State Fair State Fair State Fair

So yeah, I love the State Fair! It's a highlight of the summer for me - I try to go a couple different times, usually with the girls, with my mom, with my sister and Dylan... and sometimes by myself or with a friend, too. All the times I go are different experiences for me - depending on who I'm with it can be a whirlwind of rides, taking time to really look at the creative activities, watching lambs be born and chicks hatch, eating your weight in fried food, dancing to live music... there are so many things to do, and I love them all.

This year I had the good fortune to go four times! The first day was the first Saturday of the Fair, just me and the girls.

The first thing we had to do - of course - was to find Ella's blue ribbon!

Both girls had entries in the Creative Activities competition this year - Ella for a color photograph, and Maisie for a mixed-media poster she made with Dylan. Ella won first prize! She got a blue ribbon and $6. The photograph is a tiny blue damselfly on a day lily leaf. You can't quite see it in the picture above, but it's framed perfectly, right in the middle in the big splash of sun.

After that, there was some food (roasted corn, pizza, corn dogs, root beer) followed by the kids' favorite part... rides! We started out with the turbo jump, where you are hitched to bungee cords and jump on a trampoline. Ella got up REALLY high.

 And Maisie managed to do a flip! Once she figured it out she was spinning away up there.

Then it was off to the Kidway! (Like the midway, but smaller rides for smaller people.)

Then, snack time!

Shaved ice for Maisie, and s'mores for Ella. Then back home for the time being.

On Monday I went to the fair with a friend, which was a lot of fun. Then on Wednesday after school, the girls and I returned with Grandma Liisa and her friend John! Highlights of this visit included the butterfly house, where Grandma was very popular...

and a stop by the KARE-11 (our local NBC affiliate) barn, which included a photo op place that looked like the set of The Voice!

Maisie loooooooves that show, so she was really excited to get a chance to be a Voice judge.

Our last trip to the fair was Sunday before Labor Day, with Auntie Laura and Dylan! We started with breakfast: a corn dog for Ella,

 and French toast with pop rocks for Maisie!

This was actually not the crazy sugar-bomb you'd think it'd be. The French toast itself was not too sweet, and then it had a tart berry sauce on top. It really balanced out the whipped cream and pop rocks!

We did all kinds of activities with Auntie Laura and Dylan, including checking out the crop art (and making some of our own), the river raft ride, and the haunted house!

We also took the skyride, and some silly selfies along the way - 

we revisited the Voice chair,

and snacked on the kids' very favorite food, cream cheese wontons.

So all in all, we had GREAT fun at the State Fair. Thank you Auntie Laura and Dylan, and Grandma and John, for coming to the fair with us! It's even more fun when you can share it with friends and family.

Can't wait for next year!

Maisie's home!

Maisie is home from Salolampi!

She had a great time, and definitely plans on going back last year. So far, I've figured out that she managed to lose a dress (!), a hat, a small makeup bag that had her earrings in it, sunscreen, bug spray, and a bug bite anti-itch stick. I'm not yet sure what else is missing!

There are some pictures of her on the Salolampi Facebook page, and even more can be found on their Google+ page. This one above is from their Google+ page. Their photos are great, and looking through them really helped Maisie tell us about her time at camp.

We're so happy to have her home!

Salolampi summer, and Ella's 6th birthday!

Like last year, Maisie has headed up north to Salolampi, the Concordia Finnish Language Village. Unlike last year, though, this year she went for a two-week session!

The day before she left, we had "Maisie day" where she got to choose our activity. She said she wanted to go hiking, so we headed down to Minnehaha falls! We actually started the day by renting a surrey, which was exhausting (for me and Aaron, who had to do all the work) but still a really fun way to take a family bike ride!

After that it was time for an ice cream break at Sea Salt...

before starting the hike! You can see the falls in the background here. We paused for a quick picture then kept going...

all the way down to the pools at the bottom. There were a TON of people there, as you can see! The weather was warm and sunny so it was perfect for splashing in the shallow, cool water.

While Maisie's been gone, Ella turned 6! We didn't have a party - yet - we're saving that for when Maisie gets back. But we did have a really fun day! We started with breakfast with Gramma Liisa and her friend Jim at Ella's favorite restaurant, Tiny Diner. Then we picked up Dylan and headed to the Mall of America!

Our first activity (as chosen by Ella) was to visit the aquarium, which name I can never remember. I still call it Underwater World, the same way the park in the middle of the MOA will forever be Camp Snoopy. Anyway! we spent a LOT of time looking at the rays in the touch pool.

Ella got splashed by a couple of curious cow-nosed rays. We got some shrimp to feed them, but Dylan was the only one of us brave enough to do it!

After the aquarium, we went to ride rides!

What you don't see is that these goofballs made me ride some roller coasters that I NEVER would've ridden on my own! But Ella wanted to go, and Dylan wasn't old enough to be her chaperone, so it was roller coaster time for me. He kept joking that he was going to make me ride the roller coaster that corkscrews and goes upside down... no thank you!

We had a late lunch at Skydeck, which is a restaurant that has games where you win tickets. Kind of like a Dave & Buster's, or Chuck-E-Cheese, I guess? It's a lot of fun to go play skee ball and air hockey, anyway. After lunch it was back for more rides!

Maisie comes home tomorrow (June 27) and we're having Ella's birthday party then. I miss Maisie a TON and can't wait to see her! Ella is so excited to get her sister back, and to see all her friends at her birthday party. It's going to be a great day!

Orlando pictures, part 2!

A lot less narrative, a lot more pictures on this post :)

Early morning flight out of Minneapolis

Day 1: let's swim in the pool!

