Ren Fest!

We scored some free tickets to the Renaissance Festival and were so excited to check it out! We were able to go during the Wine, Chocolate and Romance weekend which for us meant tasting a bunch of wine produced in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minnesota is producing more and more wine and vineyards are popping up everywhere. I'm not complaining! ;) Anyway, Ren Fest was a blast! It is an unbeatable place to people watch; people that work there and many visitors dress up and stay in Renaissance character throughout the fest. By the end of the day, our feet were tired and caked with dirt, our heads swimming and happy from the wine (and mead!) and the experience, and our bellies were full of pickles and nut rolls. It's definitely worth checking this place out.




Ye Olde Bath Shoppe
A pickle vendor (they were the most fun!)
Some Navy guys joined us for lunch:

Norm! We met this guy during a tasting. He rocks!
A little fortune teller:
I remember this part from when I went there as a child:
Vegetable Justice. That guy is extra mean, so you don't feel so bad throwing tomatoes at him.
He's on Island time. We will be joining him soon!



The nice lady that gave us mead:



At closing, everyone gathered together to sing to the guests as we left. It was awesome.

The State Fair!

I got to go to the fair twice this year and it was super fun both times! There is so much to see and do and eat and drink and ride and see and play... I usually don't bring my camera along to the fair, but I ended up meeting a couple there for an engagement session (http://shannonsimages.blogspot.com/2009/09/katie-and-joshs-engagement-session-part.html). Way awesome.


The space needle:

Midway at night is the best.

The fire eater:

I ran into one of the owners of our favorite brew pub, Barley John's. These two both have super yummy beers named after them: Wild Brunette and Rosie. :)
Arianna is eating a deep-fried candy bar. I finally tried one this year - they are pretty darn good.


Arianna, Drew and I had a blast! We spent like 7 hours at the fair. We did so much!

Iowa Trip

We took a weekend trip to Dubuque, Iowa for Andrew and Alyssa's wedding and had a wonderful time! It was a beautiful drive, a gorgeous wedding and was so nice to spend time with my sweet family.
Alyssa's family had us out to their place for a brunch on Sunday. They have 275 acres just outside a small town called LaMotte. It was so nice to go see the picturesque place where Alyssa grew up and to get to know them.
Me and three of my favorite people in the world:
Me and another favorite of mine:


I love farms.

Since we were in the area, we stopped in Dyersville to see the location of where "Field of Dreams" was filmed. They keep the area as it was in the film and maintain the baseball field. It's free to go there and have a catch.



Me watching a game...not an imaginary one... ;)


These overview shots are of a town called Guttenberg. It was adorable!
We happened to run into those favorite people of mine at an overlook, so we decided to have lunch along the river in Guttenberg. It was a wonderful day.

Sunflower patch!