The Great Minnesota Get Together

Yesterday, we headed down to the State Fair. Our first official stop was Sweet Martha's Cookie Jar. This is my absolute favorite thing to eat at the fair. DELICIOUS!

From there it was on to the Giant Slide. Scott and I both took a turn with Jaelyn. She loved the slide and was quite fussy when we decided to move on from it. If it were free, we would have gone down many more times. :) There would have been pics of Scott taking Jaelyn down if I could have remembered how to take pictures on his camera. Sorry, Babe.

After the Slide, we headed to the Butterfly House. This is my favorite thing to do at the State Fair. I love seeing all of the beautiful butterflies flying around and landing on people. I was excited for Jaelyn to see them as well. At first, things were going well. She was watching the butterflies and seemed to enjoy them. Soon, I got one to climb onto my finger. I went to show Jaelyn how pretty it was. As I got closer to her, she leaned back, saying "No, No, No". Not a problem. I backed off right away and found a comfortable distance for her to observe it, without scaring her.

Just as I did that, a butterfly came from behind and landed on her head!!! She instantly freaked out, screams, tears, and flailing of the arms. She knocked the butterfly off her head, but it landed on the tray of her stroller. That was even worse because she could then see the butterfly closer than I ever got to her. Scott instantly went to get the butterfly off the tray and I stopped some stranger walking by to hand off my butterfly and scooped her out of her stroller. She took a while to calm down and didn't fully settle until we left the butterfly house. She enjoyed seeing them from a far distance, but as soon as one was flying, she began cowering in my arms.

Maybe another year....

We then felt it was important to find something for Jaelyn to enjoy without fear. So onto the Little Farm Hands Exhibit! Here, Jaelyn got to play a little farmer. She gathered corn to feed the animals, fed chickens, collected eggs, planted seeds, picked vegetables, fed sheep and collected wool, fed a cow and collected milk, then picked apples. At the end, she 'sold' her goods at the Farmers' Market and got paid. She then got to use her money to buy something in the 'store'. Jaelyn chose a pink Serta sheep. :)

We next went over to the animal barns. It was fun to see all the animals and as long as they didn't get too close, Jaelyn loved them and would mimic all of their sounds. It was a long day, but a fun one. We'll be sure to head back in the years to come.