A Festival That's Better Than The Restival

Nope, not dead :) My sister-in-law Misty and the girls (Addie and Laurel) are here from Maine for a visit. Luke and Cindy have been in total heaven for the past few days with some non-stop cousin time.

Thursday we all went out to eat at Sonny's (oh YUM) and then Friday we hit the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. I had forgotten just how much of a big deal this is here. Huge country stars come and perform (Reba, anyone?)- they have rides, crazy food, pig shows, sea lion shows, 4-H exhibits- you name it! And every single March I say I am going to take my kids there but I never do. Well, I FINALLY did this year!! The last time I went with my family, Brian was still in the NICU at Lakeland Regional because he was just born premature the month prior. He's 24 years old now. Yeah, it's been a long time. Here's a few pics of our day...

Misty and the girls...

My favorite food booth was the one called "Deep Fried...." and then it had pictures of about 12 different things you could have them deep fry. Among the options was twinkies, cheesecake, pop-tarts, milk way bars, butter, ding dongs, and Reese's cups. We did have the deep fried Oreos and they were AMAZING. Hot out of the oil with a golden crust, dusted with powdered sugar and drenched in chocolate syrup. Heaven :)

And here is me eating the chocolate covered bacon. It was AWESOME. Mostly because of the chocolate but also probably because I haven't had real, non-turkey bacon in over a year. It was so very thick and hearty. And the best part was when Cindy came over and dipped some of the bacon in the hot, melted chocolate and it dripped off a lot of chocolate into the blowing wind, which carried the drips and landed them all over my white shorts. And I mean, ALL OVER. And from now on, I am spreading Nutella on bacon. Skip the toast.



Normally the Strawberry Festival is not so hot, but it was SCORCHING! These fans actually were useful for more than just hi jinx from Grandma and Grandpa.

Rickety rides sometimes make me a little nervous...

World famous shortcake!

Mom was feeling very daring and attempted the Crazy Mouse roller coaster that not only goes on the track, but spins at the same time. Look at her face, she LOVED it!

Luke was plugging his nose almost before we even got into the cow and pig tent. He is not a fan of animal smells.


This is my favorite picture of the day - Luke's face is classic.

Anyway, we had a very fun time together! It was great to finally go back. And just because I had not yet had my fill of festival frivolity, the next morning I went down to run a 5k for the Bartow Bloomin' Arts Festival. And how did it go after eating all that crap the day before? To be continued...