures from our day at the zoo....

Sofia on the Merry-go-round... She was pretty exhausted by this point so she wasn't a huge fan.




The burrowing owl - I had to include this because I've never heard of such a thing! Apparently they live in west Texas and generally co-exist with Prairie Dogs! They are very cute!


Walking with Papa toward the petting zoo - this area of the zoo included an ice cream store, shops and different exhibits.


Our exhausted girl! Sofia fell asleep just after we left the petting zoo (and tossing her hat over the side of the stroller) and slept until we made it home!

Penguins!

Sofia LOVED watching the penguins at the zoo - It was her very favorite part of the whole day. She wasn't quite sure how she could watch them swim under the water as well as stand on the shore. The penguins were very active since we happened to arrive at their feeding time.

Sofia and Sophia

Last week Sofia and I met Marcie and her 3-year old Sophia for story time at a nearby mall, followed by a little browsing and lunch with some of the gals from our book club. For all of you who know Forrest, Marcie is Forrest's sister and she lives about 15 miles away from us, which is fantastic. She started a book club, which I'm a part of too and has been a lot of fun so far. So here are a few pictures from the mall - Sophia was fantastic with Sofia and unfortunately I didn't get the cutest picture of them holding hands! Sofia was in her stroller and Sophia walked next to her and they held hands! So cute!

Sophia and Sofia near the turtle pond


So cute!


Shopping! Sofia still carries that bag around the house like a purse