A Good Thing about Living in Iowa!

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The Iowa State Fair is one of the highlights of everyone's summer. I think that Rachel went 4 or more times this year. It offers a little something to everyone and a lot of fun for everyone. We try to go as a family even though we didn't stick together. There are WAY to many people there to stick together. Of coarse you find lots of people you know - especially if you are with my dad.

Things that we enjoyed

Fair Food! - Ohh the things you can eat. You can get a deep fat fried anything (oreos, twinkies, pickles, funnel cake, real potato chips, etc) You can eat any animal that is grown in Iowa. Jason over the years of working at the fair for 4H has tried all the food booths almost. His favorite is the Cattleman's. If you can't figure it out - they sell really good BEEF which you must say with a low grunting voice. Jason ordered a Mark and Gary pound burger. He didn't eat all three patties. We figured it was cheaper to buy it and let the kids eat the extra burgers since they don't like the bun. Jason had to wear a button the rest of the day showing that he was proud of endeavor. Chris likes the pork chop on the stick. My mom got the hugest corn dog that I had ever seen. Ally and Drew discovered Aunt Rachels Dip n Dots. She had to go get another cup. I am not sure what I like the best. I usually try and get an egg roll or the ice cream from the Diarymen of Iowa. Didn't get those this year. The lines were way to long for everyone to get their favorite, so I settled on a ribeye sandwich. Sacrifices.

Animals up the ying yang! Everyone must bring their prized possession. There are contest for the largest pig and bull. Man they were huge. I think the bull weighed close to 3600 pounds and the boar weighed just under 1200. We looked at a lot of the animals. The kids enjoyed touching the some that we laying near the edge. Ally enjoyed watching one man feed his pigs. He put several types of poteins and then mixed it with water. We also visited a petting zoo, but wasn't much fun since all the signs said that the animals liked to bite.

BIG SLIDE - Half the trick of the fair is to hide all the rides. The Midway is where most parents will go broke at the fair - unless Rachel talks you into a new pair of $180 boots! But Ally could see the big slide that Grandma promised to go down with her. At the end of the day we forked out $2.50 to go down. We had to pay for the kids even though they were on our laps. After getting our tickets a lady from India said here take these and gave me 4 free slide tickets. Yeah!!! The kids went down the first time and LOVED it so at least got to go down again.

Little Hands Farm - This was cool and maybe they have had it before but we hadn't seen it. The kids got to be a farmer. They went it and got their apron, basket and hat (got to keep it!) They first planted and picked some veggies, then they got corn and soy beans, then picked an appled, gathered eggs from the chickens, then came the terror - ride the tractor. Riding was great BUT getting off was another story. After the tractor ride Ally continued and Drew went for a break with Jason. We sheered the sheep, milked the cow, sold our produce and got a dollar to spend in the store where we bought crackers and cheese. It was cute and the kids loved it!

Tractors and More Tractors! Drew spent most of his day pulling someone to each and every tractor there and sitting on it. Reminds me of Andy Gross on the farm Kaylee and Ally liked to sit on them for awhile. We had to pry Rachel off though :) I know that a lot of the pictures are on "off" colors. Drew still thinks that they are all "Jon Eeres" though.

For those of you not familiar with the weird traditions of Iowa, some lady always sculpts a cow and other significant thing out of butter. Yes it is true and it has one of the longest lines. I am not sure what they do with it afterwards, but it would top A LOT of baked potatoes! This year she did superman along with the cow.

Tatoos - You have to go and show your school spirit. I didn't seem much UNI, but saw more than enough Hawkeye stuff and proud that ISU was shown more - they are the ag school. Every good parent makes their kid get a tatoo showing who they cheer for. Ally took hers off with in minutes. She must be a Hawk fan at heart. Drew cried when he got his.

Well the list could go on and on and you are probably sick of reading it, but you didn't have to keep scrolling. It was a good day and the fair always means that the summer has come to an end. Until next year!