It's the State Fair, Baby!

So it was the last official day of summer vacation, and I promised Landon we'd do something 'special.' His idea of going somewhere special these days is a trip to Scheels...and although I've only been there once, I'm Scheels-ed out. :) We decided to take the boys to the state fair since
a) we hadn't been there since before Landon was born (that is if you don't count the trip my cousin Lindsey and I made there last year just to stand in a tunnel with a thousand other people trying to stay out of a storm before the Lady Antebellum concert was cancelled because of rain...and after seeing what happened at the Indiana state fair this year...I may never attend another 'fair' concert again my whole life...end of long side note) and
b) it was only 85 degrees instead of 105.
Perfect day to take in the sights and tastes (and smells....eeew) of the fair.

We hit up some livestock buildings first. It makes me kind of sad to think my boys have not seen real life farm animals. I grew up with pigs and cows at Grandpa and Grandma's. I remember naming several, only to have them show up later on our dinner table. (harsh fact of life to digest when you're a kid....literally!) And I don't remember how old I was, but Michael and I both used to help Dad catch the baby pigs so he could cut their teeth and tails. EEEWW! Didn't seem to gross me out too badly then though. I remember Dad showing us how to pick them up by one of their back legs...and they'd not squeal then. Not sure why though really. I'll have to check on that. When I was big enough I helped carry their food in big old buckets...and I'll always remember the smell. Pretty gross, but as one of our family friends who also raised pigs said, 'smelled like money' to him. :)

We visited the fair towards the end and it seemed like a lot of the livestock buildings were pretty thin. Probably most of their inhabitants from earlier in the week had been sold and taken elsewhere...where I'd prefer not to think to much about. :) But it turns out, the horse folk were super friendly. We had three separate people stop and ask the boys if they'd like to pet their horse while they were out and about.


We also hit up the FFA kid petting zoo building. Where we saw some real life goats...which did Landon some good. A few weeks ago, he randomly asked me if I liked goats and I said they were okay. I said something about they were kind of cute but the thing about goats is that they would eat anything. Wrong thing to say....Landon says with terror in his voice, "even KIDS?!?!" I quickly back pedaled but he still seemed pretty unsure. He got over it though when he saw these little guys.

Grant was a big fan of the baby ducks. Fitting since two of the few words he says that are intelligible are "duck" and "quack"...and they sound a lot alike.

Landon repealing the tax hike in the state of Illinois. Wouldn't be a trip to the state fair without some kind of political propaganda. The day we went was Republican Day, and this probably is not a bigger shocker, but I'm not very into politics. The only reason I know it was Republican Day was because they announced it on a loud speaker when we were walking around. While perusing the grounds I kid you not I saw a lady wearing a piece of paper safety pinned to her shirt that she had hand written, "God Bless President Obama" on. I guess she wanted it to be clear that even though she was attending on Republican Day she was NOT a supportive of the Republican party. Maybe I'm naive but I don't think attending the fair on Republican Day makes you a Republican, but hey, lady, do what ya gotta do.

And of course the MAIN reason for attending any such festivity like a fair....the FOOD!!!

Chad and I had corndogs of course. Mustard only for me and boy was it delicious. Grant helped me with mine and he concurred. Landon of course was a harder sell. He spied this ridiculously enormous Pizza on a Stick stand and insisted that's what he wanted. We ordered him one, and THEN I looked at the sign and read they were NINE DOLLARS each. Wowzas. I was preparing myself to hear him say he didn't like it after his first nibble, but thankfully he decided it was edible.

It was so huge though he needed help...

It was only fitting that the boys see the butter cow on their first trip to the state fair, too, of course.

And our little dairy hand....

And then it was on to the Giant Slide....the only ride I thought both of the boys would love. Here's Daddy climbing all those stairs with both boys...and his potato sack to sit on. :)
And away they go....as soon as they started down, Landon had sheer terror all over his face and Grant was smiling from ear to ear.

And here's the dismount....Landon in a puddle and Grant's not even in the picture because he's on the steps trying to go up again.

So Daddy and Grant went one more time. We stopped to get some ice cream and called it a day. Both boys were wiped out...and so were we. A perfect ending to a very relaxing summer!