End of Summer Field Trips

Now that we have the beauty of schedule and routine back since we are in school, I can happily look back at the end of summer and think how great it was.  (Actually, the last couple of summers I have not really been itching to go back to routines as much as in prior years.)  We did have a great summer with a few small field trips thrown in throughout and we managed to pack a few in the last week when Mike and I both had vacation.

First up was the annual State Fair trip.

This year we got a far later start than normal.  We attended the first day of the fair because the upcoming days all forecasted 90+ degrees.  We are not a family that handles heat well, so we opted for the 87 degree day instead.

This year was much more laid back than normal.  We went off our usual path which may or may not have been good; I haven't decided.  I think it meant that we missed some of our "normal" eateries, but we made up for it in other areas we hadn't tried before (the below picture NOT being one of the ones we missed).

We also stopped and saw a few more "exhibits" rather than just the food we normally have.  It was, overall, a much more laid back attendance for us than we have previously had, and I definitely enjoyed that.

We all like the radio show "Garage Logic".  Seriously, we ALL do.  Even the kids will request listening to the podcast in the car when we have a big drive ahead of us or when we have a radio on in the house while hanging out.  It's always fun to see the voices of people you imagine only to find out they look nothing like what you imagined!

The boys headed in to Northern Tool & Equipment.  Maddie convinced me that lady luck was on our side and we should definitely enter to win a new car from Ford.  Just in case it should come in handy when we maybe need one in about 1 1/2 years.

We are still waiting on that call from Ford.

We walked a lot.  We ate A LOT.  We spent $6 on 3 pieces of bacon covered in chocolate when I remembered that when we had it a couple years ago we decided it definitely wasn't worth the price.  That's right...it took us spending $2 per SLICE of bacon to remember that nugget of wisdom.

We managed to find shade several times and just relax though because the BEST thing to do at the fair is people watch!

I did capture this image though and it's my favorite from the day...

Not too many moments of those left!

The next day we finally made it to Fort Snelling which was a field trip request Jake had made during Spring Break.  We are nothing but timely here.

The kids and I took part in a practice drill that the soldiers would have gone through.  We didn't get to fire any muskets though.

We sat through a laundry demonstration and explanation of what the enlisted wives' jobs were.  Maddie and Jake were the only kids at this area at the time and they got to take part in the presentation.

Toward the end of our visit, we were in the Colonel's house and were told we had to leave because they were going to be firing the canon.  We walked outside to sit on the porch and view everything from the shade.  We were talking and Mike mentioned that the canons were going to be going off in a couple minutes.  So we started talking more and all of the sudden....BOOOOOOOMM!!  It was SO incredibly loud - I jumped about a foot off the ground as did both kids.  Mike thought it was hysterical.  He had been watching the canons and was prepared....we had been discussing what we had seen and not watching anything.

Our last field trip was to a Twins vs. Royals game at Target Field.

We had super seats along the third base line.  They had the Budweiser horses in and we got a very close look as they trotted past.

Just before the game started an older woman asked Maddie where she had gotten the box of popcorn.  The woman had been walking all around looking for popcorn.  Maddie and Mike explained that it was back up the stairs (of which we were at the bottom) and around a corner. It was pretty darn hot and this woman was not up to heading back up all those stairs so she sat down in front of us.  Maddie got up and walked over to her and offered to head upstairs to get the woman a box of popcorn.  The lady handed Maddie some money.  When Maddie got back to give her the change the woman thanked her and told Maddie to keep $5 for making the trip for her.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we bought a rootbeer from a beerman on the stairs.  It was $4.50 and Mike handed him $5 and told him to keep the change.  Jake offered up that he had 50 cents for Mike to use.  I explained that they price things to make it easy to make a tip for all the walking they do.  Jake said, "I think I'd give him a quarter."  I told him it was worth it to some people to pay the 50 cents.  He just shrugged and said, "It's worth a quarter to me."  I admire his honesty.

A week later we were back in school.  Mike and I tried to head out for our annual golf game, but the course we arrived at was closed for aeration.  The managed at the bigger course next door informed us this was a date that most golf courses set up for aeration.  Boo.  Looks like we'll have to plan ahead a little better next year!