Iowa State Fair

Today was such a fun day. We left our house around 8:45 this morning and arrived at the fairgrounds in Des Moines around 10:45. We decided to park & shuttle so that we wouldn't have to battle with traffic. We got to take a bus (which is very exciting to a toddler!) to the fair. Moments after we arrived at the gates to the fairgrounds, Addilyn repeatedly said "Eat? Eat?" I guess she also knows that part of the fair experience is eating fried foods and anything you can think of on a stick. The Iowa State Fair has over 35 foods on a stick! I really wanted to try the deep fried Milky Way candy bar, but we settled on a corn dog, a turkey leg, and some french fries. Strangely, these were probably the most healthy choices available! They were very tasty. Now, on to more important things. We ate, saw the "neigh neighs," petted the llamas, watched wool get shaved off sheep ("baa baas"), enjoyed a talent show, looked at all of the huge rides (like the ferris wheel, tilt-o-whirl), observed the crazy clown in a dunk tank, and got suckered in by the carnies with a cheap, plastic pool filled with blue water and magnetic fish. You could pay $3 to play this game, but you would only win a cheap prize. To get the stuffed animal, you have to pay $5. Okay, okay--I fell for it. But look at her face when she got the fish she wanted! We'll keep it forever as a keepsake of the Iowa State Fair, but also as a reminder that daddy will do anything for his sweet daughter. :) We ended the day by petting wet snouts of pigs (Addilyn's favorite part of the day) and seeing the cows. And we got to take a BUS back to our car! So much fun in one day. The funniest part of the whole trip is that we were looking forward to seeing the most famous thing on display at the fair - the Butter Cow. Can you believe amidst the excitement of the day that we forgot to see it?! Oh well, there's always next year.

Iowa State Fair