I had heard about the infamous Iowa State Fair for years: the butter cow, the various assortment of food on a stick, the finest animals in all the land, etcetera, etcetera...
So this year my mom and I decided to give it a try. I was actually somewhat excited to see what all the hype was about.
My first indication that the day wasn't going to go well should've been that the vast fair parking lot was full. Several homes located directly across the street from the fairgrounds had decided to open up their front lawns for parking, charging $10 (I mean, it's pretty smart on their part to make some easy money, and they sure didn't seem like the types who enjoyed a perfectly manicured lawn). Rather than driving around aimlessly, we picked a house and parked the car. After we parked, we got a closer look at our surroundings. Let's just say that I was almost positive my car would either a.)not be there when we returned or b.)be completely stripped down with just the frame and tires left.
Grace decided right off the bat that she didn't like the fair, and pretty much fussed the entire time we were there. That was a huge help.
And let's just talk about the people. They were EVERYWHERE. I'm not really sure why I was so surprised (given the full lot), but I seriously never even anticipated that there were that many people living in the midwest. And there's just a certain clientele that seems to attend the fair...and we didn't exactly fit into it.
The size of the fair is slightly overwhelming. I didn't even know where to begin to find that stinking butter cow.
So instead we let the kids do a few rides, got a couple prizes, and ate some lunch from the truck that was the closest. And then we packed up and high tailed it out of the fair with a "thanks, we'll never be back" wave goodbye.
We did stumble upon this kids area right when we got in, and it was really cute. It would've actually been enjoyable had it not been for a certain grumpy 1 year old.
We decided to stop at Dunkin to grab some drinks and snacks for the drive home. In keeping with the day, the whole box of munchkins fell on the floor and an orange slushy was spilled in the backseat. For real, this was definitely a day for the books.
Claire loves puppies.
She pretends she is a puppy 75% of the time (if she thinks I'm not watching she will totally eat her food without her hands), she plays puppies with her friends at recess (which explained why all of her leggings had holes in the knees), and she feels the need to pet any puppy that she passes (um, ew). So it wasn't a big surprise when she decided that she wanted to have a puppy party.
My talented mother created these adorable puppy cakes.
After choosing a puppy to adopt, they decorated bags with their puppy's name on it.
Then gave their puppy a bath, a brush, and a check up.
Then they made a dog collar and picked up a leash for their puppy.
Then they took their puppy to the dog park to practice for the upcoming dog show.
Making blankets for their puppies
Participating in the dog show, for some very harsh judges.
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| Someone was feeling a little left out |
Happy 7th birthday, Claire!
