Freeborn, Mower & Steele County Fair

Freeborn County Fair

Callie and I had our second annual "Girls Day" with our good friends, Amy & Aubrey!  We headed to Albert Lea to enjoy their fair :)  SO. MUCH. FUN. with the girls!  Callie and Aubrey get along great and I love watching them interact more an more the older they get!

LOVE this picture of the two!

HAHAHA - This picture expresses our daughter's dance moves perfectly!  Callie the ballerina & Aubrey the hip hop dancer :)

Gopher fans!

She's set with her carnival tickets!

My "Proud" mommy moment was when Callie noticed a napkin blowing on the sidewalk a good distance away - she wanted to go pick it up and throw it away :)  Oh darling, I am teaching you well!!!

The girls each went on SIX rides - they had a blast!

Princesses always ride side saddle!

:)  Thank you for another very fun trip to the Freeborn County Fair!

Mower County Fair

We had to wait for Daddy to finish work, but on a Friday evening, we headed to the Mower County Fair as a family :)  We brought the bus along, and it was a good choice!  The boys are getting heavier now, and Callie is as well, so it was a beast to push and turn, but it kept everyone in one place and safe!

The goat stuck his head out right by Carter and "baaed" - Carter started crying, it was hilarious!  Scared him half to death - poor guy!

Look who we found :)  The Port Family!  What a fun surprise!  Callie and Maddie hooked up like they haven't been separated! 

Maddie found her buddies :)

It's hard to tell, but I took this picture because the way I braided Callie's hair today, the back was a bow!  It was perfect that morning and through play and movement has started falling out!

Checking out the animals :)

We met up with the Ports again so Callie and Maddie could go on rides together!

Here are the "brothers" just hanging out!  It's hard to believe this, but Max is actually 2 months younger than the boys!  He has his mommy and daddy's height, that's for sure!   The three could be confused as triplets - if only we remembered to dress them the same :)

BFF's - finding more rides!

Train ride :)

We took the boys on the Carousel for the first time - they LOVED it!  Carter was all giggles and smiles!

Lynne made sure the girls were safe :)  

I. Love. This. Woman.

She's as crazy as I am and I love that :)

<3 Love you Lynne - and I am SO happy that we found you guys at the fair :)

There is an old school house full of desks, chalk boards, books, posters, etc.  The kids all sat in the desk - HILARIOUS!  It was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen!

We sang songs, told stories and played school :)

Before we left, we let Callie ride a pony...last year she said she wanted to, so we brought her up to the pony and she decided she didn't want to...hey it's a scary thing!  This year - she was all about it, rode the pony and LOVED it!  Seriously, can you please stop growing up Callie!

Steele County Fair

To be honest, I have never been to the Steele County Fair, nor had Josh!  I totally forgot it was this weekend until a friend posted a picture on FB of her feeding a giraffe!  That sparked my interest as I LOVE GIRAFFES and have always wanted to feed one!  So Callie and I planned it all out and we surprised Daddy with a Family Fun Night to Owatonna for the Steele County Fair.

Little did we know that this is the LARGEST County Fair in the state of MN.  I was expecting to see the same rides, same games, same vendors, etc... that we had at the Freeborn and Mower County Fairs.  I couldn't have been more wrong!

We tried the wagon thinking Callie would be fine walking...not knowing just how big this fair was, and how busy it was - that was a mistake, but we made it work!  The boys loved the fish, water, and pretty much all the animals that we saw!

Right off the bat was a Clown making balloon animals!  I really don't want Callie or the boys to ever be afraid of clowns, because lets face it - they are creepy!  So we paid the $3.00 and had him make Callie a balloon animal.  He had a picture list of all the ones he could make- and Ariel  - The Little Mermaid - was on there!  Of course Callie picked that one, but what happened next BLEW ME AWAY and I knew this man was truly something special!  He asked Callie if she wanted her mermaid to have red hair like Ariel, or purple hair like her daughter Melody!  Now any MAN that knows Ariel has a daughter named Melody is OKAY in my book!  Callie was SO excited that he knew about her too as Callie LOVES Melody!

