On Sunday, we took Maximus to the Iowa State Fair. It was his first fair experience as we decided not to venture out in the 100+ degree heat with a three week old during the 2010 state fair. And, I could barely walk somewhere quickly letalone walk around the fair grounds. Surrounded by all those people. My incision hurts just thinking about the sweltering heat and crowds. Yuck! Anway, back to current day. 🙂
We planned to leave our house around the morning nap so we could guaruntee one nap. We stuck to our schedule pretty well, but the babe did not. He fussed and looked out the window the majority of the 1-hour drive. About 20 minutes before we got there, he finally fell asleep. I thought I could try to transfer him and carry him when we entered the fair, but he opened his eyes the second the car turned off. {Did the same thing when we came home. Amazing!}
Our first stop inside the grounds was a rooster house. Roosters and chickens everywhere! Loud noises everything! Maximus was not sure what was going on, but from his mama’s arms it didn’t much matter.
Two steps further and my husband beelined it to the chocolate chip cookie stand. As we were walking up, I asked the very important question of a cup or BUCKET of cookies. He informed me that the bucket was for the way home, duh. {Note: we did NOT buy a bucket on the way out. Don’t remind him.}
Next, we decided strolled down the midway and went in search for a corndog vendor and a place to eat in the shade. I have no pictures of that because instead of sitting in his stroller and eating out of the tray, he sat on my lap and ate like a big boy. Little dude thinks stroller eating are for babies, not one year olds. ‘Scuse me.
After lunch, we went in search of big animals. Big pigs. Big cows. Big sheep. Big anything.  We saw lots of little ponies and little girls walking little ponies! Maximus looked but didn’t get too excited. We saw and HEARD lots of pigs! Those sure did get his attention. He would whip his head around and point. I’m sure the concept of little piggies didn’t make any sense to him. 🙂 To our surprise, the cattle weren’t there yet so we didn’t see any of them. We did see people showing pigs and kids riding horses.
Next up, we decided we wanted some shade. We headed to the varied industries building for some AC. Always a packed house, we weaved in and out of people. We stopped by the Iowa State University booth. We passed on face tattoos but did stop for a picture under our favorite sign.
Maximus spent the majority of this trip waving at people. Little dude thought he was IN a parade or something. He saw kids and he waved. He saw old people and he waved. People looked at him and he waved. Happiest baby in the fair! We stopped twice because he was having conversations with people. One grandpa even gave him a parting kiss on the cheek. {I’m trying not to think about this man as anyone other than my own grandpa. Or something.} The other old man stopped and talked to Maximus and told him we had just made his day. If we experienced nothing else at the fair, both of those moments were enough to make my mama heart explode. {We’ll work on the stranger-danger later.}
Going to the fair with a baby is a lot different than without. We spent a lot of time transferring back and forth between holding, strollering, and wearing Maximus. In between that we were shielding him from the sun, catching his hat, or giving him a sippy cup.
After five hours in the 80 degree sun, we decided we had enough of the fair. We didn’t go to the popular attractions like the buttercow or partake in any weird friend things on sticks. Instead, we did what we always do at the fair. We grabbed a corndog, lemonade, some carmel apples {and milk} and walked around. I’m excited to start this family tradition and share in the fun with my son! And at the end of the day, there are always car naps on the way home.
What’s your favorite part about the fair?
