Special Events and Stuff

1. Jeremy’s Birthday.  It happens every year during fair week.  It makes it difficult to squeeze in something that isn’t fair related to be birthday special.  And this year, he was out of town for a few of the days too!  It worked though.  He chose to go to El Campesino, which we hadn’t been to in awhile.  We invited his mom to come, too.  We all got huge and delicious meals – my quesadilla lasted me three different meals! 

2. Soccer Night with Central Christian.  Every year, the girls’ soccer teams are invited to run on the field with the high school girls at Central and be announced!  Last year, we had conflicts that night.  This year, we could do Ellie’s night, but on Madison’s night we had other plans already.  Ellie was a little nervous, but she tried it anyway.  I think she felt pretty cool out there in the end!

         

3.  Cheer Clinic.  The past few years, both Madison and Ellie have participated in the cheer clinic at the school.  They do a few days of practice, and then they cheer at the Friday night football game for one quarter.  This year, only Madison chose to participate.  Ellie felt it would be too much with it being fair week and soccer starting up.  Madison is always in the back row, and is hard to get on camera hiding behind everyone.  But it doesn’t matter if I catch her on camera or not.  She had a great time, and we know that.  This year she cheered next to Mallory, one of her good friends.  It think that made it fun, too.  She also actually turned and watched some of the game.  Afterwards she said, “It is kinda funny when they tackle each other.” I said, “Yep.” 

    

4. Megan came over to spend the night.  This one was set up on a whim via a FaceTime session.  Those things can last forever and usually nothing is accomplished, but this time, they got smart and started setting things up!  It worked out well.  We made pizza for supper.  It is always a fun and fairly easy activity. 

5. Pepper waits for his hot dog treats to be microwaved.  It must be an agonizing 15 minutes.

6. Jeremy had his 25th Class Reunion.  It was at a beautifully decorated barn one of his classmate’s families own.  It was not as awkward as I imagined it to be.  The food was delicious.  Jeremy had a great time reconnecting with many that were there. 

7. The girls draw and color all the time.  I liked this self-portrait Madison did on the whiteboard.  I couldn’t save it, so I captured it.

Wayne County Fair (Part 2)

We went back to the fair on Monday.  It was student day – all the kids in the county get the day off and into the fair for free.  In the past, I thought if I went before noon, I avoided seeing many kids over the age of 10, but this year…. I feel like I saw them all.  It was also a nice day. 

We got the unlimited ride bracelet to start the morning.  The girls started with a few small ride favorites to begin.  The Dragon Wagon is the best; it will be sad when they are too big.

    

Then, they moved to the bigger rides.  Their favorite, by far, was this Cliff Hanger ride where you lay down.  I did it last year with Madison, and it was a lot of fun. 

They also tried this Mega Bounce, which from the outside didn’t look too bad, but because they were little, their heads were bouncy against the harnesses.  It was not their favorite.

They did the Crazy Cars.  This one was okay for them.

They did this one, I don’t remember the name of it.  It takes you slowly up, and then it drops you unexpectedly.  They came off smiling, but Madison said it made her legs shaky.

Jeremy met us to ride the Ferris Wheel.  This is my gift to the girls every year, but I may stop doing it.  I don’t like it.  When we slowly move to let people on and stop all the time, I completely freak out.  I have to focus on my breathing and try not to move.  Once the ride is going, I don’t mind it.  The views are also good.

    

We met Gloria for lunch – Auntie Anne’s hot dog pretzels and some turkey sandwiches.  Then, we squeezed in a pony ride for Ellie (her allowance splurge) and a carnival dart game for Madison (her allowance splurge). 

Then, tired and a bit sunburned (me), we headed home.

    

And really, all I want at the fair is some of this kettle corn….

Until next year Wayne County Fair….

Wayne County Fair

Our yearly trek to the fair happened at the beginning of this month.  Our first day was spent looking at buildings and hanging around watching the goat show.  The weather was beautiful!

We found artwork in the school building.  The girls always like to see what the teacher chose to submit.  Madison had a few things – a diorama type thing, a ceramic bowl, and a ship.

         

Ellie had an abstract piece.

   

There were other buildings, like the fruits and veggies building.  This is fun for us to search out the Rohrs produce since we know them.  These gourds were all by people we know, and two of the scarecrows (the big one and the one with the wheelbarrow were made by Chuck and Patty). 

    

The 4-H building was a new place for us this year where we found things of ours – a cake decorating poster (Madison) and a molded figure (Ellie).

    

Sam and Lilli showed chickens this year, too.  So, we checked out their boring white meat chickens, but our attention was caught by this fancy rooster.The rest of the day we sat and watched Sam and Lilli show goats.  This is new territory for me, since I didn’t have 4-H animals as a kid.  It is more competitive than I thought.  And while it is not a sport, there is tension in the arena.  It was fun to watch Sam and Lilli work with their goats.  They had showmanship first where the judge is watching how the person handles the animal.  It is also grouped by age levels, so you compete against others your age.  Then, they have the show where they judge the quality of the animal.  This one is grouped by the weight of the goat.  They both did a nice job with their goats both times. 

Lilli’s goat, Gideon, was a bit uncooperative during showmanship, but she remained calm, which is what the judge is looking for.  Lilli placed sixth, I think, for this category. 

    

Sam’s goat, Samson, cooperated well for showmanship, and Sam worked hard at getting himself in the right position for the judge as she walked the arena.  He ended up placing 1st in his class. 

    

In between the two shows, the goats get a break to rest, eat, and get cleaned up again.  It was a group effort to get them show ready, since the judge was moving quickly through the various weight classes.  It was fun to help out a little.

    

Lilli and Sam both took 1st for the quality of their goats in their respective weight classes.  Then, they had to go against each other (and others) for grand champion.  Lilli took 3rd Overall. 

  

While I am proud of the way they placed, it was just neat to see their hard work be showed off.  Their goats knew what they wanted them to do and responded.  Sam and Lilli took their position seriously, but also had fun out there.  It was just fun to watch. 

We checked out the baby animals some time during the day.  The donkey caught our eye the most; he had such soft hair.

We headed home after 8 – tired, happy, and a little bit grimy.  It was a good day.