Dart Throwing Diva

On Monday, Tay's 10th birthday, we took our annual family trip to the Heart of Texas Fair & Rodeo. Our original plan for her party (which is tomorrow) was to gather her three closest girlfriends, buy them all wristbands at the fair, and let the girls enjoy the rides all day Saturday before enjoying the rodeo finals that night.

Needless to say, that plan went by the wayside right about the time she had surgery to repair her broken elbow two weeks ago. Her ability to ride any of the rides during our trip this week also went by the wayside but, in true Taylor fashion, she didn't let it bother her and found a new way to entertain herself.

She is apparently a dart throwing diva, my friends. She won three stuffed animals and a guitar (yes, that's right, a guitar) by flinging darts with her non-dominant hand. As I said on Facebook, heaven help her future husband. I mean, seriously, he should stay on her good side!

Anyway, after winning the first stuffed animal (a bear made out of material with money imprinted on him who she named Dollar), we stopped by to see a few of the animals there for the livestock show. 




Then she threw some more darts and won a bumblebee. She also played a duck game where she won a fish. She then made her first attempt at winning a guitar. This was much harder than the others as you had to throw your dart directly in the center of a star. The middle was orange and you had to be in the orange area (and they were sticklers, let me tell you) to win a prize.

First attempt was unsuccessful so we headed over to the rodeo...

...where we enjoyed the clowns a great deal. Tay has obviously been hanging out with Dave too much because she wasn't all that interested in the activities not involving bulls. Go figure, right?

We made it through team roping, single roping, steer wrestling, mutton busting, saddle bronc and bare back before she decided waiting around for the main event was just taking too long. It was lots of fun, though.

Next we headed outside for some food. Tay chose Chic-fil-a, I chose a Vitek's gut pack (which I'd never before sampled but will be doing again SOON) and Dave continued his pre-rodeo dinner of Miller Lite.

This is when Tay informed me she'd like to spend her remaining money playing the dart game where the prizes were guitars again. Against my better judgment, I agreed. And then began praying she would be successful because, let's face it, it's not all that great to be 10 and not be able to ride a single stinkin' ride.

On the VERY LAST dart of the evening, Miss Thang achieved success. 

See?
Yes, it's a small guitar, but it's actually the perfect size when trying to play with a broken arm.

After picking up a snow cone for dessert, our last stop of the evening was the petting zoo. As you know, Tay absolutely adores animals so getting up close and personal with them was a treat. There was even a kangaroo!

And there you have it - a birthday trip to the fair. Tomorrow we're hosting friends and family at our house for pizza amd cake before heading to see Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures from that adventure (anything involving four 'tween girls is classified as an adventure, friends) to share with you next week.

Until then, go Bears - beat Iowa State!