the mn state fair...otherwise known as the people watching capital of the world

the only good thing about the end of summer in minnesota is...the state fair! i'm a big fan of the state fair, so naturally it's getting its own post on the blog. this was azalea's second time experiencing the great minnesota get together. and this year she even got to eat fair food! here's a little flashback of her from last year (at 5 months): 

last year she was easy as pie to take. this year was a little different. but still fun! 

i switched my normal wednesday off to today and thatcher took the day off. we always try to go on a week day, if we can. it's a lot less hectic. normally we drive to the u of m and take the express bus, but this year we drove and found a neighborhood parking spot with no hassle. we got to the fair at 8:45 in the morning and it was really quiet! we checked out the creative activities building because thatcher actually entered two breads into the baking contest. he didn't win any ribbons, but it was still fun! 

we hit up the miracle of birth center, the agriculture building, the international bazaar, the eco building, and the midway (just walked through). 

scenes from the fair

since thatcher was in the u of m marching band, he was excited to see that their alumni band was playing. we watched them for about 15 minutes and azalea loved it! 

ignoring me, watching the band :)

we all know that the food is (pretty much) everyone's favorite part of the fair, so i'll cut the chase. here's a little summary of what we ate: 

pronto pup, kettle corn, beef tongue taco (yes really! that was all thatcher!), giant turkey sandwich, french fries, and a chocolate malt. 

some things we shared, some things i ate on my own, and some things thatcher ate on his own (ahem...beef tongue taco...sick). azalea helped us out with a few of the items and she was in heaven. 

 exhibit a

 exhibit b

after about 4 hours azalea had reached her breaking point (read: no nap), and we were tired, full, and hot, so we decided to call it a day. 

this girl was worn out by the time we left! there was an epic tantrum on the way to the car. not about leaving, but about going back into the stroller (which was a theme through out the morning). she was definitely a handful to take this year, but we all survived and it was fun :)