The Continuing Adventures of Alexa & Jenny: #4 State Fair 2018

I woke up to the alarm. It took me a minute to realize I was in our bed back at the apartment. We had been running so much for the last three months it always took me a moment to figure out where I was. Jenny and I had not been to the State Fair yet this year, our honeymoon going a bit longer than originally planned, so we decided we would go on the Sunday before Labor Day. Since Jenny was starting her master’s classes on Tuesday and I was starting my new job at the Foundation, we decided we should get back into a ‘normal’ mode and get the apartment organized. We had not really spent much time here all summer, so it took a few days of cleaning and trying to figure out what to do with Katie’s old room. By Saturday afternoon, the apartment was cleaned up and everything was in its proper place. We had decided that we had earned our trip to the fair.

“Jenny, get up.” I said as I shook my beautiful wife. Instead of the usual, playful toddler voice greeting me, I got a groan.

“Why do we have to go so early Lex?” Jenny said as she straightened up in bed. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the cheek and explained that we wanted to beat the crowds. She groaned once more. “You’re lucky I love you.” She said before she got up and headed towards the bathroom. That was when my soulmate woke up. She turned and looked at me with a sly grin. “Well aren’t you coming.”

An hour later, we were showered and dressed and making our way towards the bus stop and hopped the shuttle over to the Fair Grounds. We had not paid attention to the forecast and the morning was a bit overcast. “You girls are going to get wet today” an older woman advised. We told her we would be fine. We exited the bus and began making our way over to two stops. The first was a coffee booth to get our morning brew, and then to get our breakfast, mini-donuts! After our proper start, we began to make our way over to the animal barns, so we could she this year’s biggest boar and go see one of the 4-H entrants.

“Hey girls” Ashley said excitedly as we shared hugs with my teenage cousin. “How was London? Did you go to a big party? How was Jessica and Paige’s wedding? Did you go to Disneyland Paris?” The questions were firing in a non-stop, rapid fire mode. We tried to calm her as we took seats on the beat-up lawn chairs that sat in the sheep pen that Ashley had basically called hone for the last few days. Jenny began telling her the tales of our honeymoon as I tried to quickly edit the pictures on my phone.

“So, what time do you show your lamb?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. She told us Noon, but she had to do some things before then. We told her we would be there “And when its done, well take you for a malt or something” That perked her up a bit. We hugged her goodbye and left the barn, but not before checking out some of Ashley’s competition.

As we left the barn, we could see the clouds building and rain appeared imminent. “I hope we can get somewhere before we get wet.” Jenny said. I pulled out me phone and pulled up the 5 Eyewitness News Ap. I looked at the radar and said we had some time and began making our way across the fairgrounds. We did stop to get the first round of Sweet Martha’s cookies. We enjoyed the treat as the sky began to mist a bit. And just as we entered the Grandstand, the skies opened. The building soon became packed with people trying to stay dry on this Sunday morning.

We browsed the various wares that vendors were selling throughout the Grandstand. We had to stop and watch the man and the Miracle Kitchen. The kitchen gadget had been a staple at the fair years. When I said we needed one, Jenny looked at me like I was crazy. “We have a Cuisinart Food Processor that we got as a wedding gift we haven’t used” but I was not to be deterred and went and bought one after we enjoyed the salsa that the demonstrator had made. Jenny just shook her head at me as I strutted through the crowds with my prize.

It wasn’t long before we came across another staple of the Grandstand, The Televac 86000. The ‘Handwriting Analyzer’ had been here as long as I could remember, and I even remember my father admonishing me when I had done it when I was about 13 with Katie. “The damn thing has been around since I was a kid. You just pissed away a couple of bucks”

Jenny pushed me hard to do it. “Come on Lex! Let’s do it!” I was still fighting her on it, but she reminded me that all of this was new to her. I finally relented and gave the man the money. We each signed our name on the slip of paper and handed them over, so he could run them through the ‘analyzer. It looked like some prop from a bad 1960’s Sci-Fi show. We waited for our signatures to be processed and after a few minutes they popped out. We didn’t real care about the horoscope, since we were both Virgos, but more interested in what our signatures said. “What does it say about you, Lex?” Jenny asked. I looked down and began reading.

“You are a caring honest person who will do anything for your family and friends. You are Loyal to those around you.” I read aloud. Jenny began laughing and said that the machine was accurate. ‘Let’s see about that” I replied, “What does yours say?”

“It says you are an outgoing person who not afraid to state their mind or try new things. You are compassionate and dedicated. But you also have a tender side that comes out to special people.” Jenny had a smile a mile wide as she read this. I knew that once again I had lost another ‘discussion’ with my wife.

We continued fighting through the ever-increasing crowds that had entered the grandstand seeking shelter from the storm. We passed by another both that instantly got our attention. They were toy horses with wheels on the feet. And when kids bounced on it while seated, the horse moved. “Those are so cute! I wish we knew someone we could get it for” I said as we watched a little girl laughing away as she propelled the toy horse across the booth.

“We can get it for Jenny!” Jenny squealed out. When I said I thought she was too big for it, I got a slap on the shoulder. “Not me, Jenny Thomas” I knew who she meant but I had to tease ‘big Jenny’ a bit.

“That’s too much. Sandra has already warned us not to send over any more toys. Not that she doesn’t appreciate the thought, but that Jenny has enough.” I distinctly remember the little lecture we received from Mrs. Thomas when we came back from Disneyland Paris with a Cinderella dress for my wife’s namesake. Sandra wasn’t mad, just concerned that we were spoiling her youngest daughter. Jenny agreed with my reasoning but still pouted a bit. I went over and gave he a hug and a kiss. “Maybe for Christmas?” I offered.

