you say tomato

We headed up to Hooper yesterday to revel in the festivities of Tomato Days, arriving just in time to cheer on cousin Billy as he graciously accepted his awards from the baby contest. Hooray for Mr. Personality and Brightest Eyes!

After a not-so-quick stop at the restrooms, we headed out to the park...and then headed straight to the train ride. Ricky took good care of Danny. I was surprised that Danny actually held his big cousin's hand for as long as he did.


The boys each got their hands stamped and were given a little ticket. As we waited for our turn to board, I told them to show me their tickets and say cheese. Billy's trying to show me his stamped hand and nobody said cheese. Cute enough.


I have no idea why Danny was grouchy when it was time to ride. Go figure.

After the train ride, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kevin went home to fetch their dogs for the dog race. Dan and I had kid duty. Those were some hungry kids too. They pretty much inhaled the crackers I brought to snack on.




Speaking of snacking, don't you want to just nibble on those scrumptious cheeks? I think baby Rusty's hair goes on for another inch or so after the top of this picture. He loves it that way. He told me so. (Put the scissors down and walk away, Cindy.)


We headed over to the rodeo arena and got front row seats for the dog races. Danny thoroughly enjoyed watching the tractor rake the dirt in preparation for the big event.


I didn't take any pictures of the dogs. I did get a good shot of Danny's reaction to the racing though. He loved it. You can check out a little story about it here. (The lovely lady in the picture with the two humongous dogs is Aunt Cindy.)


After the races, we got a bite to eat. Hamburgers, a hot dog and some pink "hair candy." That's what Danny called his cotton candy. Pretty clever if you ask me. It is kind of hairy looking when you pull it apart.

We enjoyed the rest of the day at Aunt Cindy's house. As we were playing, chatting and eating we heard many sirens going past. Later, we learned that there had been an accident at the Tomato Days festivities. You can read about it here. I'm glad we weren't there when it happened.

It was a fun day. Good food. Good company. Good grief! We might just have to come again next year.