Derby Day Madness

It should really be Derby DayS madness, as it started on Thursday (for us) and continued through today.  It is an action packed weekend but one we relish.

Thursday is the Taste of Shakopee.  A chance to taste the foods from the local restaurants around our charming little metropolis.  We met some friends and took our kids down to the Taste and allowed them spend some of our hard earned money.  I was lucky enough to snag some things for us...some toothbrushes (can you really ever have enough?), some samples of Bare Minerals (our luck...Bare Escentuals has a roving truck doing makeovers and giving samples.  I've been using BE for about 6 years now and LOVE it).

Friday we had Butter Burgers (home made...along with onion rings...both of which were YUMMY) with friends.

Saturday, the husband and friend went running in the early morning.  I got a phone call around 10 am from him telling me to grab the friend's wife and come out to where they stopped.  Luckily, I took his advice.   Because it was fruitful.  We brought our youngest children and they spent several hours riding 4 wheelers while we drank Bloody Mary's.  We also got permission to "farm" a lovely little plot on the  friends 5 acre lot next year.  We were both really excited to have the opportunity to expand our knowledge of growing our own foods.  We came home and I made my chicken pasta salad and had it with bread and wine on the deck.

We then headed back down town to watch the fireworks.  Every year we think that there is no way they can outdo the fireworks they did the year before and every year we are proven wrong. l This year was no exception.  We had about 30 minutes of straight fireworks that looked like this:

And this:

The kids were tired so we came home earlier than we have in years past.  Good thing as Beanie woke us up at 3am by crawling into bed with us...only to discover she was sporting a 104 fever.  We got her some tylenol and figured that her chances in dancing in the parade today went out the window.  Her fever broke but I wasn't going to risk sending her out to walk a 2 mile route, while dancing, in 90+ degree heat after having a temp that high.  I'm weird that way and LUCKILY, I got no argument.
We got up and went to set out our chairs on the parade route at ungodly o'clock this morning before we headed to church.  Afterwards I made the older two girls (who were still dancing in the parade) drink big bottles of powerade so that they would have the electrolytes needed to make it through the 2 mile parade in 97 degree temperatures (very unusual for here).  Unfortunately we didn't get to see them dance (but that's ok...we've seen them dance before), but here they are walking in the parade.  My oldest daughter...on the far left:

 
My middle daughter on the right:

At this point they were about 3 blocks from the end of the parade.  So they were pretty hot and tired.  My husband, however, was not.  He seems to make friends where ever he goes.  The Dominoes pizza guy:

I think he made some new friends among the Vulcans.  What do you think?

 Now this is the funny part.  Beanie, had her bag and was collecting candy.  For the first time in parade history, these kids got PICKY!  Seriously.  The first 20 minutes or so, they were all over ALL candy that was thrown like white on rice, acting like little scavangers.  Mid-way through the parade, they decided to become "choosy" as to what candy they would pick up.  Apparently, most of them had determined that they did indeed have enough Laffy Taffy and they didn't need to pick up the taffy that was being thrown towards the end of the parade.  I can't tell you the number of soft (hot sticky weather) sticky pieces of laffy taffy, double bubble and tootsie rolls I stepped in on my way back to the car.  Beanie did luck out however and the Von Hansons guy threw a stuffed dog straight at her.  Here is her haul:

No, that wasn't the end of the fun filled day.  We rounded the day off by ordering pizza for the kids and supplying them with movies while we adults went to see "The Other Guys" then came home and grilled some steaks, home fries and caesar salad.
 Derby Day Madness...best one EVAH!