Day Eight Sept. 4th, 2010

The whole family at the fair today for ZUBAZ-On a Stick Day and Cousins, Cousins Cousins! As soon as Randy got home from golfing and I from work, we headed to Moms.  On the way in, there were $25 car parking signs just down the block!  We were grateful Mom saved us a spot in the garage for today!

On our way into the fair, Stella was a bit upset to find as we were entering the gates that in fact "everyone" was not wearing Zubaz.  (as I told here they would be) and she wanted to get them off as as soon as she could! Got a message that Mom and Dad had scored a table at the Ball Park for "Zubaz on a Stick", where people were circling like vultures to watch the Twin's game. They were very glad to see us finally arrive to fill some of the excess chairs!  We all enjoyed a tasty malted beverage and some garlic fries and Stella had a cheeseburger, while reminiscing and swapping "where did those Zubaz come from" stories! Dad was wearing his limited edition "wedding Zubaz" which Dan had made as a gift for the male portion of the wedding party almost 19 years ago! Greg was wearing his very limited edition; half Vikings half Packer pants.  I think they should be called "waffle pants"! Stella, headed straight to the mile long line for the ladies room to change.  She noticed some kids in baseball hats and thought that would be OK, so Dan graciously gave her his last one. Mom thought she'd like a pair of Kim's line of spandex Zubaz wear!  Dad said "Not without the boots"

Whole Family!

Wedding edition on left

 hat happy

Spandex!

"waffle pants"!

Stella left us to find the cousins up on the north end of the fair. As the crowd grew louder as the twins were winning, Mom and dad decided to retreat from the most crowded fairgrounds I have seen yet!  Randy had two goals that afternoon before he left the grounds, one to find a type of dog he saw on the news...all he knew was it was about a block away from the Channel 9 booth and it was not a pronto pup and not just a corn dog.  We found the place and it is called a "Poncho Dog".  Randy got one....pretty much a corn dog.  Goal number two was head up to the Grandstand to find his annual supply of new polo shirts.  He went his way and would head home after, and I went up the hill to find Stella.

Still...yet...again...cell service was terrible out there!  I walked as fast as the wall to wall people would allow and despite trying to call each other unsuccessfully for 1/2 hour we ended up exactly a block away from each other when we finally did get through!  There we found a gaggle of cousins, but half the contingent was on its way out, having had enough of the crowds.  We continued with Becky, Kathy the girls and Eli was along this time, and Becky's cousin Alyssa.

Straight to the Kidway where Stella got to ride the Bumble Bee with Riley.  Camden and Eli went together and Camden made sure her brother did not touch the bar so they would NOT go up and down.  around and around was plenty for her!  The two little ones ran off to a couple other rides and Stella told Riley she would take her on the Ferris Wheel.  As we were about to go to the Big Ferris Wheel, Kathy said you'd better check which wheel Riley has in mind.....turns out it was the little one with six cars that only goes about 30 feet off the ground!  Stella was twice the height limit!  LOL We watched and Riley made a friend in line, Emily, who went with her.

After the rides, This group of cousins was ready to head home and get some food off the grounds, maybe even sit and have someone bring food to them!  I don't understand...LOL  Before they parted our company, we got some pictures of their activities earlier in the day when they went to the Home Depot and built boats!   I remember those days fondly. We had nine or ten boats at one time.  Big Hugs all around for we may not see them again until next year, unless we come to Nebraska for a Go Big Red Game, Camden says they are "mostly they are on Saturdays".

Stella and I began the search for Grandma thinking she had to be at a talent show we went to the bandshell where she was not.  I got a text from grandpa saying she was still at home parking cars!  The parking was at a premium for the Grandstand show  KISS.  She wanted to fill the yard!.  We looked at the time and raced back to the Ball Park and just missed the Zubaz performance of Sweet Caroline at the Karaoke stage inside.  So bummed, I guess they had the entire place going!

We did stop for a the smallest salted nut roll on record this year!  I think they made them half the size as last year, charged the same and stopped offering the coupon.  Not a good deal!  We then had to fill up our water bottles at Culligan.  First time all year!


We knew Grandma would be there eventually so we started walking up the Baldwin Park stage for the county far talent show finals.  Stella mentioned we should see Fine Art and I high fived her..of course!  still on the list!....however we got close to the stage and as we looked to see if Grandma was there we saw David and Cynthia ( talent show groupies like us) were saving a whole bench of seats and invited us to join them!  It was a wonderful thing, Grandma was bringing a chair out with her and we were sure we would be standing for most of it.

We sat down and who should pop in but Matt and Christie!  They had been all over the fair already eating turkey sandwiches, looking for Zubaz people and us,  and they stayed for one act and then moved on to find more fun stuff since they were without the baby!

Stella and I never did get over to see the art, we had a great place to sit,  we were comfortable, Grandma finally arrived and it was a great show!  The little girls I posted about two days ago, with Mary won second place so we will get to see them again tomorrow night at the Grandstand Finals!  Mom and Stella went out to fond some food and warm up a bit by walking around and they came back with something I didn't even know was out there!  Apple dumplings a la mode.  They were basically chunks of warm apple pie with ice cream on top.  Oh My....I ate almost all of Mom's!  Mom ...again forgot her regular glasses...she needs them on a leash.  This time I got a picture of mom wearing her "sunglasses at night"  (later the girls told her she was like the 80's....now I get it!)  It was a little cold sitting on the bench with the blind lady!

