Just another Saturday, full of adventures

Yesterday we went to the State Fair of Texas and had a memorable time.  We rode the TRE train there so we wouldn't have to worry about parking or driving to Dallas.  The Barto family joined us for part of the day and fortunately missed all the drama that the end of the day held.

We started the day without a hitch.  We were almost late to the train, but we made it and each sat comfortably.  Adam mapped out every bit of our train schedule and fair map as well as a schedule of fair shows that we wanted to see.  We started with the African Acrobats.

Then we went to a dog trick show, Jump!

This was followed by the obligatory fried food, a visit to the butter sculpture, and a tour through some booths.  In one booth, a man started questioning one of the Barto's daughters about heaven or hell and Christy intervened with a firm affirmation that "We're United Methodist and she knows exactly what we believe about heaven and hell.  I appreciate what you guys are doing, but she knows what we believe."  I wanted to say "Booyah!" but thought it might be inappropriate.

Then the Bartos went home and we took the kids to the midway.  Paul was so happy he couldn't even keep his eyes open.  (In case you don't recognize him, he's in the rear of this picture.)

Then we saw BMX stunts and enjoyed more expensive fried food.

At the car show, Claire was excitedly going on "errands" to get pamphlets about new cars.  She got plenty for her, Paul, and Paw-Paw.  We saw what looked like a concept car, but turned out to be an advertising stunt.  Basically in this picture, you're seeing a remote controlled airplane shaped like a car.  It was still really cool.

And then we were beat.  Adam said we had to get back to the train station, and then the drama began.

First, we went out the wrong gate.  We were turned around and knew time was ticking.  Adam reoriented us and then we were RUNNING down Fair Park Avenue.  The train came, but apparently you cannot walk on the sidewalks when a train is approaching.  Pedestrian railroad crossing signs blocked the sidewalk, but our train was approaching and we were about to miss it.  Adam swiftly ducked under the crossing bars and pulled the wagon through.  I was panting hard from all that running and just sidestepped the crossing.  At the next crossing bar, Adam ducked again and I didn't see anyway around it, either.  I cursed and bent over as low as I could go.  We were running to catch the train, but a motorcycle policeman barreled up the sidewalk to warn us of the dangers of a train.  Somehow he decided not to give us the $500 ticket we just earned. 

We missed the train, but we were all alive and didn't have a ticket, so we were fine.  We took the next one and arrived at our station.  Unfortunately our next train wouldn't arrive for an hour.  We discussed what to do while the kids played on the bicycle bar.  Paul fell and a huge knot swelled up on his head.  We had to find some ice, but I knew from experience, when you're at the American Airlines Center, the nearest restaurant is a few blocks away.  Luckily some DART police helped us and gave Paul ice from their personal cooler.  So icepack on head, we went back to wait for the train.  Paul's head returned to normal and the kids entertained themselves with playing Red Light Green Light.

It was seven minutes before our train was scheduled to arrive when another train pulled up.  The freight train scared the kids because we had never been so close to a moving train.  Then it stopped.  We were stuck on one side of the freight train and we knew that our TRE train would come on the other side.  People were panicking and climbing on and over the freight train.  We thought that was ridiculous.  One man was spending some time trying to convince his daughter to cross under the train car.  She was mortified and refused to do it.

Adam helped a family across and was about to convince us we needed to climb on the freight train, but all three of us were skeptical and scared.  Then the TRE arrived in the distance.  No matter how long we had to wait at that station, we were not going to climb onto an active freight train and then run in front of a moving passenger train.  Then the freight train started moving and we were all thanking God that we hadn't gotten on it, because we would have been stuck or even killed.  Adam was jumping up and down trying to flag the TRE as the freight train passed.  Luckily they waited for us, and when the freight train rolled away, we were safe, all in one piece, with the TRE waiting patiently for us.

We made it home without injury or ticket.  We were all grateful.