2 Weddings, 2 State Fairs, and a Party

Whew! What happened to August?! For us, it was 2 weddings, 2 state fairs, and a birthday party! So yeah, I suppose when you're that busy an entire month can go by pretty quickly. Warning - there are lots of pictures in his post!

First off is the WI state fair. Wisconsin has their state fair at the beginning of August. We headed off after work one evening and took in some of the animals (half of the barns were in the process of switching livestock so we only saw a couple barns), a draft horse competition, enjoyed some food, and checked out some of the vendor stalls. Dan was really interested in the animals, but couldn't take his eyes off all the people. It was pretty busy, but not as crazy as the MN state fair.

We went to the Minnesota state fair the last Saturday of the month. Again, we took in animal barns (the miracle of life barn is my favorite!), several art buildings, the education building, the dairy building (for a strawberry rhubarb sundae - yum!), a parade, and the pet building. Of course, the food is always what people ask about. I ate a bison kabob (yum!), chocolate milk, strawberry rhubarb sundae (yum!), and shared a red velvet funnel cake (yum!). Dan again did excellent at the fair, and even get in an almost 2 hour nap while we walked around. By the end of the day, walking around the fair was challenging to say the least. I come to find out that Saturday was an all-time record for a single-day attendance - 252,092 people! I bet the actual number was even higher considering kids under a certain age are free.

SOME of the people at the fair.

Dan not having the pig ear hat.

Checking out the tractor with Grandma.

Walking the fair with Daddy.

Having fun!

Sitting with Daddy and Grandma.

The first wedding of the month was for my (second) cousin on my Dad's side down in Kansas. We don't get to see them too often so I made it a point to make it to her wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception site was adorable! They had converted an old barn into a reception/conference space. I loved the character! Dan had a blast dancing to the music. At one point just as we were about to leave, a Michael Jackson song came on. He wanted to get down in order to climb the stairs back to the reception room so he could dance. He even did a little dancing while on his way up the stairs! It was adorable!

 

Here comes the bride!

Sweet moment between Lauren and Bob

They're married!

Father/daughter dance.

Me, our cousin Tom, and my sister.

Lauren and Rachel.

The second wedding was for my cousin on my Mom's side of the family. Again, Dan had a blast dancing. He even made a little friend! I don't know what he liked better, dancing to the music or the photo booth. Once we took him in there, he kept on wanting to go back in! Needless to say, we couldn't put him down without him running off to the dance floor or to the photo booth.

 

Photobooth fun

Dan and his new friend.

Family picture :)

Lastly, we celebrated Dan's 1st birthday a couple weeks early with my side of the family. It was a really nice, small gathering at Jeff's place for brunch. We even had mimosas! What? Don't you have mimosas at your 1 year old's birthday party? Clearly you don't know how to celebrate! Dan is very loved by all his relatives and got some wonderful gifts: books, clothes, a star night light, a super fun sprinkler, a lego police man, and some college money - which we figure will buy half a book when he is old enough to get into college! He had a blast eating his cake :) A dip in the sink and he was all clean.

Opening presents.

We love books!

Mmm...cake!

All done!

Time to clean up.

Also during the month of August, we visited the Kansas City Zoo and had a private tour of the fire station that Jeff worked at. Jeff retired from the fire department after 29 years (and one month!) of service on Sept 1st. Thank you for all those years of dedicated service to the city of Brooklyn Park!

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time, stay well!

All the traveling makes for one tired kid!