As were waiting for the talent show results, who should appear but Mark, Michael and Alec! Stella and Alec are too close in height!


The "plan" was to head to the arcade, but my brother is a tangential thinker so luckily none of the rest of had an agenda...we just followed.  Alec wanted a tattoo, so Mark let him get an airbrush.  I almost went for the Unicorns & Glitter, but knew Mom and Michael were waiting for us out on the street somewhere.

After the Tats, we headed in the general direction of the arcade while my brothers waxed rhapsodic about the loss of Machinery Hill.  Mark could never get used to the "Kidway" concept.

Mark and Alec were hungry (after just having left the Twins game where they consumed jumbo dogs and nachos)  They wanted pizza from Spaghetti Eddies and as we waited for him to find an ATM for more cash, we ran into a grade school friend Paul.  He told us how he "ran into" Gene Simmons from KISS earlier!  Our brush with fame for the day.

After Pizza Mark was still a bit hungry.  We were walking by the Dino's booth and he wanted to go see if "Dino" was there and get a Gyro.  I told him my place ( Dimitri's) was better, but he said knew Dino from his days at Calhoun Square when Dino was getting started and wanted to go.  I thought he was yanking my chain, so I went over with him and asked " Is Dino here? Does he get out to the booth often?"  The girl said, "oh you just missed him, he was out here singing. today at the Opah Stage".  Mark was just giving me that big brother grin.  I ate crow, Mark ate a gyro.

 We were within spitting distance of the arcade ( and bathrooms!) but the "plan" diverted us to the Giant Slide!  On the way Mark wasn't sure he could sustain his energy so he picked up a cheeseburger at Mike's.  (Where we ran into another high school friend!)  After a quick bathroom break Mark, Michael, Alec and Stella decided to make it a race to the bottom of the Slide. (Alec won, and Stella took second)  Mark learned you can't "draft" a person and hope to win.  If you lose distance at the top, you're a goner.  At one point Michael tried to put him into the wall...full contact slide!  I stayed back because I just wanted that elusive picture of Stella at the bottom....curses! foiled again.  I think the kids who work the slide must have some sort of contest going to see who can ruin the most pictures!

We needed to meet up with Morgan, Abby and Kallie and found them by the grandstand ramp.  Still withing spitting distance from the arcade we finally made it! Mom decided to head back home at this point.  We were a bit concerned with her dark glasses, but if Grammie Engevik could get home from the fair almost completely blind, we figured Mom could too!

 The girls wanted to go to the slide so they connected with us in the arcade after a bit.  Thank goodness they had a friend at Sweet Martha's and scored some cookies, or Mark may have starved.

There was SKEE-Ball and Air hockey and Mark and Mike played high res putt putt golf.  After all that exertion Mark needed a little sustenance so Morgan bought him a foot long hot dog.

I thought it might be a good idea to get out of the fair before the KISS concert let out so we began making our way to the East Gate and saw the Burke's Taffy booth!  I had to get my bucket and well Mark thought he did too.  As were choosing our flavors, the fireworks began.  WOW what a show!  It was never ending.  The Saturday night shows must be the biggest.,

With our taffy buckets swinging we made our way through the deserted Leinie Lodge Bandshell.  Michael spotted a backpack that he checked out...just full of kids toys but it reminded us of the times we would go dumpster diving after the fair as kids with our old neighbor Wanda de la Cruz. She taught us when places were empty ...look for money.  She would take us to the dumpsters behind the Education building and Merchandise Mart (or whatever it was then) and we would rake in the loot!  I'm sure she took us along  since she wasn't able to climb into dumpsters anymore (she had to be in her late 70's) she would hoist us and throw us in!
 

BART!

We saw some interesting faces! Many were painted up like the Kiss characters,.  I wanted a picture of every member look alike, but it didn't happen.  They weren't always game like this guy on the left!  And then this guy on the right.....turns out we knew him! 



I was taking Michael home and he suggested taking Como to Snelling.I didn't think it would be best but he said he usually had no trouble this time of night.  wrong   I think the traffic cops missed the"large crowd exit procedures" at traffic school.  Not sure who they hired this year, but one afternoon, Mom watched the traffic cops direct two cars into a head on collision on Snelling.  Luckily no one was seriously hurt!

It took us what seemed like half and hour to make that left turn!  Once on southbound Snelling approaching  94 all I could see were taillights. I asked Mike if he was OK with getting off this path now and he agreed!  LOL  So much for getting out before the KISS crowd!

We all had such a good time... I would do it all over again!

Day Eight Stats:
Walked :5 miles most of it very slowly!
Food Consumed: (mostly by Mark) Cheeseburgers, Garlic Fries, Beers, OH MY, Pizza, Foot longs and poncho dogs, taffy, cotton candy, deep fried candy bars, cookies, Gyros, onion rings and a salted nut roll.!
Still to see: FINE ART, Purina Pet Center and I may not see that baby cow this year.

*side note to the blog today:  The dog ran away as I had almost completed the photo upload and two hours of writing.  We spent the morning and afternoon driving, biking and walking on the search for her and the printed  LOST DOG fliers and eventually found her at the Humane Society.....(she is now a registered offender with the St. Paul Humane Society...hopefully she will not become a repeat offender!) When we returned from this saga...nothing was saved on the computer.. So this blog entry is Day Eight.2, sorry but Day Eight .1 was funnier!