HOW TO DO THE TEXAS STATE FAIR WITH TODDLERS

We ventured to the State Fair this year with a 4.5 year old, 2.5 year old and 4 WEEK OLD! Yes... you read that right! I was not willing to give up one of my favorite fall traditions so we strapped Andrew to my chest and went for it!  I wanted to share a few things that made our time at the Fair enjoyable and FUN as a family!

#1 - Weekday.  It is substantially more crowded at the fair on the weekends.

#2 - Plan 3 or 4 things that you want to accomplish.  There is no way you are going to be able to SEE and DO it all.  Our list included:  1) See Big Tex 2) Eat a Fletcher's Corn Dog & Cotton Candy 3) Ride a few rides  // Although my hubby would have loved to walk through the Car Show and see more exhibits, we adjusted our expectations for this year so that no one left frustrated or in "meltdown mode."

#3 - If you have a wagon or double stroller, BRING IT! With 3 kiddos under the age of 5, we were able to easily keep track of everyone by having the girls in the wagon and wearing Andrew.

#4 - Pack water bottles!!! No need to pay for drinks at the fair.  Pack your kids their favorite thermos and spend your tickets on the food and rides!

#5 - This changes every year, but we brought canned goods on Wednesday and each got in for $4! The State Fair can add up, so this was BIG Savings for our little clan!

We went at 4:30 and left by 7pm.  It was genuinely an ENJOYABLE and beautiful night for our family and Gigi!

Summertime Memories

 What I want to remember:
+ Sweet evenings playing in the sprinklers
+ Sno cones at the pool
+ Popsicles every single day ("Boogers" as Stella STILL calls them)
+ The circus with Mimi and Pappa
+ Stella's FIRST fireworks!
+ Weekly play dates with my college besties
+ Sea World and the Shamu Show
+ The Lazy River in San Antonio with Gigi and Opa and Drew-Callie-Reese (One word for Stella)
+ The best $25 we ever spent at Walmart with a HUGE blow up pool for our backyard.
+ What is SURE to be an epic Road Trip to Pensacola later this week :)

Bastille on Bishop

Yesterday was Bastille Day (basically the French 4th of July) and I think it's important for us as a family to celebrate both holidays as our girls grow up…bilingual AND bicultural. We heard about Bastille on Bishop and decided to check it out! It sounded really promising and my pictures are probably quite misleading ha! We will NEVER go back with kids again- We were told it was very kid-friendly...when in fact it was really hot, over-the-top crowded, and the lines for food and wine were on average an HOUR long!  Adults (and especially kids) don't have that kind of patience. (Especially when all we wanted was a couple of Nutella crepes!)  I will say that big crowds don't typically bother me and it was really fun to stroll through and take a few fun pictures, but we left within 20 minutes of arriving and went out to eat somewhere outside of the Bishop Arts District since all the restaurants had really long wait lines!  I do think it's a really fun concept and if we didn't have a stroller and a runaway toddler it probably would have been quite enjoyable.  Logan and I talked about how next year we would love to go back… just the two of us, for a date night!   REALLY fun concept and Logan felt right at home as it brought out ALL the authentic Frenchies that live in Dallas.  We look forward to trying again next year ;) In the meantime… enjoy the few snaps we got of our Little Miss Frenchy in all her French glory - vespas and all!