Cows and Babies and Raccoons - oh my!

This past weekend we were to have flown to New Mexico to visit Jakey and Sarah. Unfortunately, our budget made us stay a little closer to home. Rather than sit home, missing our friends - we decided to expose Ella to two new cultural events - the Great Minnesota Get-Together and sleeping in a tent!


I am ready to go, Mom and Dad!!!

Loran and I woke up early and hopped on one of the first buses to the fair. We were there around 8:30 and the building opened at 9. It was perfect timing. The crowds were light and we were easily able to maneuver around the fair. Ella enjoyed the people watching. There was a lot for her to see.


Ella at the Miracle of Birth Barn - we saw baby chicks, ducks, sheep and there may have been a calf in progress behind them.


Mommy's winning page - the green themed one.

One of the highlights was to participate in the AM 1500 Saturday Morning Sports Talk annual BabyWalk. In fact, Ella was the first baby to participate! You can hear it here - http://www.am1500.com/podcasts/index.shtml#satsportstalk click on the 11:00 hour - it's about 8:50 in. Ella's name was accepted and she received a nice certificate. She was so tired leading up to it though, we could hardly keep her awake long enough to participate. She was asleep on my shoulder before we even returned to our seats.


Babies lined up far as the eye could see...


Being on the radio is tiring.

We walked around and saw many sites but eventually, we had to leave and head home for some lunch and to get ready for our next adventure...camping...

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We drove north about an hour to arrive at Wild River campground. It was a beautiful state park and we were very excited to stay there. We found our campsite and got to work putting everything together.


"Okay Dad, move it a little to the right...no, my right."


Now this is a Pack and Play

That night, there was a local children's theatre company performing, so we brought Ella to their performance. Ella did well, but eventually we had to take her out early because she was trying to "sing" along with the kids.


What? I'm being theatrical! Why am I being escorted out?

We made our hearty camp meal and Ella enjoyed her meal outside under the trees.




Another satisfied customer.

Ella went to bed just fine in the tent and wasn't bothered by the campground noises. Unlike her parents who were awake at 2 am when something was sniffing around the tent, right by Mommy's head. When Daddy checked it out, we didn't see anything - but in the morning, we're pretty sure we found raccoon tracks on our picnic table. It was also quite cold. Ella was bundled up with a blanket sleeper and doubled up fleece blanket. Mommy was paranoid all night and kept checking on her to make sure she was warm enough, sure enough, every time, Ella was plenty warm. Unlike Mommy who was freezing.


Morning cuddles.


Baby, it's cold outside!

The temperature dropped down to 42 degree! Luckily, the sun warmed things up quickly. We all cuddled together in the morning before getting breakfast ready.

Before packing up, we took a nice hike along the St. Croix river. We met a black lab, also named Ella who was very friendly and came over to show us her ball that she was retrieving from the river. Our Ella was tired out from the hike and fell asleep as we were coming back into our campsite.


Ella the dog with her ball.


Daddy showing Ella his "homeland" across the river.



Once we were all packed up, we headed home and hosted Grandma and Grandpa Straight for dinner who were on their way home from the zoo.

Busy weekend for Ella!