Saturday afternoon, evening and into the night, Josh had a series of very special events planned for us. One of them, we'll call it the "appetizer" of the evening, was visiting the Marion County Fair in Knoxville. (If you know Josh to any extent at all, just the word "Knoxville" will inform you as to what the "main course" of the evening was, but that will be the next blog post!) For the last four years, we have done very little due to the kids being small and not easily packed up for travel. This summer, however, there are no diapers to pack, no bottles to keep perfect, no diaper bags to tote around, no special baby food to keep track of, no nap schedule to follow, and (best of all) everyone can walk on their own!!! SO...this summer, the stay-at-home routine is all changing with the close-to-home, budget friendly (many free) activities I've hunted up for us to do!
And among those activities are fairs, at least two county ones and the Iowa State Fair to attend before school starts in August. This past week , the Marion County Fair started and we had a fun time admiring the animals and climbing on the equipment (that's what its there for, right?). Take a look:
The ride:
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| Awwww. Ain't that sweet? While our car is having an unexpected repair done, Grandma Rhonda and Papa Loren loaned us their car so we wouldn't have to cancel our plans. Caleb and Sarah Rose don't normally get along this well during car trips; Caleb has learned the fine art of teasing his sister while she is strapped in and can't run to escape and Sarah Rose's screams only bring on more teasing and the sense of a job well done for Caleb. Anyway, they thought it was pretty neat that they could still reach each other regardless of the bigger back seat and so they decided that getting along wouldn't be that bad after all. |
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| And if the little ones can hold hands, the big ones can, too! Which reminds me... this Saturday, the 23rd, Josh and I will have been married six years! Wow, time sure does fly! |
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| A happy Daddy! Not so much thrilled for the fair as what was to come after. But like I said, that's the next post. |
The fair was free for us since its free admission and we didn't park on the fair grounds. While taking the long walk, I asked Caleb what he was most excited for. He answered "seeing the cows and pigs". Like father, like son I suppose. We see cows and pigs everyday but that doesn't stop us from looking at them at the fair, too.
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| Before we headed to the cattle and hog barns, we visited the goats. I think Caleb thought this was pretty cool. I wonder if I can talk Josh into getting us a goat next spring? Maybe if I start asking now, he'll be ready to give in by spring. |
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| Father and son. |
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| We finally found the hog barn, our favorite. It took a little encouraging, but Caleb finally reached in and touch one. He thought he was big stuff afterwards! |
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| Independence |
I dug in the egg jar for some dollar bills to treat the kids to a couple carnival rides.
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| Caleb begged and begged for what he called the merry-go-round. I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted and since it was HIS ride ticket, I relented. Once he got on it, he realized that maybe Mommy was right because it turned out to be pretty babyish and he wanted a bigger boy ride. Lesson well learned...maybe next time, he'll heed Mommy's advice. |
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| But Sarah Rose thoroughly enjoyed it and chose to use both of her ride tickets on the carousel. |
The equipment:
I don't necessarily like the kids climbing on the display equipment, but the displayers DO choose to put them out, so....
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| Um, yeah...I don't think so, Honey. |
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| Daddy's helper. And nope, not this either! |
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| She was Daddy's second helper until she got her fingers dirty. Sarah Rose knows there is a time and place to be dirty and I guess this just wasn't the time or place 'cause she quit with the helpin' and started requests to be cleaned. |
Well, that's it for the appetizer. Up next, the main course!
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