Rib Fest!!!

So as I have mentioned I think ribs are great right now. This is very unusual and Ben was excited for this summer with the rib loving wife because Naperville has a rib fest every year. Unfortunately it was in July and we didn't get here until August so we were thinking we would have to wait until next year, and who knows if I will be repulsed by them next year. Luckily though we found out that Forest Park was having a rib fest with amateur rib makers all competing for cash prizes, and it was on Saturday. Things tend to shut down in Chicagoland after Labor Day weekend so we were really shocked and excited. Even better than that was that there was no entrance fee (Naperville's entrance fee is $10 a person if I remember right), you only pay for the food you eat. Forest Park is half way between Naperville and the city and lucky for us we were already going into the city for two baptisms of kids from our primary class downtown. Ben even got to perform one of them and I got to give a talk about the Holy Ghost. It was a rewarding day as Primary teachers.


Then it was off to Rib Fest 2009. The rules were simple, contestants had to be amateurs and bring their own way to cook the ribs. There would be no electricity provided which made for real cooking and smoking of ribs, and all ribs had to be pork so that judges would compare apples to apples so to speak. We had a BLAST! We tried 5 different kinds of ribs
fresh root beer from the biggest barrel we had ever seen. Notice I am carrying my own purse, it has been sufficiently emptied to carry just a water bottle, sunglasses, napkins, wallet and lip gloss.
cotton candy put on the stick in the fluffy manner, not squished into a bag (notice that I DO NOT have rib sauce all down my belly. I don't know how I managed it but I was very proud of myself)
and an electric lime green snow cone all for $20. This picture does not do the green justice.
It was all so yummy. I think that was the most happy I have been my whole pregnancy, full but not too full, cotton candy (which I have always loved), and root beer. Root beer is another thing that I never cared much about but I really like it during pregnancy, a lot. It was a good weekend.