Day 2, at the park!

In Diagon Alley... a bunch of muggles outside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

Looking down Diagon Alley towards Gringott's

Inside Gringott's

Knight bus!

enjoying ice cream from Florian Fortescue's outside the Three Broomsticks

Peeking into the windows of Honeyduke's... so many choices!

Then back to the hotel for more swimming!

Park, Day 3 - the Hogwarts Express

We tried pumpkin juice... it was really good!

Rawr!!!!!

Day 4... heading for home.

So much fun! We can't wait to go back.

State Fair 2014

The Minnesota State Fair is one of my favorite, favorite events of the summer... and I'm not alone in that! It's the largest fair in the country by average daily attendance, and the second-largest by total attendance (Texas' fair draws more people, but it's also twice as long!). I always like to go at least twice, once with the girls and once on my own so I can spend as much time as I like in the Creative Activities building checking out all the crafts. :)

This year, the girls and I went on opening day, joined by Gramma Liisa!

It turned out to be a great day to go. It was kind of cool and cloudy, which was a pleasant change from years past when it was over 90 degrees. It also rained earlier in the morning, but the rain had totally stopped by 9. It was a perfect day for walking around outside!

There are a couple things we always make sure to do at the State Fair. Ella particularly loves the butterfly house.

Ella actually loves all things insect and creepy-crawly. She handles millipedes, beetles, worms, and butterflies equally carefully. Maisie, on the other hand, does NOT. Unlike Ella, who is planning on being a "bug scientist" when she grows up, Maisie says that butterflies (and all insects) creep her out. When we were planning our activities, Maisie insisted that she was NOT going in the butterfly house, thankyouverymuch! So, Gramma and Ella went... until Maisie changed her mind.

We were so proud of her for going in! She wore her hat the whole time so they wouldn't land in her hair. But she didn't swat at the butterflies!

Unlike the butterfly house, EVERYONE loves the Giant Slide - me included! It's hard to get a picture of someone going down the slide (or take one while you're sliding), so the girls always like to pose with these cutouts near the bottom of the slide.

The carousel is near the giant slide... it's another favorite of the girls.

So sweet!

Another family favorite is "Little Farm Hands." It's an interactive thing where the kids pretend to be farmers, and walk through a series of exhibits/activities. They get to plant seeds, harvest crops, feed chickens & collect eggs, etc. They also drive tractors around.

This year was probably the last year that Maisie'll get to drive the tractors... you have to be below a certain height, and she was right at the edge of it this year.

You can see how small the tractor looks... she actually had a hard time pedaling because her legs were too long for it.

We stopped by the AFL/CIO and DFL booths...

I feel woefully underdressed next to the First Lady.

And of course ate a ton of yummy food.

I think Ella ate two ears of corn BY HERSELF!

We had a great day with Gramma Liisa at the State Fair. At one point Maisie said, "when I'm a teenager I'm going to come to the fair by myself with just my friends!" And yeah, the girls probably will be doing that before too long. So for now, I'm happy that they're not too cool to have fun hanging out with me. :)

Chris & Kim's Wedding

On Saturday, August 23, Aaron's oldest brother Chris got married to his longtime partner Kim. Lucky for us, Kim's family lives in Eden Prairie (a suburb of Minneapolis), so the wedding was local for us!

Most of Aaron's family got into town later Thursday, so we didn't see them then. (Instead, the girls and I spent the day at the State Fair with Gramma Liisa, which will be its own post!) On Friday morning, Jason (Aaron's youngest sister's husband) was looking for something to do with their older son Sullivan. So, why not go to the State Fair with me and the girls?!??

Pre-Tilt-a-whirl selfie. We all had fun even though Sully looks REALLY apprehensive!

After all, I'm almost always up for a trip to the fair! :) We had a lot of fun riding rides, eating yummy food, looking at animals... Jason was especially impressed. I think they're planning a trip up to Minnesota next year, so they can spend some real time at our awesome fair. YAY! Friday evening was the rehearsal dinner in a local park, and then home after a long day so we'd be ready for the wedding!

Saturday we arrived at the wedding venue around 12:30 for family pictures. Everyone liked the girls' fancy dresses (especially the girls themselves).

The wedding began at 2:00, and was over by 2:08. Nice work Chris and Kim - short and sweet! :) The girls had fun playing with cousins... there were whole packs of little kids running around so there was never a shortage of playmates.

We got them to sit down for dinner, which marked a first for us - our kids were (more or less) ready for a kids' table! The grownups - us, Aaron's siblings & their spouses - sat at one table, with the kids all at the next table over. It was surprisingly successful for a first kids' table attempt!

Then, it was time for dancing! First Chris and Kim had their first dance...

Then everyone joined in.

That's Maya, Ella, and Maisie twirling...

and whirling!

The girls would've liked to have danced all night, but it had been a long few days so we left relatively early. At least, it seemed early at the time... but they both collapsed into tears over nothing much at all during the car ride home, so I really think we made the right choice to leave when we did. :)

After a good night's sleep, we were ready for MORE cousin time on Sunday... this time with the Dieter Shedecks at the Mall of America!

Ella has a penny on her nose, because why not?

We spent a few hours hanging out at the MOA with Clare, Kyle, Maya, and Rowan riding on rides, eating lunch, and doing a little shopping. It was an especially nice sort of split, because Maisie and Maya are so close in age and size, and so are Ella and Rowan. So, while we spent some time doing things with all 4 kids, there were a number of rides where the "big girls" would split off.

Waiting for the log ride...

Congratulations Chris and Kim! We had a wonderful time at your wedding, and the whole weekend. What a beautiful reason for family to come together to celebrate!