Iowa State Fair

So, if you have never been to the Iowa State Fair, I believe it is a MUST in your lifetime!! I think we have the BEST state fair around.. I've been to the MO,KS, and TX state fairs.. and IOWA still ranks #1 in my opinion. This year we went three different times.. I could have went every day I think, but that would have gotten a little costly on the pocketbook!!! So the first day we were there BRIGHT AND EARLY to get in free AND be one of many to set a record for the most people eating a corn dog at the same time in the same place!! We were approx. the 2200 persons to walk in... they only had 8400 corndogs.. and they had 10,000+ people in the grandstands with an estimated 5000 more trying to get in outside the gates!! Guess it paid to get up early and be there by 6:30am (the actual event didn't take place til 9am)

The 'LITTLE' Bull




Here is the Big Boar.

Can you believe the big pumpkin AND the big boar were about the same weight!!!!

How cute is this.. a kid and a lamb sleeping together in their feed bowl!! I could have taken all the baby animals home.. and I think Mason would have love to also

Mason finally crashed about 6pm.. slept for about 30 minutes and was good to go see the rest of the fair!!!

Us girls did a sterling silver ring making class. It was a good time.. can you tell the age of the different hands?!?! *S*

The fair is known for their Butter Cow. This year since it was the Olympics and Shawn Johnson is from Iowa, she made a butter Shawn Johnson too!! Pretty amazing!!

The big slide was a hit with Mason. I think he went down it 5 different times with whoever he could coax to take him. He informed me that 'Next year I'm gonna go down the slide myself'

For all you Central Iowa Natives.. here is the Floppy mobile!!! MAN that show was AWESOME!!! And Betty Lou and the Magic window!!



Little hands on the Farm is always a hit with the kids, and Mason is no exception here. They are given a hat and an apron and a basket to go thru the 'farm'. Well, the green hat they are given is a Pi%^?#er hat (thats a bad word in our house *S*) and Mason is forbidden from wearing that, so he wears his Dekalb hat instead!!! (I must say, the Dekalb hat is much cutier then the other one)


They act like they are on a farm and plant the seed... harvest the crop, pick some apples, get some corn, feed the corn to the cow to milk, turn in their beans for fuel for the tractor, and then turn in their produce at the end for some 'money' to buy something at the store. A very clever way to teach kids the process of growing things.

And here is the 'prize' he chose.. not the cookie, not the juice, not the candy... but the....

Wish I could take credit for him liking apples so much, but I can't!! Not quite sure where he got that from, as I don't eat them enough, but I always have them in the house for his 'apple a day'!!!

Course we had a little bit of food.....corn dogs, super nachos, jr donuts, soda pop, cheese curds, pizza, tenderloin,elephant ear, funnel cake,jr donuts, gyro, grater taters, soda pop, jr donuts, nitro ice cream, taffy, taco salad, jr donuts, fudge, jr donuts.... ok, so we didn't eat all that in one day, and I myself didn't eat ALL THAT by myself!! We like to think of it as a smorgasbord.. we have a bite of this and a bite of that.. and we get to try it all and not spend $50 a meal!!! EXCEPT for the jr donuts... I think I ate my weight in those.. and even brought home quite a few to freeze to enjoy thru the winter to tide me over til August 8, 2009!!!! They are by far my FAVORITE food at the fair!!

Fair 2008 was a great time!!! In the 10 days, it is estimated that 1,109,150 people attended!! It was a record breaking year! The weather was perfect almost everyday, with temps in the high 70s, low 80s. Normal for this time of year is high 80s and HIGH humidity, and we had neither of those!! Mallory also got to go to her 1st fair and did very well!!! Course, we didn't brave the weekend crowds with our stroller, but did manage to take the kids a couple days. Until next year.....