mn state fair 2014

happy monday! thatcher took friday off, so we had a nice long weekend all together. but the state fair is getting it's own post, of course!

by the way, i can add my love of the state fair to my list of things that set me apart from my parents. we went every few years when i was growing up, but my parents were not super into it and they rarely go anymore. me? it's one of my favorite parts of summer and i look forward to it with much anticipation every year! i'm not sure where i got the obsession from. we took both kids this year and while it was a lot of work and far from relaxing, it was still a lot of fun. we parked at the u of m lot and took the bus. we got there around 9am and it was getting busy, but not too bad. for the next 4 hours we...

(ate). toured the animal barns...azalea was most excited to see the hens (??). she also asked if we could see the sharks. maybe next year ;) 

(ate), watched azalea try the big trampoline. she saw them an immediately asked to do it. given her track record, we were a little worried that she would chicken out, but decided to let her give it a go, because we want to encourage her to be adventurous. she had to wait in a short line inside the gate (without us!). they got her all strapped in and after a few tears at the beginning, she jumped her little heart out and had a huge smile on her face the rest of the time. i was so proud of her and she looked so grown up on there! 

(ate). checked out the tractors and riding lawn mowers...

(ate). looked at the fish outside and inside the dnr building...

and ate!!! here is my food collage for this year:

pronto pup, sweet martha's cookies, alligator sausage (that was all thatcher), roasted corn, pork tamales, chocolate malt from the dairy building.

ashford only slept about 40 minutes while we were there, but i snapped this picture of him. azalea wore the same 'locally grown' onesie on her first trip to the fair :) 

there were times where i was shaking my head about bringing them along. like when azalea threw a tantrum every time we wanted to move on to a new area. and when thatcher and i would end up each carrying a kid (both of whom refused to ride much of the time) and pushing the empty stroller. but we all survived and had a fun morning! 

fall is coming and i'm ready for it now!