Iowa State Fair 2013, Part 1

Woke up early today and headed to the Iowa State Fair! Little Miss Violet did not join us. I'm sure she would have loved it but she's at the stage where she doesn't want to be in her stroller when she can instead be toddling about, climbing things, chasing things, dodging big people's feet, etc.

Shawn, the boys and me planned to meet my mom and nephew Kael there. We were happily surprised when they showed up with my dad and niece Theron as well! We stayed until 3 or so, and then headed home to let the boys relax and wind down. School starts tomorrow!

Here are about half of my favorite pics from our trip to the fair. More to come tomorrow night!

 Breakfast at The Old Depot. Everyone but Bo got a breakfast burrito, he chose the ever-popular breakfast choice: tater tots... Here he's hugging a slightly annoyed Mazy. 

 After breakfast we went to the big ag display in the Varied Industries Building. It's so fun this year -- Lego theme! The boys and Shawn created some pretty cool farm-themed items, including a tractor, field of corn, a dog and a cow. I was totally impressed... See Mazy's blog later this week to see their creations.

 This Iowa map is made entirely from Legos and was created by the same guy who did all the awesome Lego animals/plants that were at Reiman Gardens last year. 

 Here's a closeup of the Lego Iowa map.

 Nice reminder to the fairgoers. 

 After Legos, we headed up the hill to the Fun Forest. Theron posed on one of the concrete balls for me, while the boys climbed the climbing wall and played in the wooden train engine.  

 As the kids played, Shawn and I walked further up the hill to the Cultural Building to look at the wood carvings, photos and dollhouses. I made him pose on the big porch.

 This awesome corn sculpture by the Agriculture Building is a real-life model of the world's tallest earn of corn, which happened to be shown at the Iowa State Fair in 1946. I didn't see how tall it was because the base was a story below me, but it is crazy tall...

 Shawn as an angry bee.

 While we were eating popcorn and apple cider slushees, I looked up at one of the windows in the Ag Building. They are pretty cool -- all the work that went into that arch is amazing. 

Grandma Katy and the crew.

I'll get the rest of my photos up tomorrow, or maybe Thursday. Tomorrow will be reserved for Bo's first day of kindergarten and Mazy's first day of third grade. Have a great Wednesday, everyone!