Rekindled love of the Minnesota State Fair

We swore we wouldn't go to the Fair this year. The girls are too little, too much money, etc. But then Tim worked nights for a whole week straight, and we really thought we needed a fun, *new* family outing. Walking to the park and taking bike rides is getting a bit old at this point. We got there around 5 p.m. and did the necessary binge-eating of food on a stick.

First fair food: Elsa with a Pronto Pup, and Lila with some of my Walleye Bites.


Next, I went on the Ye Old Mill ride with Elsa. I forgot how dark it was - we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces. Elsa kind of likes scary things, so she squealed and grabbed me and said excitedly,"Are there ghosts? Are there monsters?!" At the end, she said she wanted to go again.

Lila basically smiled the entire time we were there.


The next thing we hit was the Giant Slide. The slide surprised me. I think of it as a kiddie ride, but the steps going up were torture, and it's actually a little bit freaky - it's SO high and goes much faster than I remembered. We all went. Tim took Elsa, and I took Lila. I wish we had pictures! I could hear Lila cracking up the whole way down.


We went to the birthing barn and saw a bunch of uncomfortable Mama animals, and also some cute new babies. On the way by the DNR, there was a Honduran band playing flutes and such. Elsa said she wanted to see them play, so we stopped. There were about 150 people sitting there watching, and she suddenly got out of the stroller and said she wanted to dance. We couldn't believe she wanted to! It must have been equal parts sugar, excitement, and exhaustion.
Tentatively approaching the dance floor:


Elaine from Seinfeld anyone? We were cracking up! You can't hear it on the video, but so were a lot of people!

This one is cute, too. After her initial dance, a bunch of kids came out and danced with her. It was pure State Fair magic.


Uncle Shane and Auntie Jenny happened to be at the Fair the same time as us. We met them at the kiddie rides and hung out for awhile. Elsa went on the ferris wheel with Tim, and then we all went on a ride together. We were lucky Jenny and Shane were there to take some pics. This one was the whale ride that also blew bubbles at you. It was a little jerky, but both kids loved it. We were really surprised at how much Lila could handle.


The next ride: Bumper Boats. It was cool that Elsa could go all by herself. She wanted to go in the water and kept dipping her hands in, which was a no-no. Here, one of the ride guys was playfully telling her not to reach into the water, and he kept saying something like,"What's up?!" and she was doing it back,"What's up?!" It was pretty hilarious.


Before we got to the car, both kids had no pants on. You'll notice here that Lila is already sans-pants. Her diaper leaked, but it was a warm night so she was okay without them. Then Elsa had to pee in the parking lot, and it got all over the back of her pants so we had to ditch those, too. Good thing it was all at the end of the night!


We're so glad we went! The kids were awesome the whole time. I'm not a huge Fair person, but bringing the kids was a new experience.

Also yesterday, Lila turned 14 months old. She's a helper. If you're putting on shoes, she'll hand them to you and say,"Here, here". She does that with the silverware in the dishwasher, crap she picks up off the floor, etc. She can climb the stairs, and she can take the cover off the sandbox and climb in all by herself.


Elsa, like I said before, is into scary things. We have this creepy old cartoon on DVD from the 60's called, "Grinch Night". She loves to watch it and runs around saying, "I'm the mean Grinch!" She told me yesterday that she wants to be the Grinch for Halloween. Her favorite books are kinda scary, like Hansel and Gretel, Little Raccoon and the Thing in the Pool, and her new book, Elsa in the Night. Right now she's watching The Lion King. Scar, the evil lion, is her favorite. She'll say,"Mama, you're Scar. Push me to the rocks below!" Funny kid.