Thanksgiving Dinner and Funnel Cake in one weekend? Sounds like a dream...

But it's not a dream! Here in Florida, because of the amazing weather, the Broward County Fair happens Thanksgiving weekend.

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE the fair. For the sole reason of The Zipper. When we saw that the fair was happening this past weekend, we decided we couldn't miss it. I also needed someone there who had not ridden the Zipper before and could be convinced to ride it with me. A Zipper virgin if you will. We found that person in my friend Kathy. She, her husband Wade and their son Owen joined us.
Kathy was not only a Zipper virgin but also a corn dog virgin... can you believe this? She had NEVER eaten a corn dog in her life. We took care of that in a hurry:

She enjoyed her first corn dog experience thoroughly.

Something Kathy didn't enjoy... the thought of having to throw away her garbage into this:

What about this garbage can? These guys were everywhere. I actually kind of loved them.

Owen missed out on this action above. This is what he was doing while we were enjoying our first bite of fair food.

We waited until just the right moment to wake the sleeping bear (it takes our sweet little guy a while to get in the groove after a nap, especially when he's not waking up on his own.). We knew that if we waited for this to wake him, he would be all smiles:

Really, for a two year old, does it get much better than waking up to a helicopter ride? I think not.

Next up were the animals. So in Utah, you've got some real decisions to make when it comes to the animals... do you want to hit all five or six buildings that contain cows, pigs, sheep, bunnies, chickens, and all other farm animals or do you want to pick one or two to check out? Well... in Florida, that problem is taken care of for you. There is only one building with animals to look at. It had about a million rabbits and chickens and then maybe one of each of the animals listed above. Perfect for us. Owen was in heaven.

They actually did have a few more animals over in a petting zoo.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I swear at most petting zoos, you actually get to go in the gates and pet the animals. Not here... you were able to reach your hands far enough in to pet maybe one or two of the animals.

That wasn't the only thing this petting zoo had to offer us though, it also had this guy:

Amare Stoudamier. I didn't know who he was (shocker) but apparently he is a basketball player for the Knicks so that was exciting for Tyler. Too bad when Ty asked if he could get a picture with him, the guy told him he didn't take pictures with people when he was with his family. Oh well... we snuck this one by pretending I was taking pics of these goats... TAKE THAT AMARE!

From there we headed for more rides. A couple for the kids and then the most important ride of the night.... THE ZIPPER!!!

It's almost embarassing how much I love this ride. Really... I get on it and don't stop laughing until the ride is over. And good news, Kathy even loved it. That has never happened. Usually when I find someone to go with me, the minute we are off the ride, they swear it off for the rest of their lives. YAY Kathy! So happy I found someone to share my love with.

 Yep. Loved it. Thumbs up.

We figured we couldn't end the night without one more ride for the kids and some more fair food.

Nothing better to end the night with than a giant funnel cake. We had to go to four different booths to find just the right toppings. Tyler is very particular about his funnel cake and apparently everyone else at the fair was too. Everyone wanted strawberries. When none could be found,  we settled on some cherries and chocolate sauce. I have to admit, even without the strawberries...YUMMM....

After one celebrity sighting, fair food and fair rides, we figured it was time to hit the road home. On our way out, we ran into the Puppetone Rockers. These guys drive around in this contraption, sing and play the piano (and almost run over little children). The Owen's could not get enough of these guys.

When we finally convinced Owen that it was time to go, we stepped out of the gate and there were some guys playing the steel drums. Owen can't hear music and not stop to dance:

 Where is Owen learning these moves?

Side note: On the way home in the car we asked him what his favorite part of the night was. I'm thinking he is going to say one of the rides or the petting zoo. You know what he said "Dancing to that puppet car". Lesson learned: Instead of spending $50 at a fair, go stand right outside of the fair and let your child dance for twenty minutes. He'll be just as happy.

One more thing: Because this poor little lady gets left out of a lot of these posts, let's just take a moment to look at this sweet face: We love this little girl!