We ate a lot of food, went on rides (including the Giant Slide) and did a lot of walking. We came home exhausted. Then it was right back out the door for back-to-school night. We met the new teachers, visited the old teachers, and dropped off all the school supplies. The real first day of school is next week. Maya will be in 4th grade. She has a new teacher this year. She got a kick out of walking around and figuring out who would be in her class that she knows. Elias will be in 1st grade. He is in the same classroom as last year but his primary teacher has changed. He has a male teacher this year, something I am very glad about. There were a number of children (mostly girls) who shouted their hellos to Elias in the hall. He just beamed. All the teachers seemed to be happy to have the school full of kids again. Almost all the teachers asked how long it would be before Hannah would be going to the school. It feel so wonderful having a school where you feel like you fit in and my kids are comfortable there.
We visited the state fair today. The day started out a little dreary and we got caught in a few sprinkles. By the end of the day we were all hot and tired. The sun came out in full force around lunch. We visited the horse and cattle barns, Hannah and Elias tried milking a cow. All three kids got to pet a calf, cows and horses. One horse, Snickers, really loved the attention we, rather I, gave him, he seemed to like looking at the children as well. We left the horse barn and I reminded Maya that now that she is a Junior Girl Scout we could arrange to do a horse badge sometime. She wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it as I was. We stopped for ice cream and shakes before leaving the animal barns. We never made it into the pig barn but we did get to see some piglets and lambs in the Miracle Of Birth center, We didn't witness any animals giving birth ( I think it would have freaked out the kids anyway) but we saw a number of baby animals that were anywhere from a few hours to a few days old. 
our fist camping trip as a family. Though I grew up going camping, I have never ventured out on a true camping trip in the years since Maya was born, until now. We had great weather and everyone got to try at least one new thing. 
baby to dive. We even saw one loon with a fish in its bill. Later we headed out to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The kids and dog loved being in the water. We even walked down the middle of The Mississippi River for about a quarter mile. The water was anywhere from 6inches to 2.5 feet deep. One point the water was too deep for the dog, she started jumping from side to side of the river then eventually realized that she knew how to swim. By the time we made it back to the car we were all wet so we decided to go to the swimming beach.
