Minnesota State Fair 2010

We braved the Minnesota State Fair this weekend. In case you haven't heard, the Minnesota State Fair is a BIG deal up here. And there is the crowd to prove it. But we survived and enjoyed.

We ate lots of yummy foods that we eat only once a year: pronto pup, roasted corn on the cob, lingonberry ice cream, fried cheese curds (I won't eat them anywhere but at a fair), scotch egg (hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage and fried...ehhh, not too exciting), strawberry smoothie, cotton candy (the kids' first time), fresh apple cider.

We saw lots of animals up close and personal: HUGE horses, tiny horses, rabbits, pigeons (Laura says the horses were her favorite, but she studied the pigeons the closest), a minutes-old-piglet, cows, sheep, and various baby versions of the aforementioned.

Laura and I rode the big slide

and rode in a gondola

We walked a lot, saw the agricultural building (one of my favorite places) which has all the fruits and veggies entered in the fair, grain art, and tons of ag info, did a quick run-through of the vendor booths, and did some people-watching.

We were all exhausted, but only one of us napped:

And all of us had a great time.

Preschool photos from last school year

Looking forward to Laura starting preschool in a few weeks. I realized I never posted the end-of-preschool pictures from May. We've picked a different school for this year, but she really did have fun at this one. Looking back at these, I can see how much she's grown even just this summer!

Snookered

Oh dear, I am in trouble. These two kids leave me totally defenseless against their cuteness.

Our deck - finally

Ok, after 4 years of thinking, talking, planning, changing our minds, doing the job a quarter of the way, waiting a winter, doing the next quarter of the job, waiting a winter, and having Bob come do some more of the job, we finally finished the deck. And we are happy.

Tea for Two

Laura invited Adam to a tea party the other day. Sweet, patient girl. 

It all started out very nicely as Adam learned the ropes.

"May I pour you more tea?"

"Why yes, that would be delightful."

"Pip pip cheerio"

What a great hostess.

Then Adam started to get the hang of things.

And the tongue came out.

Sweet, patient girl.

Slow down there, big guy.

"mmpphh"

And then, Adam started to pour out. 

The cups started swimming.

Oh dear, its going downhill fast.

Drip.

"Mwaaahahahaaaaa"

Puny

My poor boy is sick.

But he still smiles sweetly.

Where the rivers meet

Since she's been old enough to think about it, Laura has been interested in the rivers that are under the bridges we drive over. Well, at least Jim and I are interested and tell her about it enough that she asks. And for a while now, Jim has been promising to take Laura to see where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers join. Well, I came downstairs the other day and they were looking at Google map images of where the rivers meet. 

View Larger Map

At Laura's request, they followed the Mississippi all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico using Google maps. It took a while.

So they finally went!

(photo by Jim)

This is a second hand account, so I'll probably let the pictures do most of the talking. Apparently, it was a beautiful and shady hike. Its a good thing because it was hot!

(photo by Jim)

(photo by Laura)

(Monet?)

(photo by Jim)

(photo by Jim)

(photo by Jim)

(photo by Laura)

(photo by Jim)

Good work explorers!

Stuff

I canned 11 pints of salsa yesterday, 7 pints of tomatoes today and made 5 loaves of bread today.  I literally picked the hottest and most humid days of the summer to can and bake bread. I'm a genius. Or not.
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I need a sous chef.
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I highly recommend Coconut M&Ms.
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This is pretty.

This is pretty.

But next to each other, they are silly.

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Laura and Jim saved Princess Peach on Mario Brother's Galaxy 2 and now Laura is starting over as the driver instead of the helper. She's keeping a good attitude, but its a bit slower paced than when Jim was controlling.

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Laura has been taking swimming lessons for the last month, 4 days a week. She's doing awesome! jumping in, going under, floating on her belly and her back. What a water bug!

Sneak preview

No time to explain this photo right now, but I thought it was so cute that I couldn't wait to share it.

Time out

I couldn't resist snapping this photo of Adam sitting in the corner in Time Out. 

The hanging head, the overalls, the solitary, forlorn-ness of it all is just heartbreaking. And cute.

But he is very good at the "I'm sorry" hug afterwards. Also very cute.