State Fair

James and Mom ventured out to the great MN get-together when Daddy was traveling last weekend and explored the barns, ate some yummy food and had a lot of fun catching up with friends.

We started the morning out by meeting up with Greta and touring the Little Farm Hands exhibit.  James hadn't quite warmed up to the idea of the Fair just yet so was a little shy about the idea but after he got to ride the tractor he was pretty excited.  After touring through the exhibit and feeding the "animals," planting seeds and harvesting crops, collecting eggs from "chickens," milk from "cows," and wool from "sheep," and then selling all the goods at the market James got "money" to purchase something at the store.  What did James select?  Cheerios of course.  At this stage, James would be happy to eat cereal for every meal if we let him.  It's the first word that comes out of his mouth first thing in the morning when we walk into his room, "Cereal?!?" 

Following the Little Farm Hands exhibit we ventured over to the barns to see the animals with a few pit stops along the way.  One, for mini-donuts, which James loved - even after sucking all the sugar off the donut before eating the first one and two, to see the fish at the DNR building.  Both Greta and James got a good view of the fish in the water from the glass viewing panels in place for kids their height to check out the action.

The barns were probably James favorite part of the Fair (except for maybe the bus ride home, "Mom, we're on the second bus!" and the samples of chocolate milk at the dairy barn).  At the barns we saw goats, horses, cows and pigs.  James got the chance to pet a baby piggy and still hasn't stopped talking about it this week.  "I pet a piggy!"

James also enjoyed some corn on the cob (I think he liked the butter and salt more than the corn itself) and of course Sweet Martha's cookies in which he proceeded to pick out the chocolate with his fingertip and eating it first before eating the cookie itself.

Overall the trip to the Fair was a huge success.  What started out as a "quick" visit turned into an all day affair.  James took a short nap and was a trooper through it all.  No meltdowns until we got back to the car at the park and ride lot and he wanted to "drive" the car - which he pouted about until we got home and I let him sit in the drivers seat and "drive it."