Sometimes You Hit And Sometiems You Miss

Event flyer

Event Banner

Like I previously mentioned, David and I are trying much harder to take in activities and explore the region.  We had some cramming to do during this weekend, however, because Saturday was our only day for family time.  David had to fly off bright and early Sunday morning for a business trip in Orlando.  This weekend, we initially we had marked our calendars to attend an Oktoberfest that was going to be held at the state fairgrounds, yet after looking into the event a little further we realized that the tickets were $25 each.  $50 just to walk in....not to mention any food or beer.  We would have *possibly* considered that if David and I had a sitter and could make an afternoon/evening of the event, but with two kids in tow, our stay would be short and totally not worth the cost.

A Lovejoy kind of feel

Madeline on the slide portion of the bounce house

Mini-golf, anyone?

We took a look at the internet and decided to attend South Saint Paul's Fall Festival Booya.  It sounded promising - mini-golf, face painting, kids' stuff, petting zoo (uh, where was that??).  For those who know me well, I think you could say that I am typically up for just about anything, but this had to be the lamest festival I have ever been to.  I feel bad saying this because I know that some committee probably worked hard to pull this together, but unless you live in that immediate neighborhood it was certainly not worth the time.  Since Madeline was all geared up for doing something fun, we stayed approximately 15 minutes, let her bounce in the bounce house and I let her buy a $1 ring at one of the stands.

David rolling his eyes

For WNYers, the only way I could compare this festival to anything is to Lovejoy's Iron Island Festival (and I feel bad saying that because, in my early 20s, I lived in Lovejoy for about 4 years). And the best way to sum up the experience is by looking at the photo of the mini-golf which was set up around gas pumps at a gas station.  Like I said, we did let Madeline jump at the bounce house (set up at the same gas station) and then we quickly had to think of a plan B for dinner.

Half devoured "Plan B"

One of the previous weekend adventures that David and I enjoyed with the kids was an Italian festival.  When we were there we sampled some amazing food and so David suggested we try out one of the restaurants that was at the Italian fest.  We saved the day by stopping at DiGidio's in St. Paul.  We definitely showed up just in time.  We only had to wait 20 minutes for a table but as we were waiting, I heard the wait time keep getting longer and longer.  At one point I heard them say 2 hour wait!  The best way to describe the restaurant is that it is somewhat comparable to Payne's in North Tonawanda (but a little nicer).  The food was fairly reasonable and one of the specials of the day was the same Cheese Tortellini that we had tried at the Italian festival.  The sausage in the the sauce gave the dish a good kick of spice....yum!  I would defintiely go back there again.....and keep this in my back pocket for another "Save The Day - Plan B".