This year I have to say our favorite part of the fair was the newly-expanded Miracle of Birth Center. It's now a very large barn, next to the Hippodrome (which, Ben likes to point out is now officially the Warner Coliseum but I have been calilng it the Hippodrome since I was a kid and old habits die hard), filled with pregnant farm animals. Our first day (opening day of the Fair) we got off the bus, walked into the Fair, and saw a baby calf being born. It was incredibly awesome. Ty found it a little gross but was still watching closely. When the calf slid onto the hay, the entire building erupted in cheers! That little guy was the first calf born (there were a few lambs and several piglets born before him). I had a picture of him RIGHT HERE when he was about 3 hours old and standing steadily on his own 4 feet, but Blogger ZAPPED it away and now I can't bring it back. I am very frustrated!
When we went back to the barn one week later, 139 animals had been born in the barn in those 7 days! These little piggies were just a few hours old when I snapped their photo. Gotta love digital cameras that you can just hold out over your head (and the heads of the crowd around you), snap a picture, then immediatly see if you got what you were aiming for! "Our" baby calf was no longer in the barn - he was already too big and too old for that center. No doubt he was on to bigger and better things already in life.
The second time we went, the boys & I took Grandma and Grandpa along. Here we are outside the DNR building, looking lovely as always!
Inside the new DNR exhibit we were thrilled to find our very own paver brick! About 7 or 8 years ago we got something in the mail saying the DNR was building a new exhibit and did we want to buy a brick. I sent off our money and eagerly went to the fair that year ... nothing. Next year, nothing again. I decided the project had been scrapped or something and forgot about it. So I was very surprised - pleasantly so - to look down this year and see our names!
Of course there is the State Fair Food. What would a day be without mini-donuts, ProntoPups, French Fries, corn-on-the-cob, milkshakes, pizza, and Sweet Martha's Chocolate Chip Cookies!
After reading other blogs and chatting with those in the know, I decided to try something new this year -- a deep fried Snickers bar on a stick. Here I am after bite #1, note the powdered sugar sprinkling down my shirt front ...
And you know, it was good, but not the incredible, mind-blowing, life-changing event I was led to believe it would be. In fact, I didn't even finish it. So, now I can say I've tried it, and move on to other new things in future years.
Ben & Ty were special guests on the Eleanor Mondale & Susie Jones radio show (WCCO), talking with the "Human Calculator." They shared their birthdates with him and before you could even blink he told them what day of the week they were born on. This guy was incredible. He's in the Guinness Book of World Records. I hoped that his mathematical prowess and celebrity would inspire my offspring to achieve great things mathematically, but it doesn't appear to be the case.
Machinery Hill is more of a speed bump than a hill now, with only a very few machines larger than riding lawn mowers, but the boys still had to sit and try as many as they could.
On Saturday, Steve & I are going back for a Grandstand Show, and that will most likely be the end of my Fair obsession for 2006.
It's been a good year.
1 comment:
Ok, I'm glad you said that about the deep-fried twinkie because that'll save me some bucks and some calories.
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