Music Play

***Note to anyone who comes by here to listen to the music ...You will now have to scroll down to the player on the right side and press play yourself. This is to accommodate those who only come to read and are distracted by the music;}

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Fair: A Trip Down Memory Lane

{Prelude}

Before I got to the fair, I was with my niece.  For the second year in a row she was at the National Cheerleading Competition competing with her team.  She was amazing!  It was such gift to be with her.  She (and her whole family—my brother’s family) is moving to California and with our moving thousands of miles and an ocean in the other direction…well, I don’t know when I’ll see her again. (huge heart *sniff, sniff*)

Becca’s on the leftSmile

around home, osceola fair 014

Now she’s on the right

around home, osceola fair 015

Love you Becca!

around home, osceola fair 021

When I met Jared, the kids, and our friends at the fair, they were right in my old stompin’ groundWinking smile with the cows!  As soon as I smelled the barn smells I went back (now) 24 years!!Crying faceand felt like I was ‘home’.  Honestly, I remember when we were in the bus coming home during grade school and my dad had spread manure to fertilize and well, everyone else held their noses but Sara (my twin) and I said, ‘smells like home’.

(I think these are Guernsey's?)

around home, osceola fair 029

Ayrshires and Holsteins (the kind we had)

around home, osceola fair 032

4-H : I remember saying this pledge…not too bad, EXCEPT…

OUR Pledge

I pledge my HEAD to clearer thinking
head image

heart image my HEART to greater loyalty

my HANDS to larger service
hand image

health image
and my HEALTH to better living for my club, my community, my country and my world. (AND MOST OF ALL, MY GOD!)

OUR Motto

4-H clover
To make the best BETTER. (and I lived this one, but didn’t remember it was the mottoWinking smile)

around home, osceola fair 034

These were the smallest cows there…I wished there were the tiny calves still fuzzy and we showed in pre-4-H when we were 5?  It was so, so, so exciting the first year that we were able to stay overnight at the ‘show’.  (the ‘we’ is my twin and I)

around home, osceola fair 035

There were several other animals, like these pigs that made quite the cacophony when we walked down their corridor.

around home, osceola fair 038

The roosters…

around home, osceola fair 039around home, osceola fair 040

‘cocka-doodle-do!’

around home, osceola fair 042

Susie pet the rooster…

around home, osceola fair 043

The ducks were fun…Susie liked to touch their beaks until I saw they had these razor-like teeth along themConfused smile

around home, osceola fair 045

The bunnies were a favorite, especially little Abby’s.  She’s been asking her parents to get one for a pet.

around home, osceola fair 051

Fair food…don’t you just love it?

around home, osceola fair 054

JJ liked his chicken fingers and Susie ate even more of Daddy’s pork barbeque and beans and potatoes SUNDAE than he did!  Honestly, she NEEDS to have her Dad’s metabolism or well, we’re going to have to start working on portion controlRolling on the floor laughing Well she doesn’t drink milk, so do you think that contributes to her insane appetite?

around home, osceola fair 056around home, osceola fair 057

And in the midst, we got this speechless, priceless gift…read more about it here.

around home, osceola fair 058around home, osceola fair 059around home, osceola fair 060around home, osceola fair 061around home, osceola fair 062

Agra-Cadabra Magic Show.  It was really fun!  Except hard to focus since our kids were all over the place.

around home, osceola fair 065

Susie just wanted to crawl around and I finally let her a little bit, but not for long, b/c the floors were filthy.  So, of course, JJ thought he needed to crawl tooSarcastic smile

around home, osceola fair 068

He blew up this balloon at the end and…

around home, osceola fair 072around home, osceola fair 073

he put his head in it!!!  

around home, osceola fair 077

Love these shots!

around home, osceola fair 079around home, osceola fair 082

Donkey on the way to the petting zoo which was an actual mini-zoo!!!

around home, osceola fair 084around home, osceola fair 086

Aren’t these the most beautiful eyes…little llama

around home, osceola fair 088around home, osceola fair 089

Jared says this is a ‘watusee’…longhorns

around home, osceola fair 092around home, osceola fair 095

Beautiful Camel…so tall!

around home, osceola fair 096around home, osceola fair 099

I felt bad, he had no neck room in this tentSad smile

around home, osceola fair 101around home, osceola fair 102around home, osceola fair 106around home, osceola fair 109around home, osceola fair 111around home, osceola fair 112around home, osceola fair 115around home, osceola fair 116around home, osceola fair 117around home, osceola fair 118

Another magician and

around home, osceola fair 120

and all we saw was the unicycle, tightrope and flames!around home, osceola fair 121around home, osceola fair 125around home, osceola fair 127

The ride that our friends went on and JJ said he wanted to, but then couldn’t do it…it was a plane that went round and round and up a little bit.

around home, osceola fair 129

It was only $5 for Jared and I and the kids were free! so was parking!  Great, great fun for so little money, especially in FloridaWinking smile

Background