strawberry festival

I'm loving these smiles he gives us when we take his picture!

On Friday night we drove out to Poteet, Texas, where the annual Strawberry Festival is held.

It takes 45 minutes to get to Poteet,

and then another 45 minutes to drive the last mile into the parking field.  Seriously. There were a ton of cars.  I'm so grateful we had the foresight to bring the dvd player.  Saved our bacon.  

(I think that's the first time I've ever said anything saved my bacon.  We were that grateful for some Elmo.)

Admission was free on Friday,

which meant...well, it kind of felt like we were in a different country that happens to be slightly south of our own country.

But we had so much fun.

Mostly it was just fun to do something different on a Friday night.

We walked around, ate overpriced carnival food (including a strawberry shortcake and a taco),

navigated the junior high crowds, wondered if we should pay to see the snake with the head of a woman,

and laughed our heads off at the hypnotist with the Texan accent.

"Now ya'll relax 50 times deeper.  You're now in the basement of relaxation." 

Nicholas had his first taste of cotton candy. He looks a little dazed because it was getting past bedtime and he was staring at the lights and flags on the ride in front of us.  

He didn't like the cotton candy, even when Kent told him that only real men eat cotton candy.

What Nicholas was most interested in was the water fountain at the booth where they were selling backyard ponds. He would have been happy to sit right there the entire night.  

We stayed long enough to meet our friends who were stuck in that car line, 

and then we put Nicholas in his pajamas, climbed in the car, and drove home,

but not before we stopped at Sonic, because I guess we felt like we just hadn't had quite enough junk food.

It was really quite the perfect night, 

one of those nights where you remember just how much you love your little family and your happy little life.