Doing the County Fair

I've shared a lot of what our life was like in Scotland, and rest assured I've taken a ridiculous amount of photos there to continue to share with y'all.

But I thought I'd swap things around and share with our friends in the UK a taste of the USA.

This may come as a shock to y'all, but we aren't big city people. 

I lived for 4 years of my life in Dallas and 8 months in Houston, Texas and those experiences fulfilled any small desire I had to live in a densely populated area. 

Sure, you have your pros, like a Hobby Lobby every 10 miles, Chick-fil-a, Chipotle, Pei Wei, Starbucks, Gigi's Cupcakes, Firehouse Subs, Whole Foods 

(Ok, well, I haven't ever been in a Whole Foods, but I have been gouged for groceries before, does that count?) 

but y'all not only does my wallet and waistline hate this, 

but there's just something about the country that appeals to me.

Here in USA it's the most wonderful time of the year--county fair time!

Bear in mind y'all a county fair tends to be small.

Each state in the USA has a LOT of counties. After the county fairs the winners go on to the state fair.

But county fair time is a super fun where my husband especially travels back his roots. 

Let's start this show off with a bang and focus on the little girl in the background instead of my boys closely examining the sheep.

Once Upon a United States Visit

What a fun time we had going back to the USA recently! This was the kids and my first visit back and Mark's second (you'll remember he had an emergency trip back right after Thanksgiving to see his dad in hospital).
Here's a few stats and some fun pictures from our trip:

12,579 roundtrip flight miles
3 countries
4,765 miles driven
8 churches visited
6 states (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma)
2 Taco John's visits
1 Chick-fil-a visit
3 Sonic visits
1 Chipotle visit
1 ER visit
1 herd of elk sighted
MANY mule deer sightings
3 fox sightings
1 MOOSE sighting
3 different Wal-Marts visited (did you KNOW they have Peanut Butter Cookie Pop Tarts now?! LOVE!)
4 -the number of times I tried to pay different cashiers the £5 note I had in my wallet

The starting of packing for 4 children 

this is just the girls, this is not bows, 

or shoes, 

or accessories

girls are high maintenance by nature...