Solon Beef Days and Johnson County Fair

In an attempt to soak up all of Iowa while we still could, we made sure to get back to Solon Beef Days. Solon is a small town near Iowa City. We love that fair because they have lots of fun free stuff for kids. First, big wheel racing.

Jonah made sure to wear his hat backwards for extra speed. He made it through two heats, but Wyatt was a big winner in his age group coming in second place. He got a big fancy ribbon.
After the wheel barrow races the fire fighters set up the barrel-spray game. I'm sure it has a better name than that, but I can't remember it right now. Two kids get a minute to try and spray the barrel toward the opponents' side. When the buzzer rings, whoever has made it to the other side of the center marker wins.
Wyatt did not enjoy it. He didn't like getting sprayed in the face, even with the goggles. Jonah wanted to go shirtless and seemed to like it a bit more.

Then a week or so later, we went on down to the Johnson county fair. This is where the certified tractor pulls take place. If you win this pull, you get to go on to the state pull at the Iowa State Fair (biggest state fair in the world!!!). The boys did good, but their parents aren't true tractor pull enthusiasts so they didn't have the training other kids had--and I'm saying that in complete seriousness.

They did still win a ribbon and a soda, which was prize enough. Here's Jonah with one of his best little friends, Bennett.
After the kids' tractor pull you can go watch the big boys' tractor pull--extremely loud and exhaust-y. We didn't know you needed to bring ear plugs (and maybe a gas mask, too) so we weren't there for long.