“I knew there was a reason I married you” Jenny said as a smile returned to her face and we shared a bit longer kiss.

“That’s just disgusting!” a woman looking at horses exclaimed. Her husband had a different thought. He had a bewildered smile on his face. As much as I wanted to say that it appeared he liked it, I bit my tongue. Before we could respond, she stormed off with her husband close on her heels. We blew off our latest confrontation and continued our tour of the Grandstand.

The temperature of the grandstand area increased as did the number of people. We made our way towards the east end of the grandstand. “It looks the rain is letting up. Maybe we can make it to Fan Central or the U booth?” I commented. We talked a bit and decided we would make a move to get to the U booth, just a few blocks away. We had to fight a few rain drops, but we made it in to the booth.

There wasn’t much going on this early in the morning, except for the sale of yellow plastics bags with the block ‘M’ on them being marketed as rain ponchos. Jenny said we should get some, but I told her it was a waste of money. “I’m even getting hot” I say as I pull off the quarter zip long sleeve shirt I had been wearing and tie it around my waist. A we wander around, we do see a couple of people that we know and chat with them a bit. And after deciding that we don’t need anything, we decided to make a move for our next stop, Fan Central. Jenny succumbed and bought a rain poncho before we left. I teased her, but she said she refused to get wet. “You are not going to get wet. Its just around the corner.” Once again, I should have listened to my other half.

We took off from the U of M booth and made our way back down Dan Patch. Just as we were in a ‘no-man’s land’, the skies opened. I gave out a bit of a screech as I became soaked. Jenny laughed the whole distance we needed to cover as the rain drenched me to the bone. I was not a happy camper as we entered the building housing all of Minnesota’s pro Sports teams, save for Twins. Jenny just laughed at me as we stood there, but it didn’t take long for a look of panic to come over her face. “Lex!” she screamed out. I asked her what. She didn’t say anything but just pointed. I looked down and saw that I could probably enter a wet t-shirt contest I was so wet. I looked up in horror and found Jenny standing there with a mischievous smile. “I don’t mind the look babe, but I don’t want to share” she said.

“Ha-Ha very funny. We have to do something!” I almost screamed. Jenny just rolled her eyes and pulled me towards the back of the building to one of the two reason’s we came here, the Minnesota United. I received lots of admiring glances from the several boys, of all ages, who occupied the building. Thankfully there was a girl about our age working the United booth. She let out a little giggle.

“Need something dry?” She asked. Before I could say anything, Jenny pointed to a secluded corner. I could hear her giggle with the girl as I tried to hide myself as much possible. I could hear the girl tell Jenny it would be no problem to use their back area to change. A second later Jenny came back with a United t-shirt and pushed me into the back area used for storage.

“Strip!” She ordered. I was getting more upset as time went. At Jenny, at the rain but mostly at myself. “Are you going to listen to me now?” she asked. My defiant attitude quickly as I changed out of my wet shirt. I nodded my head like a little girl who had been reprimanded. I dried myself off as best I could with the little golf towel that Jenny had also bought and then pulled on the Minnesota United FC T-shirt. I had been planning to buy one for our friend Natalie, but now I guess I was getting on too. Jenny gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered “Better.” We returned to the booth and did some more shopping.

As we were walking away from the United area and heading over for the Wild area, the two of us received a few boos on my new shirt. We both giggled a bit. I will admit that some boys finding me attractive gave me a little boost, though not as much as Jenny’s comment to the guys booing. ‘Sorry guys, she’s all mine” she told them as she wrapped her arms around me.

The one thing I had forgot was that the Vikings now had their own building, which was two buildings down, so after looking at a few more things we went to the Vikings HQ. One again we had to control ourselves from buying anything for a certain namesake in London. It was hard but decided we could buy the cheerleader costume for Jenny as a Christmas present, if we didn’t get the horse.

We looked at the time and realized we still had two hours to kill before Ashley showed her sheep, so we went on our food run. We tried to not eat as much as we did a year ago, but there were so many things we needed to eat. I was smart and did not get the onions on the foot-long hot dog this time and we each had a Pronto Pup. We mixed in some of the other favorites as we toured the fairgrounds and loaded up. The sky had cleared and turned this into a beautiful day. We looked at the various booths and award-winning foods and crafts in the Education/Arts and Crafts building. We sampled more food and just walked hand in hand enjoying the day.

We started to make our way to the animal show area when Jenny’s phone rang. “Hey Katie? You guys are here? Where? We will be right there.” Jenny said to our former roommate and best friend. I just started to walk towards the Commissary building and Café Caribe, as I knew that is where my brother, Katie’s fiancé, would want to be. Jenny just laughed and said, “All of you Quinn’s must think alike.” I stopped and pulled her in for a kiss.

“Get used to it, because you are one now too.” It was the first time I had ever said that to Jenny. She got a proud smile on her face.

“You’re right, I am. Come on Quinn, lets go see the rest of the family” And we proceeded to the beer garden. We told my brother and his fiancée the story of my t-shirt, which got ‘my sister’ practically rolling on the floor laughing at me. ‘You are so dingy sometimes Aly” Katie said to me, before giving me a hug. ‘Its OK, you will learn” she said as she continued to laugh. Her fiancé on the other hand was in no laughing mood.

“What were you thinking? Flaunting yourself like that. You’re a married woman.” My brother told me which got me in a laughing mood. But as I got control of myself, I realized that life kept getting better. Getting teased by my family and my brother being protective of me. It showed just how much they all cared about me.

Especially my beautiful blonde wife, now holding her sides she was laughing so hard. At me.