It’s that time of year again—fair season! Having grown up in 4-H and showing horses and cattle, I love this time of year. And what’s even more special is getting to share it with my own kids. 4-H was and still is much more than just showing livestock, but preparing a market project for the county fair is a large part of our daughter’s experience right now. She exhibited a Hereford heifer, and two Angus steers. She also made some pretzel bread and took three photos for the open class division. And both girls did the Great Shopping Challenge again. They had to buy five items for less than $25 and put together an outfit. Then, they modeled in the Style Review. Emma made Snickerdoodles for the open class foods division. As a Cloverbud, she just gets to participate, and not compete, so she was thrilled to get a blue ribbon on her cookies. :0)
Each day started with early mornings-MJ and her Dad were up before sunrise to get to the barn early so she could get all the animals washed, combed and dried. The first day of the fair was the beef show, with breeding, then market, then showmanship later that night. It’s always fun to see friends and hang out. The kids love trying all the different fair food. Our little fair has a great community atmosphere, and I love walking around seeing all the people and exhibits. Reminds me of growing up, and the closeness of my hometown. The girls’ 4-H club had a float in the parade on Thursday, and Friday was the market animal sale. Saturday was the awards assembly and the Style Review. We have a great club, and all the kids really care about each other. Since we just have cattle there, we spend most of our time in the beef barn and around our beef kids. They are cream of the crop, letting Emma and Jayten hang out, pet their animals, clean their stalls with them, etc. I hope my kids love to help clean this much when they get older too!
Other highlights included a water fight with the best friend to cool off on the hot days, the stick horse race where little J got his own ribbon, working with Dad to get steer ready to sale and Baby B’s first fair. Such a wonderful week!
•several iPhone photos included here
