State Fair and Renaissance Festival

Friday, August 27th, my familty and I went to the Minnesota State Fair. Janice, Tom, Tammy, Dean, Barb, Tim, my mom and dad, Chevis, Dan, Daniel, Cedra, Courtney, Jessica (who I never saw), Gretchen and myself ALL went to the state fair and tried to make order of the chaos. It didn't work too well, our crazy huge group of people pretty much slip up and then met every hour or so at a designated area. I guess it worked okay for a while, but then we all started breaking off and doing our own things. It was a blast.

Dean and I admired this Mighty Mouse Chopper.

Just before we went to get Ice Cream from the best ice cream place at the fair. Located on the side of the East side of the Kidway.

Strawberry is the best... Dean and I agree.

Then we hung out with Chevis and Dan for a while after they got there. Janice was also a part of this little posse. Here's 3/4 of the Pesos posing behind a cutout.

Best picture ever.

We had loads of fun and ate thousands of calories worth of food.

Good stuff.

The following Sunday, August 29, Gretchen and I went to the Renaissance Festival with Paul and Britney. We met up with Michael and Chelsey a while after we got there.

It was awesome.

We Tried on Helmets and hats.

We watched Jousting.

We Played this awesome game called Hnefatafl. A game that predates Chess. And I think is way more fun. It's basically attackers and defenders. Attackers on the outsides and defenders on the inside. Objective is to trap the king, for the attackers, and get the king to escape for the defenders. The pieces are made of deer knuckles or something of that nature.

Paul and I played that game for a little bit and when I turned around to check on Gretchen she was being proposed to by a local villager. It was awesome. She was SO embarrassed. I even took a video of it. But that will have to be uploaded later.

We looked at swords, drank mead, ate chicken wild rice soup from bread bowls and watched all sorts of shows, including Puke and Snot. I love the State Fair but I almost have more fun at the Renaissance Festival.

Well, Back to the State fair tonight with the Peso's, minus the small ones. Hopefully it won't rain on us.

Coon Rapids Crash

Today I went for a ride... less than half way in, 8.5 or so miles, I started crossing the Coon Rapids Dam and BOOM... crash...

I was Crossing the dam, a kid was on the wrong side of the path. I was all the way up against the right side/railing. The far left side was filled with people. I started Ringing my bell and he's not doing anything. I decide to go around him on the left and last minute, he looks up and BOOM... crash-tastic. My rim is all fucked up now and I have a scrape on my knee, bump on my elbow and a bruise on my shoulder... Other than that I'm good... and the kid was fine too. No injuries and his little bike was still functioning.

Here's my Tire.

Totally jacked.

My shoulder...

My elbow.

Not too much...

and my knee.

A little blood but still works.

To the fair tomorrow... YAY!

Scott Pilgrim Round 3

Saw it with Mike and my mom this time. They both loved it and commented on how it's nice to see a movie doing different things and making it work.

Another 7 out of 5 :)

Scott Pilgrim Round Two

I saw the movie again, for the second time. And I must retract my previous review, or at least the recommendation to not go see it. The movie is really good... and everyone should go see it just for something different. And then tell me what you think about it because I'm interested in how everyone else's take on this movie will be.

Just as good the second time. Although I've also read the comics and compared to the comics, the movie isn't as good. BUT STILL AMAZING.

Check it out.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Kinda went into this thinking I might fall asleep just because I was seeing a midnight showing and I got up at 6am this morning.

COMPLETELY WRONG! This movie was one of the most original movies I've seen probably ever, even though it's based on a comic book series.

Before I went to see it I actually read the first few parts of the comic, just so I had something to compare the movie with. As far as I've read, the movie is exactly like the comic... WHICH IS AWESOME!

I will have to finish reading the comic now since I liked the movie so much.

It has it's sappy moments but the whole thing is LITTERED with video game references which, right there, made the movie for me. I mean, it really had everything that I like in a movie including animation, although they were very short sequences. "SPVTW" was also filled with bad ass fight scenes. I was actually surprised who well they integrated all of the make believe actions into the movie, making it feel like it's the normal thing going on. Michael Cera was an excellent choice for this role in my opinion. Just about all of the characters felt like they really fit nicely with each other and the story.

I'm giving the movie a 5/5 with a strong recommendation NOT to go see it because you (most people I know) probably will think it's weird and not get a lot of the little things that really MAKE the movie. With that said, a select few of you (and you know who you are) MUST GO SEE IT! It's amazing and an INSTANT cult classic. This movie is really for anyone looking for a good time with a flashy, adventure, action, fighting, comic, video game, love story type movie.

This Week and Last

So Holly and Everest were here. Chevis, Dan, Gretchen and I joined Holly and Janice at Janice and Tom's place for a game night. That was pretty awesome.

I went for a bike ride on one of the hottest days with my friends in Minneapolis. 9.26 miles.

I went on another Bike Ride with Tom the day after. Another AMAZINGLY hot day. Ended up biking around Lake Minnetonka. 61.12 miles.

Here's some pics.

This is where Tom and I stopped for a dip. I went up to my knees and left my biking shorts on... Tom dipped completely in, he wore his speedos under his shorts.... But those didn't get wet.

It was so hot that day that we stopped for cold beverages twice... and two bathroom breaks... each... and not the quick ones :O

It was so hot that day, we decided to rinse off a bit under a shower by a beach... but it was hot water... didn't help.

Headed back home and came across this shower... it was ice cold and VERY refreshing.

My gloves left some interesting dotted tan lines on my hands, as they always do.

Finally got around to picking corn from my garden... BEST CORN I'VE EVER HAD!

Barbara and Jessica are helping my grandma with her Garage sale... I guess I'm helping as well. And you could even say Tim is helping... to an extent.

I brought a couple old boxes of toys from her garage to my car and found this...

It was a hot one yesterday.

It was a hot one TODAY. At least we're getting some rain now, so that should help, I hope.

Holly and Everest/National Night Out

Holly and Everest are in town... well, WERE in town before Tom and Janice took them, along with Chevis, Dan, Daniel and Cedra to some cabin somewhere for a little fun in the sun and fishing.

Before they left, Gretchen and I went over to visit for a while and here's what Tom and the little guys were doing outside.

Last night was also NATIONAL NIGHT OUT... and some people on my block thew a little bock party.

It was a blast, I didn't know there were so many cool people on my block.

Here's a picture from around 7:20pm... Just after most of us were finished eating...

Not a bad turnout.

We grilled up turkey burgers, regular burgers, hotdogs, cheddar brats and corn on the cob. Not to mention the wide variety of chips and cookies that people brought.

Here's another around 9pm when the party was dying down a bit... and the bugs were getting bad.

I didn't take a picture of over to the right where people were playing Ladder Golf and Bags in a yard.

Good times.