The Minnesota State Fair

The Pizza Palace
The Giant Slide behind our building

Grace and I were invited by my dad "Papa John" to come up for a weekend during the MN State Fair and work with him at his restaurant the Pizza Palace. My family has been doing the fair for over 60 yrs. My children have never had a "fair experience." So we went for 4 days. Grace worked hard making Gelato and selling the pizza and gelato to customers. She also had fun playing. We rode a lot of rides, went in the haunted house. Grace went into every fun house and we went down the giant slide. We also or Grace really, had many new foods, Gelato, Big Fat Bacon on a stick, fried Oreos, fresh French Fries, Sweet Marthas Cookies, fried cheese, fresh lemonade and of course pizza! Grace and I also saw some pretty cool things, a calf being born! A huge chunk of butter sculpted into a head and lots of animals. Dad and Kathy had an exchange student from France staying with them, Ann Marie, she was our constant companion and we enjoyed hanging out with her and helping to "Americanize" her.

We spent the morning and the afternoon at the fair and then would go to my moms and visit with the rest of the family and cousins. It was so great to see Grace working hard and experiencing a part of my life that I have not yet shown my kids. I also had the chance to catch up with childhood friends and reminisce about all the years spent at the fair.