The Great Minnesota Get Together!

It is finally upon us! The Minnesota State Fair has arrived in our little neck of the woods. That can only mean one thing: if it's edible we should batter it, deep fry it and then shove it on a stick and charge $6 for it. We are talking fried macaroni on a stick, fried hot dish on a stick, fried candy bar on a stick, teriyaki ostrich on a stick, fried alligator on a stick (all of which we've tried and enjoyed).... you get the idea. The four of us have spent the past six days marooned here at home while we park cars. The kids did get out for an afternoon last Saturday with grandma. They hit McDonald's and a movie and it sounds like they had a blast. We also spent a majority of the day yesterday in the fair. It did rain a good majority of the time we were there, but that kept the crowds away and were pleased with that part of it. The one thing I'd like to go to again with the kids when we go on Thursday is the birthing barn. It was sooooo great! We were watching a cow give birth, but she was having a hard time pushing and we were having a hard time seeing - even with all of the large tv screens they have in there. We will try it again and see if we have more success.

We have had some interesting nights here - mostly just on the weekends with people who have had too much to drink. Otherwise, we are getting to meet so many fun people from so many walks of life. If the fair didn't symbolize the end of summer so much, I'd love it more than Christmas!

The pictures we've gotten so far are not the best and there are not that many since we've had so much rain - it makes it hard to keep the camera out and ready. But the rest of the week looks sunny and I expect to finally put the camera to use the next couple of days. The link to the pictures is just below here - enjoy!

State Fair

Aug 24, 2006 - 49 Photos

State Fair Here We Come!

Update 8/21/2006 @ 9:17pm:

Pictures! Pictures! All hail Picasa!! Just click the picture below and it will take you to the pictures from the past week. Enjoy!

Thomas & T-Ball

Aug 13, 2006 - 18 Photos

The four of us have just spent an entire weekend cleaning the house and the garage in preparation for the Minnesota State Fair! It starts this Thursday and there is sooooo much to be done!!! First thing - I have to point you in the direction of the State Fair web site. Taylor is pictured on the home page with the gopher, and the same picture is currently being published in the State Fair guide that everyone gets as they pass into the gates of the fair! Yes, she is thrilled to be famous, as she puts it! lol

Next line of business - we have got a good number of pictures to put up, but neither blogger or kodak gallery are in the mood to let me get them up right now! Most of them are from last weekend when we spent A Day Out with Thomas over in Stillwater. We got the tickets back in May in hopes of surprising Ian & it really worked! The kid was in heaven! Even Taylor had a blast on the train ride and meeting Sir Topum Hat. I will try to get the pictures up again tomorrow afternoon, so please check back to see if they are up.

There are a few more pictures from Ian's t-ball last Monday. It was supposed to be his last one, but they still have one more to make-up tomorrow for when they missed one due to bad weather. It was a kids vs. parents ball game, and while the parents were tough, the kids eventually proved to be too much. The kids won 9-0 last I'd heard!

As for posting during the State Fair - ideally I'd like to post every couple of nights, but more than likely I may not have time to post until around this time a week from now. We are planning on going on Monday (in a week) for our first time in, so we'll have some fun pictures to share. I hope to hear from some of you that you are planning on stopping by! We really do enjoy seeing the familiar faces of our family and friends.

Take care & be well.

A summer vacation with a surprise ending

I know that my over exhausted mind will not be able to type up the happenings of the last week in a manner that will do it justice, so hang in there with me...

Last weekend (7/30) we took off for a fun-filled week of camping in a tent at William O'Brien State Park! As excited as we were, the 110+ heat index kind of put a damper on our enthusiasm, but we pushed ahead. And we packed fans. We also knew that it was expected to rain for a day or two while we planned to be out there, so we also packed a large tarp, warm clothes, books, card games, and yes, even the gameboy and dvd player. We may have cheated a little, but I think that everyone really had a good time. The one full day that we were there during the heat was Monday. We ended up retreating the 45 minutes back home that morning in the air conditioned van to pick up the lantern we had forgotten to pack and some firewood we had sitting in the shed. After that, we spent the rest of the day at the water park at Wild Mountain, about 45 minutes north of the camp site. Taylor went on every single water slide - she even did the speed slide!! Ian went on every slide but the speed slide, but he really enjoyed the water playground and lazy river the most. Panod and I also had a great time and by the time we got back to the camp site that night, we were too tired to care about how hot it had been earlier that day. That night and on into Wednesday morning it rained. A lot. I heard estimates of 5 inches after we got back home!! We did manage to stay pretty dry and warm. Tuesday was my birthday and we just enjoyed the cool rain, and made spaghetti for dinner on the screen porch. Panod and kids also managed to find a way to get me some really cool toys for my bike as presents. And since I've been riding into work this summer, I couldn't wait to put them to use! Wednesday gave way to cooler temps and blue skies, so we did a lot of hiking, biking and swimming the rest of the week. We had some unexpected visitors pay us a visit in our porch and just outside the tent a couple of nights - raccoons!! We knew enough to throw out our trash at night and put the food in the car to try and keep them away, but they still had to come and make sure that there really wasn't anything to eat. But the bats we would see at night were cool and Panod and Ian got to watch a toad eat a bug! Saturday afternoon we headed back home. Back to voicemail, email, snailmail & satellite. Little did I know what was brewing....

Sunday was, in my mind, a day to catch up on laundry, do some grocery shopping and maybe even grab a quick nap on the couch before mowing the lawn and grilling out some dinner while we got caught up with our neighbors. I really had no idea. I really thought that Panod had gotten me up from my nap on the couch because he had a serious craving for fish tacos over at Se Salt in Minnehaha Park. And he wanted to bring the ladder ball. And Taylor wanted to bring the camera. I really must have been half asleep, because I still didn't get it. It wasn't until we walked through the pavilion and I saw my family & our neighbors that I got it! SURPRISE! They got me! And I understand that Panod was the ring leader!! Even Taylor had known since before we left to go camping! How Panod, my family and the neighbors all pulled it off is beyond me. I really did enjoy having everyone come and celebrate! Thank you! Thank you!

Now for the fun part - you can look through the camping pictures and the party pictures here. Enjoy and thanks for reading!!