Minnesota Zoo

Allison took the day off today and we went to the Minnesota Zoo. The kids were not especially enthused about the trip (they've been to the zoo several times), but it turned out to be a great time. The Zoo has made many improvements over the past few years that have really improved the experience.

Here's Nick feeding his face with popcorn.

The highlight of the visit for me was feeding the giraffes. For a mere $5 you can buy two crackers and hand feed them to the giraffes. Very cool.

Here's Nick feeding the goats at the family farm. Xander had enough with the giraffes and refused to feed the goats.

Here's Xander driving a tractor at the family farm.

After the Zoo we stopped by Target so Nick could buy the skateboard he's been saving up for. So far no injuries, but he's finding it touch harder than he expected.
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State Fair Follies

Today was our big day at the State Fair. I'd like to say that we had the best day ever, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. This was just one of those family outings that didn't quite click. It seemed like at any given time someone was unhappy about something.

The boys were both a little tired and not their normal cheerful selves. As a result, there were a fair number of squabbles over what we were doing. If Nick had his way, we would have spent the entire time at either the children's rides or the midway games (with appropriate breaks for food). This is not unreasonable from a six year old, but unfortunately we were not going to spend the entire time at the rides and midway games.

Despite some attitude issues, we pressed on. It was a beautiful day. It was downright chilly when we arrived and the high was in the lower 70's. Everyone's allergies were under control, so that was nice.

One of the highlights of the day was watching a lumberjack competition. They did things like carve wood statues with a chainsaw, climb trees, canoe jousting, and log rolling. It was a very enjoyable show. I wonder if it is too late for me to become a professional lumberjack?

We didn't really try any new fair food this year. I wanted to try the choclate covered bacon, but I never saw where it was. Instead we stuck with basics - breakfast burritos, tom thumb doughnuts, pronto pups (I've decided that I prefer pronto pups to corn dogs), mini cinnamon rolls, buffalo burgers, frozen key lime cheescake on a stick. I actually could have eaten more food, but by mid afternoon that crowds were massive and we were losing steam fast.

This year we drove closer to the fair and then walked the remaining distance. It worked out well. Despite my griping about Nick's attitude at times, he was a champ in terms of all the walking. Xander is still able to ride in the stroller for things like this and he did well too.

On the whole it was a fun time. However, I'm not sure that we'll be making a return trip this year. It wasn't that much fun...

Twelve Greatest Days of Summer Start Now

It's that time of year again... The Minnesota State Fair. Deep-fried candy bars. Stuff on sticks. All kinds of interesting smells. I love the State Fair. I would go every day if I could. (One of Allison's co-workers actually does!)

While I love the State Fair, it is a bittersweet time of year. The end of summer. This year will be especially hard. This has been an amazing summer in one of those 'best of times, worst of times' ways. I have loved all the time I spent with Mom, my family, and my kids. Okay, the kids kind of drive me crazy, but I've become accustomed to it.

The worst part of the end of summer is that it will soon be fall. I can live with fall. But fall means that winter is right around the corner. I can't begin to tell you how depressing I find that. And not just because I have to go back to wearing long pants again.

Star Wars Shrine

After letting the kids watch Star Wars, we were ready for a pilgrimage to the ultimate shrine to Star Wars geekdom - the traveling Star Wars exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum. This exhibit had been here all summer and has been extremely popular. It costs considerably more than the normal admission price and you generally need to buy your tickets in advance. We waited until the end of the summer to go and it wasn't too busy.

The majority of the exhibit consists of costumes, props, and models from all of the Star Wars movies. There seemed to be more stuff from the original three movies, which is likely a reflection on the amount of CGI work done in the second trilogy. They just didn't need to produce all of the models for those movies.

It was fun to see all of the original costumes. They had the Darth Vader costume from the original Star Wars movie. You can tell it is thiry years old. Up close, it doesn't look nearly as imposing as in the movies. Hokey might be a better word.

The Han Solo costume was similar. The vest looked like somethig your mother put together for you so you could be in the school play. On the big screen you don't notice stuff like that.

The models of all the space ships were very interesting, too. Some of them had acquired some minor, but obvious damage over the years. They were still impressive. I was surprised to see that the models of the various ships were all about the same size, regardless of how big the ship was supposed to be in movie terms. The Star Destroyer and the Millenium Falcon were about the same size, for instance. They both had very intricate surface detail for close range filming.

Since this was a science museum, there were a few stations that tried to teach you some actual science. (This exhibit tries to make learning FUN!) What the heck does actual science have to do with Star Wars? We pretty much ignored all that crap. If I want to learn about robotics or magnetic levitation, I'll use a source other than George Lucas.

One of the highlights of the trip was a chance to sit in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon. Unfortunately it wasn't the actual set, but a passable mock up. The windows were display screens and it played a movie that made it seem like you were flying in space. A Millenium Falcon simulator, I guess you'd call it. It was okay, but disappointing. Instead of zooming around blasting TIE fighters, it tried to teach you about the stars and planets. BORING. Like, if I wanted to learn something, I'd read a book or go to school! I just wanted some TIE fighters and maybe to fly through an asteroid field. Is that asking too much?

Anyway, despite my grumblings about the akward learning opportunities it was a fun trip and the kids seemed to enjoy it almost as much as Allison and me. We topped it off with lunch at Cassetta's - one of our all-time favorite places to eat.