A Different Kind of Same

Every year we go to the Minnesota State Fair.

What I love about the fair, what keeps me coming back, what makes me strive and juggle and squeeze to fit it into our busy end of summer schedule...is how every year it's the same family traditions full of memories and laughs, but every year it's different and unique at the same time.

It's a different kind of same.

Now there have been a couple of years that we didn't go.

But with college on the  horizon, I am becoming a tradition tigress.  Nobody is allowed to mess with my family's traditions...not even the family themselves!

This year's visit was on a gorgeous cool weekday.

No crowds.

And it was just the perfect mix of old trusted stops and a few new ones.

I'll let you know which was which.

Browsing the junk--I mean souvenir booths....OLD.

Not asking for anything right off the bat....NEW.

Butterfly House...OLD

Lily not screaming her HEAD off.....NEW!

Marvelling at God's handiwork..... NEVER GETS OLD!

Cotton Candy........OLD

Everybody getting their own.....NEW

(We decided to give them each a certain amount of cash and let them buy their own food and souvenir items this year.  It backfired horribly because everybody wanted to taste everyone else's food, so Tim and I ended up buying more for the sad child who made the mistake of purchasing anything.  It was a good idea in theory.)

Eating on a stick....OLD

Eating crocodile....NEW!

OLD....She gets cotton candy whenever she wants it.

Cause she can't eat it all, and her momma likes cotton candy a lot!

FRUIT...yes FRUIT...fried on a stick....VERY NEW...

REPEAT fruit on a stick because everybody ate his first one.

OK....this was SO funny....Look at the ducklings in the back trying desperately to fit three of themselves through one little hole!  It wasn't even a big hole.  WHY?  For some reason it reminded me of my kids.

ESCAPEE DUCKLINGS....NEW.

THE BIGGEST PIG....OOLLLLDD.

We don't mess with the biggest pig tradition.

You haven't seen the fair until you've seen the biggest pig.

Piggy Hats....OLD

Piggy Faces....NEW

Llamas.....WAY NEW!

Where have you guys been all these years?

Family Picture while having Pronto Pups and milk fresh from cows that morning...OLD.

Crow's Feet and those lines on my neck...what are those?....sigh...NEW.

Bald Eagle Talk....NEW!

Buying a slushy and souvenir for the child who has to wait for older siblings to get out of the mirror maze...OLD.

Tim at the fair wearing a pink sequined hat....NEEEEW.

DEFINITELY NEW.

Take a look at the lady on the bench.  She's onto me.

Ah the fair...

the hunger pangs,

 the stomache aches,

 the smells,

the tired walk back home,

the being together.

Good Times.