State Fair

Oh my! I never posted about the State Fair! We had so much fun with Madison there! We went on a Monday and stayed over at a hotel so we could go back on Tuesday. It was a blast.

We went to the fair and upon getting there we went into the DNR building to see what they had. They had a bunch of fish tanks set up for the different fish in different types of water. Madison kept pointing and saying "that" She loved the fish. Then outside they had a little pond with some ducks, geese and what looked like swans (I'm not sure if they really were). Madison just loves to see animals.

We were walking over to the animal barns and there was a big crowd gathered because someone was stuck on a ride. A ride that you had to pay an extra $25 to ride. I sure hope they got their money back! Seeing how they had to be put in harness and brought down by a lift after being up there for 2 hours!

We stopped to see somethings along the way, but we eventually got to the sheep barn where Madison laughed as she watched one being shaved. She squealed when the "baaahhed" From there we went into the cow barn where she was very interested in the cows and calfs, but what really got her attention was the Moose they had in there. I swear Dan was itching to get a Bow in his hand and shoot it! They also had the biggest pigs in there too plus a few horses. We then went into the Horse Barn. Madison found the mini horses very funny. I was holding her and she would grab onto the bars of the stall to look in and laugh and squeal at the little horses. She really squealled when one of them lifted there nose up at her and tried to lick her through the bars. It was just a ton of funny watching her.

We had dinner after the horse barn. Some really good food. I had a steak sandwich, Dan had a porkchop sandwich & Madison had pork on a stick. All really good!

We then walked  around a little while and stopped into the building that they show all the animals in. We watched as the 4-H kids showed cows. Madison was having a good ol' time. As everyone was leaving she said hi to them as they walked by. She laughed at a little boy (about 9ish) jumped from the top of the stairs down into the dirt and slide. He enjoyed entertaining her enough that he did it at least 3 more times! Everyone who walked by told me how cute she was.

After that we walked down to see the Butter Cow. Its interesting what you can do with butter. There was a ton of detail in it too!

We left the fair at about 7 or so to go check into the hotel. Madison decided to stay up late and play in her pack and play. We woke up early thinking we would head to the fair early since we had to drive back that afternoon, well that was ruined because when we woke up it was storming! So we took our time getting ready and having breakfast at the hotel. We probably made it back to the fair around 10 am. We went straight to get a caricature of Madison. I sat and held her while it was done. It turned out really cute!

We went down to the Little Hands on the Farm Exhibit. It was really cute. Its for kids 2-10 and simulates what you would do on a farm. They get a hat which they get to keep and they wear an apron, walk around with a basket and "pick veggies" (fake from baskets), harvest corn & soybeans, milk a cow after feeding it the corn that was harvested, use a tractor (pedal tractor) after fueling it with soybeans, get eggs from chickens, pick apples, & sell everything at the farmers market. At the point they sell everything they gave the kids a fake dollar which they got to use to buy something at the general store. Madison picked out a bag of mini chocolate chip muffins. A snack for the baby!

We then walked into the Born Barn. It was really animals pregnant or just had babies. Some actually had their babies throughout the fair in this barn. If you waited around long enough you could see piglets, calfs, baby goats being born & chicks hatching. Madison loved watching all the little chicks running around chasing each other. We even petted a calf. It licked me too!

The highlight of Madison's day was meeting Clifford the Big Red Dog! Oh my the excitement that she had at seeing him was like a dog welcoming you home after 12 hours! I put her down so she could walk up to him. She walked about 1/2 way and then stopped because he stood up and it scared her how big he was. So he crouched back down and she walked the rest of the way to him and gave him a high five. This was pretty much the end of the day for her. She fell asleep and we left shortly after.