Our day at the Iowa State Fair

We had a great day at the Iowa State Fair yesterday. 9 hours and several dollar bills later we arrived home and were exhausted!
We got to the fair at 9am and the first thing we did was get a corn dog for all of us while we looked at a map and laid out a plan of attack for what we wanted to do. Originally Charlie and I only planned on being there for 3-4 hours.

After our corn dog we ventured onto the building with all of the baby animals. There were baby chicks, ducks, pigs, cows, goats, sheep. The kids got to see a couple baby chicks coming out of their shells. While there we also got to see a magic show about farmers and where all sorts of different products come from. The kids learned that even lipstick has an ingredient in it that comes from a farm. "Thank a farmer" was the motto for the kids to learn.

We rode the tram around and visited the Agricultural building where we waited in line to see the ice sculptures and the butter sculptures. It seemed that the kids were most impressed with the butter TV. The kids got to see a cowboy doing all sorts of tricks. (The Rhinestone Roper) He had rope tricks, gun tricks and even had two horses that did tricks. One of the horses layed down upside down and let the cowboy sit on top of him. This was a great show of trust and something that I have never seen a horse do. At the end of the show it started raining so we ducked inside for a little while and toured the second floor of the Agricultural building.

We had quite a rain shower the first part of the afternoon so we ducked into the Steer N Stein and were fortunate to find a table rather quickly. We took this opportunity to get lunch, relax our feet and give Christian some time outside of the stroller.

Two of the best parts of our day were "Little hands on the farm" and the "Butterfly Garden". Inside little hands on the farm; the kids wore farmer aprons and a farmer hat. They walked around weaving through the path "harvesting" crops and picking apples from a tree. After all their harvesting they used their corn to fuel up their tractor to ride around to the farmers market to sell their crops back. (even though everything was pretend it was just great to see the kids learning all about farming) The kids earned a dollar that they could spend at the farmers market building to buy 1 item. Caleb chose a cookie and Colton and Ria both got something to drink. They also got to keep their hat as a souveniour.
The butterfly garden was absolutely amazing! I have never seen so many butterflies in my life. The butterflies would land right on you anywhere (your arm, leg, back, shoulder, etc) and just hang out while you watched them. Several butterflies landed on Christian's stroller and one even landed on his blanket. Butterflies are beatiful creatures and even more beautiful up close to enjoy.

The last part of our day we spent going through the Varied Industries Building and checking out the livestock. The kids got to see IPTV's Clifford and give him hugs and "hi fives" We also got our Iowa State Football posters and a yard stick from the University of Iowa (they were all out of posters). We saw the horses, sheep, goats and lastly the big bull. Colton and Ria got to milk a cow. They were both tickled about milking a real cow! It was pretty funny when Colton said "I squirted milk on the cow's leg".

Yesterday was probably one of the best days that I have ever had at the Iowa State Fair and very memoriable for our children. That says a lot since I grew up going to the fair every year and spent several years being there for all 10 days (even working at the fair). I just wish I would have remembered my camera :( I got a few pictures on our cell phone so I will try to post them when I can.

Christian's high chair

After using the bouncy seat as a chair to eat in for the past month, I decided that it was time to get the high chair down. Christian has learned that he can put his fingers in his mouth when he is eating and then touches everything. Therefore; the bouncy seat was getting filthy and it is cloth. Thursday night my sister came over and helped me get the high chair down out of the rafters. Man! Was it dirty. I hosed it off and washed it and now it is ready for Christian. The chair is over seven years old now since we got it when we had Colton so it is still in pretty good shape.

Our little boy is getting so big! He ate almost all of his bananas and some sweet potatoes this afternoon. Of course, the picture is before he ate anything!

Pictures of the day

Caleb and Ria playing in the pool

Christian watching us in the pool. I was trying to keep him so the sun wasn't on him although the umbrella kept falling over.

Mommy, Colton, Caleb and Ria playing in the pool

New pictures....

Christian's Mickey outfit from the Reed's

The kids at Gray's Lake on Sat watching the Dragon Boat Races.

Sunday morning

This week there is only one service at church which isn't until 10:30. I am fortunate that my kids are all being good for right now!!! (knock on wood that it will continue) We got up early, all had baths and french toast for breakfast. The kids have all been playing nicely for about an hour.
Christian had his first bath sitting up this morning. He still cannot sit very well. He leaned forward against the chair which supported him. I think he liked the sitting position for his bath though as he could see a lot more this way.

Christian seems to be liking his solids although his system still isn't too sure about them. So far he has had baby cereal, greenbeans, carrots, peaches, pears, and bananas. He seems to like the pears the best and ate the whole cup the first time he had them. Being on almost straight formula and now adding solids is a big change. I am trying to figure out how to regulate him better with the miralax having changed the dose almost every three days because his output is almost like tar. He always was the opposite being on breastmilk and the miralax was working great with the dose we were on so this is a new hurdle for us.

Daddy has been out of town the past week and is going to be gone this next week too. He had school in Chicago and now this week is in Columbus, OH to put to work what he learned at school. It has been a really long week and I keep looking for things to do with the kids to pass our time. This week we made two paper chains. One counting down to Ria's adoption day and the other counting down to the first day of school for Caleb. Caleb is excited to be starting preschool. He seems to be a little aprehensive also about leaving me since he has been home with me exclusively since March.

Well, I better get moving so we can get out the door for church.
that's all for now...