Top 10 Important Lessons Learned at the County Fair

Whoa.  Since school let out for the summer, our lives have been nonstop, action packed and mostly all fun. We began summer break with an adult trip to Las Vegas for the weekend {sorry no Vegas pics} and moved right in to our county fair week.  

There are so many life lessons learned at the county fair.  Every year a few new lessons sneak their way in and the old ones are reiterated.

Here is my Top Ten:

County Fair Lesson #1:  It's really IS OK to accept a foot long, mustard slathered corn dog from a 6 foot 5 bearded man....especially when his name is Jeff.

County Fair Lesson #2:  When your shoes {or your kid's shoes} fall off in the midst of a Zipper ride, don't worry about recovering them, just sheild your head for cover.

County Fair Lesson #3:  Try your darnedest to keep your "whites" as white as possible on show day, even while scooping poop in the barn or walking through poop on your way to the show ring.

County Fair Lesson #4:  When your heifer is "in heat" on show day, try your hardest not to fall down when she jumps on top of you.....all three times.  Good job, Bryce.  {Side lesson for Mom....stifle your scream when your kid is jumped in the show ring by his "in heat" heifer.....I still need to work on this one.}

County Fair Lesson #5:  It's much more fun hanging out at the dairy barn, playing cards with your buds than going to the carnival, any day of the week.

 County Fair Lesson #6:  Down time is important at the trailer, OR..........

ring side....

County Fair Lesson #7 :  Always bring and wear long sleeves and pants when participating in the Pig Scramble...even in 85 degree temperature.

County Fairy Lesson #8 :  When your kid's heifer is in heat, give her a hand {or arm} to use as a pacifier before entering the show ring.

County Fair Lesson #9 :  Always lend a helping hand to your friends and let the older kids show the younger kids the ropes.....they'll listen that way.

County Fair Lesson #10 :  During the hustle and bustle throughout the week, take a moment to stop, look, listen and enjoy the scene.  Great memories are being created.

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County Fair Recap

Have you been wondering where I've been the past week? {or maybe you haven't noticed!} I haven't been blogging due to living out of a trailer at our local Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma this past week.  I'm back now and here's the fair re-cap..

This year, Bryce was old enough to show a large animal so he entered his sweet little Holstein calf, Jinx.  Fair time is so much fun....caring for large animals at the fair, most people camp out in trailers so they're close to their animals for the purpose of cleaning stalls, caring for them and milking them twice a day if they enter a milking cow.  It almost feels like a different world with the kids all running around, busy with their animals, to and from the trailers, like one big happy fair family that sleeps, drinks and eats fair for five days.

During the middle of the week, Paige and I were also in a good friend's wedding.  Needless to say it was quite challenging going from the dusty fair to a flower girl and bridesmaid dress.  I had my doubts on Friday night while cleaning Paige off before rehearsal dinner, but by wedding day, Saturday, she was in much better spirits....thankfully.  My goal was to wash every spec of dried manure off of her body {and mine}, hair and makeup...all while keeping this 6 year old with attitude, happy.

It worked, for about six hours where she then began negotiating her way back to the fair.  Daddy brought her back and all was well in Paige's world once again.

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Ready, Set, Fair Time

June is SUCH a crazy month around here.  One of our local fairs is coming up in just two short weeks and all the last minute details to fair projects need to be complete by next week.  

We're scrambling here.  Not enough time and too long of a to-do list.

Bryce and Paige both are involved with the woodworking and cooking projects through 4H and yesterday was ALL about woodworking.  Starting and finishing a flower planter box and painting some of their projects they've already completed were top priorities.

Each planter box required five cuts.  That's 10 between the both of them.  That's a whole lotta arm movement.  When they became tired and their little arms limp from sawing, I stepped in and helped.

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Candid Shots at the County Fair

Some of my favorite shots at the county fair, in no particular order are;

I love that Dairy Princess, Amanda Moretti can shovel out a stall, while holding her princess composure.

Free ice cream, we were at this booth every day.

Bryce hanging with his cousin, Cameron.

Nice udders on these Holsteins.

Judging in the show ring.

The kids loving the carnival rides.

By the end of the day, all we felt like doing was hanging around.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment, I love to hear from you!. Have a fantastic day!

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A Day at the Fair

My nephew, Gavin is showing Emma {aka lap calf} at the fair this year.  She stays for five days and as you can see, she totally acclimated to her new sleeping arrangements.  Paige named Emma when she was a few weeks old and feels it's part of her responsibility to check on her a few times a day while at the fair....and even take a little rest with her.

After checking on Emma, we were in search of some food.  I was on a quest to find some healthy carnival food.  Spending five days at the fair, I really wanted to keep my food intake as healthy/low fat as possible.

Roasted veggie/panini sandwich was the ticket for me yesterday.  Bryce requested a hamburger and Paige had some turkey and watermelon.

Clover Stornetta has an ice cream booth located near the livestock exhibits and they hand out FREE ice cream cones every day from 1-4 p.m.

They now know us on a first name basis.

We only reserve a small amount of time for the carnival rides.  For us, the fair is more about the livestock exhibits and 4-H exhibits so we try to stick to that portion of the fair every day.

We did, however venture in to the carnival portion, to ride just a few rides last night.

Bryce rode on his first Ferris wheel....

And Dominic took Paige on a few rides.......

What's your favorite 'fair food'?  Mine is a corn dog but haven't had one yet.

Related Posts:

How The Pioneer Woman Helped Bryce Win a Ribbon

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment, I love to hear from you!. Have a fantastic day!

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Gavin's 'Lap Calf'

Our local county fair is just two weeks away and let me tell you, little Emma, the dairy calf is ready.  My nephew, Gavin, is showing Emma at the fair so he's been spending time at the ranch and working with her and his other heifer, Bella. 

Emma leads really well and is SUCH a sweetheart.  Gavin and I coined a new phrase {it's what we do at the calf barn along with naming every calf}.... 'Lap Calf ', because that's just what Emma is or would be if we let her.

My kids are still in school this week so I had a fun time hanging out with Gavin at the calf barn.  I really got to see Gavin's love for cows and calves come shining through.

"Say Cheese" says Gavin to Emma..........and LOOK, she did!

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Pig Scramble

As most of you know, the kids and I spent three entire, long days at our local country fair while Dominic was away on his Scotland trip.  Saturday was Farmer's Day where there were all kinds of activities to participate in such as team penning, wild cow milking, calf scramble, boot scramble, egg toss, etc.  Bryce was able to participate in the pig scramble and the boot scramble. 

The pig scramble is where little piggies are brought into the arena and let loose and all the kids try their hardest to catch one of them, either by the leg or the entire body.  It is hysterical to watch this event.

Anticipation before the piggies are let out....

Some of the pigs are let out....

And, they're off and running and very determined.....

Bryce is trying hard to catch up to this piggy....

Cousin, Cam is after one....

Well, in the end Bryce did not catch a pig but his cousin Cameron did.  The prize was a $5 bill and a ribbon.

After the Farmer's Day activities we walked back to the motor home (camp) and had some snacks....

Cam's dad, Jim, slicing up some sausage....

Kettle chips and french onion dip.....Oh SO GOOD!

Low fat cream cheese on whole grain crackers topped with Tastefully Simple's Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce (which has a kick to it)....my favorite!  Always good to finish off a long day with some tasty food and drink :)

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