Texas State Fair

Howdy y'all and welcome to the Texas State Fair!! I had never been to
a state fair before today. Thank you Texas for not disappointing me!
It was a beautiful day. Sunny and 85 degrees. A cool breeze kept Wyatt
happy and Diet Dr Pepper kept mommy happy.

A few highlights from our day included; rollercoster, tractors,
childrens barn, vendors and big Tex. We arrived and began walking down
the main strip just taking everything in. Wyatt was happy to people
watch until Gran pointed out the rollercoster. Wyatts eyes lit up and
his little head followed the coster from start to finish. He thought
the whole thing was pretty fun!

After the rollercoster watching, we headed over to the tractor
displays. Wyatt had to check the tire pressure and lug nuts on each
tire. I think John Deer may have a future employee.

If John Deer isn't hiring then, Wyatt will be a great farmer. He loves
the animals. He loves them so much that he screams in delight at each
one he sees. He also put his finger in a cows nose and tried to pick
a camels nose too. I am not sure how fond the animals are of him.

We closed the day with pictures of Big Tex. Big Tex stands at the
entrance of the State Fair and waves while telling you the lastest
fair news. We were getting our picture taken when I heard " Leigh
Ann". It was the Goodmans!! Friends of D and I from youth group in
Ohio. (Granted they now live just east of Dallas). Very small world!!
It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Well, seeing them and
getting a Free coke zero!!!

Texas State Fair

FFA

Texas State Fair

Loved the childrens barn.

Texas State Fair

Howdy from Tex

Texas state fair

Loves tractors and funnel cake

Texas state fair

Just happened to run into this lovely family at the fair.

Duck, duck, boat...

Tonight we went over to Aunt Amys house to feed ducks. Wyatt and Amy
threw pounds of bread and cereal to about 2 dozen ducks. Wyatt loved
barking at the ducks and was completely absorbed in the activity
untill.... Broom broom broom. A boat pulled up to the dock. Wyatt lost
all intrest in the ducks and walked as fast as he could to the end of
the dock. He watched wide eyed as the boat was being loaded onto a
trailor. The truck pulling the trailor was of course loud! Wyatt loved
it! Amy finished feeding the ducks and caught up with us. As we walked
home we saw two T-1 like airplanes. Wyatt waved and said da-da. Made
me smile. What a fun day. Thanks Aunt Amy.

Duck, duck, boat...

And the ducks ate well!

Weekend Family Fun

Why Stop?

Because Amy bought a book that tells you were all the historical marker in Texas are located. In all actuality, it got to be a pretty fun and a fairly interesting game, well at least for me and Amy. I think Gran-T and D had checked out after the first 15 pictures! I learned more about Del Rio in two days with Amy and Gran-T than I have in the last 4 years!This is the courthouse in Bracketville.

Then we when to Fort Clark Springs in Bracketville.

www.FortClark.comAmy and I both liked this cowboy picture.Some of the items on display at this museumUncle Marvin checking out the panoramic photos. This is Dick W McConnell, I thought maybe this is who our street in named after. Probably not, since he is Army and we are Air Force, but it is a nice thought.

We also went to visit Seminole Canyon in Comstock.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/seminole_canyon/

I think this is a picture of pictographs, but I honestly couldn't see anything either.

Then, we went to the Alamo Village....which was closed due the a death in the family. We did however document that we were there with these great belly shots.

http://thealamovillage.homestead.com/alamovillage.html

35 1/2 weeks pregnant!

The whole family, not going to the Alamo Village!

On the last day the family was in town we took off early to visit the Whitehead Memorial Museum.

http://www.whiteheadmuseum.org/

The Cadena family has donated this nativity. I thought this was only open during the Christmas season, but it is actually on display year round. And, It was the only building with Air conditioning. Amy and I loved the fact that this was really a compilation of several Nativity's from several different eras.

This was my favorite scene from the display. I guess the mama sheep is watching her baby lamb roast. So sad but so funny!

The Brinkley estate is a very usual and interesting factoid of Del Rio.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dad_and_clint/24362424/

The Chapel was part of the Whitehead memorial and honestly I am not sure why. But, nonetheless it was interesting and pretty cool inside due to the stone walls.

Gotta stop and pose with another Historical Marker. This is of the Canal System of Del Rio. It was built to help water the grapevines at the Val Verde Winery. Which also happens to be the oldest Winery in all of Texas. We also visited the winery, but I didn't take any pictures.

http://www.valverdewinery.com/

This is the first Val Verde Regional Hospital were I now work.

A with the mannequin at the Whitehead's home. The most significant thing I could figure out is that this was the only mercantile between San Antonio and El Paso for several years. The Whiteheads ran the mercantile downstairs and had their living quarters upstairs.