Finally getting settled

I know I've been grossly negligent in the blog department of late and I apologize for that. We moved into our own apartment just over a month ago and it has taken an astonishingly long time to get settled. Moving just gets worse every time we do it. Our apartment is lovely and is almost photo-worthy. I will do my best to post some pictures soon but computer time is very limited these days. The kids don't have much patience for me clicking away at a keyboard and there is a lot to accomplish during Margaret's one nap each day.

We are enjoying our life here in Minnesota. Eric's job is going well. He works on Saturdays and takes a day off during the week. Yesterday was his day off and the whole family went to the Minnesota State Fair. I've heard stories about this fair for years and Eric and his mom have been talking it up for Joseph ever since we arrived in July. It's quite an institution, known as the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" and I think it is one of the biggest state fairs in the country. It's huge. It's also expensive so we limited our fair intake to one morning and it was hard to fit in everything.

Joseph had three goals for the fair: see the animals, ride the Ferris Wheel, get something "on a stick."

We hit the animals first. There were many barns holding livestock but we'd been told that a litter of piglets had been born that morning so we went to the "Miracle of Birth" barn. Quite a show. Lambs and piglets were being born while we were there but we couldn't get close enough to see very well. We stuck to the perimeter and the kids got to pet a baby lamb, a piglet, a calf, and a turkey chick.


We stopped by the Midway because Joseph wanted to watch some "scary rides." There were definitely some scary ones. The Ferris Wheel was the only thing I would have considered letting Joseph ride but we had serious doubts that he'd enjoy swinging in a little bucket really high in the air. And the cost of rides has really gone up since I was a kid so we settled for just watching.

As for food on a stick . . . nothing prepared me for this peculiar State Fair phenomenon. You can get anything on a stick at the Fair: corn dogs, pickles, cheese, fruit, deep-fried candy bars, kebabs. Our parish even started a new initiative of "Theology on a Stick" as a take-off of the hugely successful Theology on Tap programs around the country. Joseph really wanted to try something on a stick and here he is . . .


It's alligator. That's right. "Gator-on-a-Stick." I did try a bite and it was pretty tasty--Joseph is enjoying it in sausage form. I actually had my first appointment with my new midwife shortly after we got back from the Fair and she informed that alligator meat has one of the highest protein counts of any food there is. I guess I should have had some for lunch, too.