State Fair Fun!

This month we had a family day at the Iowa State Fair! This was not Bella's first fair outing as she went with Mommy, Grandpa Doug, and Grandma Sheri last year. However, this was Daddy's first trip to the fair in many years. He has managed to avoid it during all our years of dating and marriage, even though I typically go every year! But I wasn't going to let him out of it again since I knew Bella would love it. And even if he won't admit it, we had a very fun day. :) Plus, the weather was absolutely perfect- upper 70's and low 80's. That doesn't often happen in Iowa in the middle of August!

One of our first stops was the animal learning center to see all the baby animals. Naturally, this was probably Bella's favorite place of the day since she is such a little animal lover. She is watching all the baby ducks in this picture.
We got to pet a baby pig- however, one of the pigs let out a loud squeal before it was our turn to touch them, so Bella wasn't the biggest fan of them after that.
Petting a baby lamb- awww. :)
Again watching the baby ducks- they were definitely her favorite!
Taking a ride on a little cow- pretty sure Miss Bella sat on quite a few of these throughout the day!
We also visited the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit, where Bella got to test out her gardening skills...
Apple picking....
Tractor riding (and waving at Daddy without looking!)...
Cow milking...
And grocery shopping! Bella had lots of fun doing all the little farm activities.
We also visited the Butterfly House. Bella loved seeing the butterflies when we were at the St. Louis Zoo, so I wanted to take her to this exhibit. This was even cooler as you could actually hold all the butterflies! However, Bella, as shown by the interesting look on her face, wasn't too sure about having them so close to her! She liked them flying around and watching them, but she was a little nervous about touching them.
Unfortunately for Miss Bella, Mommy wasn't going to let her leave until she held one on her finger, even though it took awhile to catch one and get it transposed on Bella's hand without her freaking out! Here is the process in photo- she's not liking this very much yet...
Oh, I'm actually holding it!
Not sure what to think yet....
And it's not so bad after all!
Taking a ride on one of Bella's favorite things- the carousel!
Bella and Daddy also got to go on a few giant slides! Mommy decided to stay away from those this particular year. :)
Naturally, Bella loved it! Apparently though, we were later told by the workers she was not tall enough to go on this one- oops!
Visiting the Clifford the Big Red Dog- Bella has barely even heard of that show, but apparently she wanted to give him some love with a big hug. :)
We couldn't get her to look at the camera though- she was too busy hugging him!
We also looked at all of the animal barns- and surprise, surprise- the horse barn was definitely a favorite. Bella did NOT like the chicken barn however as it was quite loud. Even now, she continues to say, "I don't like chickens. They're noisy!"
Daddy and Bella heading up the REALLY giant slide!
She definitely loved this one and probably would've gone on it many many times!
And at the end of the day, Bella was quite wiped out. :) She had so much fun, as did Mommy and even Daddy, and it was likely our last big outing as a family of 3!