Another County Fair in the Books

As a parent, I have tried to instill a love of the county fair in my boys.  Growing up, we attended the fair every year, showing cattle, and I would take many different 4-h projects, like sewing, cooking, photography, and child development.  I remember the excitement of rushing to the fair to see what ribbon each project got.  I remember being scared going into the ring leading a 1100 lb calf.  And most of all, I remember saving money all year to go on the rides at the midway.  The Tilt-a Whirl was my all time favorite.  This year was a slim year form my boys, since they are starting to get older and have less time for 4-H.  John entered just two photos, (after much nagging he did finally take a few steps out the back door to snap photos of some wild flowers) but did really well with them. 

 The photo above won Grand Champion Wild Flower.

 This photo won Reserve Champion in Senior Photography and will be going to the state fair.

Noah had quite a few good photos.  He did at least put a little work into his photography and took quite a few photos at Sunken Gardens in Lincoln. Unfortunately his photos did not really feature wild flowers,  However, there were two that really stood out and both will be going to the state fair

 This photo won Grand Champion Senior Photography (yes he beat his older brother).

I think the judge had a hard time deciding which photo she liked best because this photo had Grand Champion written on the corner of the entry tag and then it was crossed out.  This photo received a purple ribbon and is going to the state fair also.  

Earlier this year we got some lambs that were bottle fed.  Noah and cousin Rachael showed them.  The did not get last place.  So that was not bad for just starting out.  The lambs were very small compared to many of the lambs at the show, and are very tame, so they made good lambs for the petting zoo.

Noah was nice and let Rachel show the lamb who led better.

 Noah's lamb did very well too.

 He is all ready to do lambs again next year.  I don't blame him.  They are seriously cute!  We also need to send a huge thank you out to our neighbors the Coopers.  We could not have done this without your help and guidance.

Noah and Rachel also showed bunnies.  He got purples on his big bunnies and a litter of baby Tans all got blues (they were really too young to show).  

Finally it was time for the parade.  Noah was very concerned about attempting to play his trumpet with his new braces.  John was taking care of some State FBLA business and was not able to march in the parade, so I suggested maybe he ask if he could play a drum instead.  It was hard to find him, but he was able to play the base drum in the marching band.  I think that made his day!

Aunt Sharon was wise and had us line up all the cousins to get a photo this year.  Everyone is getting so big!

Ben had fun at the petting zoo, showing off his lambs.  

I think he might be old enough to try it next year.  

 We finished up the fun fair with some rides on the midway.  Ben had a blast.  Mom not so much.  Remember how I said I used to love the Tilt a Whirl?  Well not any more.  I went on with Noah to use up the last of our tickets, and it was horrible.  I kept pleading to the attendant with my eyes to stop the ride and I really think he kept it going longer to see if he could make the old lady throw up.  He got REALLY close.  But I held my cookies.  However, I will never go on that or most likely any ride ever again!