MN Renaissance Festival

We try to get out to the Renaissance festival every year. Every year we try and see new shows and to change things up a bit. We took advantage of the BOGO offer the first weekend. As soon as we pulled in to the parking lot and saw the castle gates my two year old light up. The only problem was once she went through the gates she still wanted to go into the castle.

There was a lot to see and do there for people of all ages. She of course got to get some ferry wings and somehow suckered her mom into buying her a crown as well. The look on her face made it all worth it. Unfortunately the ferry queen was on lunch break so we were not able to see the new ferry wing forest. We were all a little curious as to why the ferry queen needed to be present in order for us to enter the forest, but there is always next year. We saw some very good shows and we even saw some of the royal court before we left.

If you are going with young kids, I recommend bringing a backpack full of juice boxes, water and other snacks. They have a lot to choose from at the concessions, but they are more geared towards the older patrons.

Irish Fair

The Irish Fair is my favorite festival of the year. They always have great food and entertainment. Due to scheduling conflicts, we ended up waiting until Sunday to go which actually worked out better with the kids. Sunday they have their headlining act start at 5:30 vs. 7:30 on Saturday. The entertainment was great. My daughter was a dancing queen. She danced almost the entier night. The weather was a little hot but as long as you come prepared, it's not a big deal.

The biggest downside to the fair is that they use the dreaded ticket system to buy food. I'm not sure why they do that besides to make a little extra money on the people that bought non-refundable food tickets and have extra's left over. As long as you scope out the food scene first and figure out exactly how many tickets you need, you will not run into that problem. All and all had a great time!

Lakefront Days

Lakefront Days was going on in Prior Lake this weekend. My daughter and I went and met up with some family to check it out. There was a misprint on their schedule and we ended up being late for their water ski show. There had a range of different abilities being shown, but it wasn't moving quick enough to hold my daughters attention so we ended up checking out the other activities before it got exciting.

The highlight for me was the food. Normally you end up getting the standard fair type food at these events. They had a food truck there though that sold teppanyaki style food and it was restaurant quality. The company was called Hibachi Daruma. If you ever see them, you have to get some food.

They had a lot of bouncy houses and a live band there as well. My two year old is still afraid of the bouncy houses, but my 4 year old nephew had a blast on them. The bouncy houses were very reasonably priced too.

Things To Do In August

Things To Do In August

Based on the calendar, it feels like the summer is starting to wind down. Most of the events I have found are towards the beginning of the month. We are also getting into the apple picking season. The MN State Fair and Renaissance Festival are starting up at the end of the month. They tend to cost the most, especially if you don’t plan for them. I included my tips to save money on the entrance to these activities. You can even get in free to the renaissance festival, if you are willing to part with a little blood before you go. If anyone else know’s of any activities or tips, please feel free to add any in the comments section. 

Friday, Aug 2

Chanhassen- Carver County Day at the Arboretum

10am-8pm

Free to residence

Friday, Aug 2-4

Loring Park Art Festival

Minneapolis

http://www.loringparkartfestival.com 

Uptown Art Fair

Minneapolis

http://uptownartfair.com 

Saturday, Aug 3

Nature Rocks Outdoor Center Open House

Eden Prairie

9am

http://www.edenprairie.org/index.aspx?page=17&recordid=1539 

Splash Time 

Splash Pad

Round Lake, Eden Prairie

1-4pm

http://www.edenprairie.org/index.aspx?page=17&recordid=1249 

Wednesday, Aug 7

Prior Lake Water Ski Team

Water Ski Show

Plymouth

7pm 

http://www.plymouthmn.gov/index.aspx?page=18&recordid=4431 

Friday, Aug 9

Nature Rocks Outdoor Center Open House

Eden Prairie

6pm

http://www.edenprairie.org/index.aspx?page=17&recordid=1539 

Friday, Aug 9-11

Irish Fair

St. Paul

Music, Food and Shopping

http://www.irishfair.com 

Polish Festival

Minneapolis

http://www.tcpolishfestival.org/about/ 

Thursday, Aug 15

Landscape Arboretum

Free after 4pm

Aug 17- Aug 18

MN Renaissance Festival

Shakopee

$18.95 Adults

$10.50 Kids 5-12

Free 4 and under

Deals

Free Admission with blood donation

BOGO admission for residence of Shakopee, Chaska, Chanhassen & Jordan

Donate 5 Cans of food and get $5 off.

