MN State Fair

As everyone knows... I LOVE the State Fair... I'm not sure why, but I do!  

Pretty much the only person brave enough to battle the fair with me ... is auntie Hannah!  Brent got stuck at work so he missed out on the fun.  I was unsure about bringing Allison to the fair but the weather was perfect and cool enough that we decided to go for it! 

Ben always wants a Prunto Pup (corn dog as he always corrects me).  I was not sure about bringing the stroller this year... the boys seemed too big for it but I figured we needed somewhere to keep all the "stuff."  After a few hours of pushing it... boy are they heavy... we realized that the tires were pretty flat.  Oops... guess we haven't used the stroller in a while!  Nothing like pushing almost 80 pounds of kid on flat tires! ... good bye baby weight, maybe I should push it more often:)

Allison spent most of the day sleeping on auntie Hannah... 

but she was wide awake at the DNR building after her morning feeding. 

Checking out the Children's Hospital booth!  The boys know a lot about helmets, water safety and car seats.... I love watching them answer questions and talk to the volunteers, they again seemed so old!

Ben was so proud of the backpack that he won! He put all of his treasures from the day in it!

Allison's first Sweet Martha's Cookies!

Malts in the Dairy Barn!  They both picked Carmel apple, and mama had to beg for a few bites... these were by far their favorite thing!

No trip to the State Fair with 3 children is complete without a stop at the the MN Wines Booth for a Wine Flight!

The Oink booth!  

Auntie Hannah asked if this was legal.... mama approved!

Two years ago we met Hannah's parents at the fair and her dad loved watching the boys play with pennies in this roundabout.... he probably dropped $8 in coins that day.  And now 2 years later, this is still one of their favorite things!

#1 requested event of the fair.... the BIG SLIDE!  They were hoping to go alone... but they are still too short so they went with Hannah and Mommy!  The big slide is fast, I always forget just how fast you go! I love going down with them, they are so excited and talk a mile a minute.  When Ben came down the first time with auntie Hannah he ran to me and announced... "Mommy I was a little scared but then you go really fast and I really like it.... (pause).... can I go again?"

Selfie!  Not sure where they picked up that term... but they wanted to do selfies all day!

Riding with Mommy!  Still my very favorite Love Bugs!

And by 7pm after 8 hours at the fair Allison was DONE!  Boys were tired and dirty and mama was exhausted we headed out!

I left Hannah at the fair with some of her friends... and I headed out by myself with the double stroller, the stuff and the baby in the front pack!  It was quite the sight!  One lady stopped me... "you are so brave!" I assured her that I only did this because I had help for 99% of the day! All went really well and the kids enjoyed their time.... so did Hannah and I.  This was the 4th year that Hannah and I brought the boys to the fair... it is officially a tradition, one that I hope my kids will always remember.  We are all truly blessed to have auntie Hannah in our lives!

What we ate!!!

Food: cinnamon sugar pretzel, pronto pups, fried pickles, beer, wine flight, malts, cheese curds, cookies and milk, lemonade, gyro and lobster roll! Its so nice to share everything and then you just have a few bites!