I am not a big State Fair person. After all, it's pretty well the same year after year after year after year.... Once you've been one year, there really isn't all that much new to experience the next year (except the inevitable higher prices for everything from admission to parking to a glass of lemonade):
the Varied Industry Building will still be full of hot tub and roof salesmen, and greedy little kids running around trying to nab up as many customer appreciation freebies as they can get their greedy little hands on (a personal pet peeve of mine);
the Big Bull is still a really big bull, plus or minus a few pounds from the year before. And so goes the Big Boar, too;
there is the livestock barns and tractors and equipment, both antique and "regular". But really, been there and done that many, MANY times over. In fact, I LIVE that!;
there are the flower contest, the veggie contest, the food contest, etc. Again, that's my daily life. A rose is a rose, a squash is a squash, a jar of canned beans is just a jar of canned beans. (And yes, I'm aware of the fact that I'm not the most arts and culturally appreciative person that lives in the state of Iowa.);
the food stands are (overall) gross, greasy and expensive and it never works out time or money wise for us to see any of the shows;
and there are lots of people. No matter how "down the attendance" was this year or that year, there is always a lot of people. And I am NOT a "lots of people" person! (I'm not even a "not a lots of people" person!);
and it hot. Always hot.
If my children were of the age to participate in the livestock showing, I know I'd be more into it. But until then (IF there IS a "then"), I'm just not going to be a State Fair fanatic.
Which is why we had planned on not going this year. Not going, that is, UNTIL I got an invitation. A friend of mine wondered if I would be interested in joining back up with our old praise band to play for the Sunday morning church service at the fair on extreme Sunday!
Why, of course I would! Now THAT's a reason to head to the fair! What an honor to have said I've (we've) played at the State Fair!
So the family and I made a weekend vacation out of it. I try to get Josh away once a year for an overnight stay somewhere just to have some pure and alone family time. When he's an hour and a half away from his work and distractions at home that fill up his days, it's easier for him to relax and enjoy the fun. On Saturday, we explored the Des Moines Farmer's Market, hit the die cast farm toy store (and scored an amazing Christmas gift deal for Caleb!), did some go-carting and mini putt, found our way around to the south side of the fair grounds (more on this later) and then went to our hotel before having a special supper and swimming at the hotel pool to end the day.
THEN, bright and early Sunday morning, we were up, dressed, breakfasted, checked out and at the Fairgrounds at an amazing time of 7:10. The church service started at 8:30 and we were advised to be there a little early, hence another reason for the overnight stay... much easier to leave the hotel at 6:30 than home at 5:00! And also the reason for the previously mentioned excursion to find our way around the south side of the Fairgrounds Saturday: our parking permit was for a certain gate number and lot that was completely new to us, so we hunted it up at our leisure Saturday instead of panicking for time on Sunday. Playing for the service was fun. It was great for our old praise band to be "reunited", to some extent, for a morning and just plain fun to be a part of.
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| Shout out to (part of) the old CUMC praise band! |
After the morning worship service, the family headed out to see part of the fair. We hit the baby barn (not sure what it's called, but it's the newer educational building that has all the babies being born in it), Little Hands on the Farm, the livestock barns, saw the tractors and equipment, looked at the 4H photography (my favorite) and had some lunch. The biggest thrill that was new to us was the big slide. What fun! The kids had saved up their lemonade stand money from this summer and chose to use part of their earnings to buy themselves tickets for the big slide. (Josh and I splurged to buy our own tickets, despite the kids' overwhelming eagerness to buy them for us!) I have to say that that slide is FUN!!!!
I forgot my camera in the car, so the pictures we got were far and few between with Josh's phone. Here they are:
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| That's me. Walking a goat. Apparently, I'm very happy to be walking a goat. AND it looks like we've walked a good many miles together, as I haven't been that thin since right before I was pregnant with Caleb. |
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| The kids insisted on sitting in the demo cab for little city slicker kids to experience what it would be like to ride in a tractor. Because they've never been in a real tractor, or anything. Except I think the buddy seat terrified them. They aren't use to such new fangled contraptions, so I had to sit in there also. |
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| Josh was fascinated by the white Angus. Purebred Angus. All white. Weird. |
P.S. Just because *I* am not a big State Fair fan doesn't mean I think it's a bad thing. I know many families who make State Fair their annual family tradition/vacation. It's great that families can find something they enjoy doing! It's just not for everyone, I guess. We enjoyed ourselves, the kids had fun, Josh got a lot of valuable information that will help in the next few months and enjoyed looking at the equipment and we made terrific memories! You can't beat that!
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