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 left

Now she’s on the right

Love you Becca!

When I met Jared, the kids, and our friends at the fair, they were right in my old stompin’ ground with the cows!  As soon as I smelled the barn smells I went back (now) 24 years!!and 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?)

Ayrshires and Holsteins (the kind we had)

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

OUR Pledge

I pledge my HEAD to clearer thinking

my HEART to greater loyalty

my HANDS to larger service

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

OUR Motto

To make the best BETTER. (and I lived this one, but didn’t remember it was the motto)

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)

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

The roosters…

‘cocka-doodle-do!’

Susie pet the rooster…

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

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

Fair food…don’t you just love it?

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 control Well she doesn’t drink milk, so do you think that contributes to her insane appetite?

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

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

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 too

He blew up this balloon at the end and…

he put his head in it!!!  

Love these shots!

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

Aren’t these the most beautiful eyes…little llama

Jared says this is a ‘watusee’…longhorns

Beautiful Camel…so tall!

I felt bad, he had no neck room in this tent

Another magician and

and all we saw was the unicycle, tightrope and flames!

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.

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 Florida