Cheese Fest

One of the traditions we try to hit each and every year is something called Cheese Fest in Pine Island MN. Mike grew up in Pine Island and the second weekend in June has always been taken over by Cheese Fest since he was a small child. They bring in carnival rides and games, food vendors and have entertainment and games all weekend long. We originally were going to camp down there for the weekend, but ended up needing to cancel due to other weekend engagements that had come up. We spent the entire day on Saturday in Pine island.Cailin was ready to go on all the rides as soon as we arrived. The rides didn't start going until 1pm, so we hit the playground first for a little play time.


Lauren and Cailin on the swings.

Cailin even went on this ride (see above) - it's the kiddie roller coaster, which actually had some speed to it. She had a great time. I'm sure having Lauren with her helped a lot! She was the rule girl. The attendant told the kids they needed to hold on and as soon as the ride got going, one kid a few seats back had her hands up in the air (like most of us do) and Cailin was trying to correct her "you have to hold on, please put your hands down...."

Andrew was more apprehensive about the rides, wanting to watch his big sister first, then maybe hit a ride or two. By the end of the day, he was the first in line and wanted to go 'again mommy!'. We were blessed with lots of free ride tickets through a family friend and so we had an abundance of rides that day.

Mike's cousin, Kelly came down with her three kids and they played on the rides. The youngest, Lauren was willing to go on rides with Cailin (lauren is a year or two older than Cailin). Cailin was in heaven being with Lauren and was very brave to go on all the rides Lauren wanted to go on.
Andrew actually got to pose next to the firetruck (below) that his great grandpa drove along time ago. He also got to climb inside a current fire truck and check it out. He was amazed. He said he wanted to drive one when he gets bigger.



Andrew wiped out at the very end and cracked his head on the ground when he tripped over his feet while running away from me. Cailin scraped her elbows on a ride, so those were the only two injuries. Although Mike and I managed to get quite sunburned, me more than him. I always forget to sunscreen myself since I'm busy lathering up the kids.

They were so tired by the end of the day. We also had cousin Joey's graduation party the next day, so we headed home Saturday night from Pine Island and as soon as we got home, we all crashed.