http://www.renaissancefest.com

Sunday, Aug 18

Children's Museum

Free every 3rd Sunday of the Month

St. Paul 

http://www.mcm.org/visitor-information/admission/target-free-3rd-sundays/ 

Aug 22-Sept 1st

Minnesota Sate Fair

St. Paul

$9 per person if bought in advance (Cub Foods or online)

Free Parking at U of M lots with free shuttle to fair

http://www.mnstatefair.org 

Free things every day

Hyland Park Play Area, Bloomington

Visit the Elf House at Lake Harriet http://mrlittleguy.com/articles.html

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Weisman Art Museum

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

The Minnesota State Capital

Minnehaha Depot

Como Zoo Conservatory

Farmers Market

Apple Orchard http://www.orangepippin.com/orchards/united-states/minnesota 

Como Park Zoo

I have lived in MN my whole life and had never been to the Como Zoo. For some reason field trips always took me to the Minnesota Zoo. We had a free weekend so we figured we would check it out. They have parking all over the place, along with a free shuttle from the State Fair grounds. If you get there early enough, you can park on the grounds. When I say early, I'm talking within the first hour of it opening.

As far as zoo's go, this one was good for it's variety of different animals, but it lacked the space for the animals themselves. The gorilla enclosure seemed spacious and it looked like they did a lot to keep them entertained. Right across from them is a zebra enclosure that was more of a coral. Because the zoo is free to the public, it relies a lot on donations and therefore has limited resources to make it more like home. Keeping this all in mind, my daughter and I still had a great time. We were finally able to see the trifecta (liens and tigers and bears) all in one zoo.

Because of the way the zoo is laid out, you can see a lot of the animals without glass in between you or a fence. This can be kind of cool but kind of scary at the same time. It made for some good pictures though. It was fun to see some of the animals that you don't normally get to see at the MN Zoo.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

On the third thursday of the month the Landscape Arboretum is free after 4pm. During the off season they are open a little more often. One of the things we love to do is the 3 mile drive that takes you through all kinds of gardens and different things to look at. They are also changing things all them time and things come into bloom at different times so you will have a new experience every time you go there. 

Taking a break at one of the many dead ends.

It was so hot today so we decided to have a picnic at the shady tree stop. It was great. The only problem is when we left the shade trees, it was so hot. The heat index was 100 degrees so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked in the other areas to explore. Becca found some little houses to check out and we did the hedge maze. If you have never been in a good maze, this is a great one. We took turns leading and we found about every wrong turn possible. Unlike the corn maze, you can't see through the hedge to know your heading the wrong way. Don't worry, they have exits located all over the maze if you want to give up. :) 

Hedge Maze

Milk Carton Boat Races

The Milk Carton races were listed on someones 50 Must See list for actives in the Twin Cities so I had to check them out. Each team is given milk cartons to create their float. (Originally racers had to save up used cartons) I know what your thinking, kids taking a milk carton, adding a sale and floating it down a stream. Not even close, they put 6+ people in their boats race in the lake. They are judges on speed and creativity. The winners of the speed competition were the "Moo" team. We didn't stay to find out the official winers of the creative competition, but I'm giving it to the VOA team. There were some close calls, but all teams managed to stay in their boats while we were there.




























 I'm thinking in a couple years, it will be me out there :)

Winners for fastes boat

Best Float

Right next to the Milk Carton races were the sandcastle competition. They were just starting to work on everything but there were some cool things taking shape.