Off to the fair!

Yesterday, we went to the Minnesota State Fair. It is an important tradition for my husband, our friends, and now for our boys as well. It comes the 10 days before Labor Day each year; signaling the end of summer. But even as summer comes to an end, it is a day of putting aside school year anxieties and living in the moment: the excitement and fun that is the fair. Rather than mourning the loss of summer, it is a day of being thankful for all the fun we’ve had over the summer and a day for looking forward to trips to the apple orchards, decorating Christmas trees, new challenges, potential changes, and to all the other adventure that will come between this time and the time the fair will roll again next year. It is a time and a place of joy for me and for my family.

The fair is also a place of reflection; of remembering those who have gone with us in the past who are absent from us now. A time and place to acknowledge how things have changed since last year, five years ago, or the first year that Patrick and I explored the fair together. That first year, 18 years ago, we joined his parents for a long and fun day at the fair: just beginning our college careers, new in our relationship, and dreaming ahead to what the future of fair-going might bring for us: days like today with our family of four a distant dream that we could have never even begun to imagine.

Sometimes when I see a group of college age “kids”milling around the fairgrounds, I marvel that I have left that pack and have joined the ranks of the stroller-wielding set. Life changes. Life is not always easy. But as I reflect on where we are in this moment, life feels good.

 

The fair is full of fun and friends and FOOD. And this year, we had the added challenge of going dairy-free. This has been an on-going quest for our family, and while we have embraced the benefits, it is still a dietary lifestyle that we are learning to embrace as our own. So as we adventured through our fair day, I felt like this might be a good opportunity to try out my blog as a spot to share a glimpse into our dairy-free journey; as well as provide a peak into a day that we love so well. I’ve toyed with the idea of keeping a more journal-like blog…so I’m claiming this opportunity to give it a go.

Here is our day. Here is our fair and our food and our friends and our family. Enjoy.

Our day started nice and early, and we started the day as we so often do…with PBS Kids 😉

Keilan also had the opportunity to “meet” a favorite celebrity at the fair…

 

Before we could get too far, we needed to stop for
breakfast. And for my guys, the day does not officially begin without a corn dog. And not just any corn dog will do…oh no. They need the 15 inch monsters from Big Dog Corndogs. They were not disappointed with this delicious (and to the best of my knowledge, dairy free) start to their day. And I was pleased that they really never asked for food again 😉

After our first foods and a little wandering to gain our state fair bearings, we began exploring all the fair has to offer…

We made plans for post-training-wheel antics on our bikes,

The boys were adorable little farm hands and sweet, little firefighters too…

When asked, “Who wants to look at cars?” Kai enthusiastically raised his hand and waited patiently until someone took him to the cars ♥

A large part of what makes fair day so sweet are the friends who join us in our adventures. Paul joined us for the entire day. He even tolerated our non-dairy approach to the fair this year; even though he has been a faithful sharer of all things dairy in the past: cheese curds, Sweet Martha’s cookies, Cinna-Minnies… But he joined us anyway and we shared garlic fries instead. And I LOVE this picture I took of Uncle Paul and Keilan: aka Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox 🙂

Laura and Yardley, somehow I missed a good picture of you this year! Though this one from last year will always be priceless 😉 We loved having you join us for the day! The boys especially appreciate Yardley’s willingness to be silly with them 🙂

Around the time that Laura and Yardley joined us, it was time for a trip to the fine arts building. If there is anything to know about Keilan the 5.5 year old, it is that he loves animals, and he was loving the fine arts building this year: “Mom, will you take a picture with this one?!?!”

Another highlight of the fair, is the parade. It is a great excuse to sit for a while in the middle of the day, and the boys LOVED it.

Kai was especially excited by the parade this year. He took his job as parade-goer very seriously. Here is a picture of him simultaneously waving and blowing kisses to each float, band, and giant cow that passed by…

The parade route landed us right next to some sports-tastic entertainment, and it seems that the Minnesota sports teams were on a mission to make us feel small this year…

The taxidermied animals made our little animal-lover’s day, and he was VERY willing to pose with each and every one of them. For most of the day, “The hyena butt,” was his favorite part of the fair.

While we lost Keilan to his wild side; Kai fell asleep.

This was also when Katie joined our group. Again, I am so grateful for these friends in my life…and in our family’s life. The boys were thrilled to share the adventures of the fair with Auntie K, and she made it just in time for the tour of the barns!

After a few more snow cones and Icees, we adventured past the DNR pond and through the reptile building…

 

After a few more state fair favorites (the godparents sneaking cheesecurds while the boys and I shared a vegan scone…), it was time to visit the giant vegetables. I’m not sure why, but this is quite possibly my favorite part of any fair day…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took us a while to make it through the horticulture building because Kai likes to stop and smell ALL the flowers…and Keilan has a knack for finding ALL the animals 🙂

After plants, it was time for rides. And we started out BIG: monster truck big.I think it is safe to say that Kai LOVED the monster truck ride… 

After we left the fair, Auntie K asked each of the boys what their favorite part of their day had been. Both replied without hesitation: Kai’s favorite part of the fair was, “The rides, ” and Keilan’s was right here: “The jungle train.” ❤

And since we don’t do the fair without the coupon book…and Winky the Whale always tends to feature in the coupon book…And Winky the Whale has palm trees, orcas, AND bubbles; the boys were excited for this fair day tradition 🙂

After rides, we were all dragging, and it was clearly almost time to roll on home, but we couldn’t resist a few more moments of fun…

We typically end our day with Sweet Martha’s chocolate chip cookies…and I wasn’t sure how I was going to dairy-free my way out of that one. But the boys decided that mini-donuts sounded good and the day was saved! And then we got distracted by cotton candy before we found the mini-donuts and that was just as sweet 😉

And just like that, our day came to an end. So with our bellies full of sugar, our bodies exhausted from the day, and our hearts full; we loaded our bus and headed home.

So long for now, Minnesota State Fair! See you again in 2017!!!