So he got right to work :)

Callie was so excited for her Mermaid Balloon!  I love how he is posing behind her :)

Callie went on a Pony ride!  Dad was busy waiting to talk to this couple that was booking a "initial meeting" with ReBath...the moment they booked a date, he walked over to them and informed them of everything they did to us.  The couple was VERY happy he told them and they quickly canceled their appointment!  It may not have any effect on their business, but Josh gets 1-2 people per year to not go with ReBath...I figure that's something :)

Anyway, I was busy talking to the "pony guy" so Callie got to go AROUND and AROUND and AROUND on her pony!  She loved it!

Next up was the main reason we came to this fair: Exotic Animals!  You pay $3.00, receive a cut of carrots and can feed the animals!  OKAY!

I feel like this could be a greeting card!  Callie didn't want to feed anymore animals after the camel got too close :)  Haha!  I don't blame her - they're bigger than she is!

Daddy had fun making friends with "Puzzles"!

I was teasing him so Josh could get a picture of her tongue!

This was SO AWESOME!  Callie and I learned at the MN Zoo why giraffes have purples tongues!  She'll tell you if you ask her, but in case you don't see her, I'll tell you!  It's because most of their day is spent outside, in the hot sun, with their tongues hanging out.  This protects them from having their tongue get sunburned!  

There were kangaroos!  I'm not sure I've ever been this close to a kangaroo!

So at the hand washing station - this sign was hanging up!  Read it closely!  Now, please note, this hand washing station was out in the open, in the middle of everything.  Loud, busy and gross!  

Not sure I would want to breastfeed here!

Supper!  Collin was getting sleepy, but loved people watching!

Carter, more or less, inhaled his hot dog :)

Callie wanted to eat "cheese balls" (cheese curds) so she ate as quickly as she could!

Next up, my brave girl did something I didn't think she'd do...she rode  a camel by herself!  AWESOME!

You see, taking three kids to a fair isn't all that difficult.  Josh and I were able to sit back, relax and hold hands while walking through the fair!  Okay that is a lie, but it was sure entertaining watching people's reactions when they saw Callie pulling the wagon :)

She sure loves her characters!  No matter who it is - she loves having her picture taken with them :)

It was time for rides!  We took the kids on the carousel and once again, they loved it!

Callie and Daddy went on the big slide next!  This is Callie giving me a thumbs up :)  I love it!!!

Her face here is smiling, but in other pictures that I have, her face is showing the look of FEAR!  Haha - she loved it though!

This is why the Steele County Fair is AMAZING!  They had the Genie ride...we felt like we were in Disney World on the Magic Carpet Ride!  We sang the song, "A Whole New World" together and LOVED every minute of it :)

I'm Aladdin and Callie is Jasmine :)

Callie and Daddy went on the "boat" ride.  Yeah she wasn't too sure about this ride!

Collin was clapping and dancing the whole time...he loved all the different music!  He's got moves!

So we're in Owatonna, figured if we'd see anyone we knew it would be someone from Austin~!  NOPE!  Ran into my friend Becky Rosati from high school...I haven't seen her since 2001!  It was CRAZY that we both recognized each other - she spotted me first!  Her family runs all the games down there, so she played some games with Callie!

It would have been so fun to have had your kids there, Becky, I would have loved to have met them :)  

Callie's new best friend, Becky!

Diving for Duckies...the boys loved this!  I'm pretty sure they would have swam in there if we would have let them...okay maybe just Collin would have :)

DUCKS!

Callie showing off the ducks she found with Becky.

In a matter of 15 minutes she knew who was who as far as my kids!  It was so much fun to see you and catch up!  Thank you for being so kind to my kids :)

Winding down our time at the fair - we needed ice cream!  So Callie decided to share her ice cream with her brothers - I love that she's feeding them ... and that they're letting her!

One last stop in the exotic animal tent...

This picture is PRICELESS!  Collin though he was SO FUNNY because he was able to touch the camel!  Carter had the same reaction, but I was next to him and didn't capture his face on camera :(  

I dug in and grabbed a small carrot so Collin could feed the giraffe!  He thought this was so cool!  Huge smile on his face and lots of giggles!  

My kids checking out the Llama!

I would be lying if I said that we don't love fairs!  I think I have completely rubbed off on Josh now though - his stomach is starting to learn that you just don't fill up at fairs!  We love the games, the crazy rides, the people, the sites to see, the buildings to explore!  It's all so fun!

Next up - Minnesota State Fair, which we have decided (since last year) to do this in two days!  One day with the kids, and the next day without!  Games and rides with kids...everything else without :)

I love my family :)