Grapevine is a city near our home here in Texas. It holds an annual GrapeFest which, as you might suspect, has to do with wine. Going Mom, G-Ma, and I attended years ago on a Saturday and all I remember is lots of crowds and hot weather. The heat I’m okay with, but as an introvert, I’m not big crowds.

I had a doctor’s appointment on Thursday, the opening day for GrapeFest, where the office was nearby. GrapeFest was nowhere on my radar of things to do that day, but with my trusty sidekick and lots of signs for the event, the extrovert in me tried to show himself. With a quick appointment and Avery behaving in the office, I decided to go off course and let her experience the event.

The fact that is was free to enter the first day helped in the decision making process too. After parking and making the half mile walk with Avery on my shoulders, I asked for a pic of us at the entrance before we entered.

It’s hard to see us, but I thought it was a good shot. You might wonder why kids would have any place in a festival all about wine, but it really has something for everyone. Lots of vendors selling unique niche-type products that were cool but I would never buy, lots of typical carnival food I wouldn’t touch with a…..well, anything, and even a KidsWorld section. Oh, and a carnival area that I refused to enter since I know that day will come eventually so might as well save the money until then.

I did, however, let our little girl indulge in a snow cone….kinda. A snow cone vendor stopped us as we were walking and asked if they could test out their new hire by making a snow cone for us. I explained we have yet to give her sugar and definitely won’t be the chemical-laden syrup they use, but then said I’d accept just shaved ice. That’s all they wanted to do anyway, so we got to enjoy an unflavored cone of shaved ice.

Hey, ice is fun with or without extras, and she liked it. Plus it was free, win-win! We continued down the strip and ran into Tubby the clown who offered to make a balloon animal. A turtle was the obvious choice.

Tubby was even thoughtful enough to make it a bracelet so the turtle didn’t wind up on the street only to get washed down a drain into the sewer where it has nuclear waste flow over it turning it into a mutant. Then a ninja rat would come along and….oh…better stop myself now…..she liked the turtle balloon bracelet.

We made a quick peak inside a local farmer’s market where we sampled fresh okra and admired the local produce. It was also nice to enjoy some air conditioning before stepping back into the humidity of the day. Next stop was KidsWorld with activities from the Grapevine SEA LIFE Aquarium and LEGOLAND® Discovery Center. Giant LEGO bricks are never a disappointment.

I’d love some of those blocks at home to make a giant wall and just crash into them. Or to make a cool fort. Oh, to be a kid again! There was even a petting zoo complete with goats, chickens, bunny rabbits, llamas, and one cow.

Mostly goats. I even made friends with one of them.

Meanwhile, Avery was making friends with a bunny who seemed to not enjoy being in the heat that much. Or the fact that dozens of kids have been chasing it around already.

She made her rounds petting the different animals with the llama being the last.

That turtle made new animal friends too! There was a section with miniature horses that were meant to ride, but no one was around, so I just had her pose next to them. Hey, that’s free!

There were a couple stops to the very humid porta potties throughout our visit, but we survived. The entire trip only cost me one dollar which was to tip Tubby the Clown for the turtle balloon. Not bad for new experiences with the sweetest kid.

I feared I might regret making the impromptu trip to GrapeFest, but it turned out to be a great experience for us both. Showing Avery new things makes me happy and I hope it’s something she remembers forever.

Then again, when Going Mom asked her that night what her favorite part of GrapeFest was, she answered “Ummmm, the porta potties.”

Kids….