The County Fair

As I am sure most who still read my blog know, my kids participate in a local 4H Club. It is not what you probably think of when you think of a 4H club, but 4H it is. As a result, they've been exposed to entering things in our local County Fair. We didn't enter last year, but friends in our club did. This year, Ashley was determined to enter something in the Fair. Her original plan for cross stitching an owl design and turning it into a pillow fell through early in the summer when she ended up to busy to get it done. At the end of July, however, she went off to a week of art mini camp. One of the middle school art teachers, who also happens to live around the corner from us and go to church with us, holds mini art camps in her home during the summer. Ashley attended one last year and loved it. Therefore, when Mrs. B offered to let Ashley attend a class that several of her friends from school were doing at the outrageous "super good neighbor discount," of $40, we sent her right over. The class usually costs 3 times that much. Anyhow, for 5 days, Ashley rode her bike or scooter around the corner for 2 hours each afternoon. By the time she was done, she had created lots of great things, two of which she decided to enter in the Fair. She chose the batik pillow she painted and sewed and the acrylic painting she made of an ice cream sundae.

When it came time for 4H entries, Ashley was sick, and I didn't get everything together and to the 4H office in time. As a result, she entered in open class, which as the name suggests is open to anyone in the county. It turns out that putting her painting in a frame was not preparation enough. It wasn't wired, so the fine arts section was not going to take it. I knew Ashley would be disappointed but a good sport about it. Indeed she was, but thanks to very good and quick thinking friends, we determined it could qualify in a handicrafts category, and one of my friends took it back to the Fair and entered it when she took her boys for their 4H entries.

Wednesday was an early dismissal day from school, so we took the kids out to the fair just to the exhibition tent to see how everyone did. I have to say that our little 4H club did well. Everyone who entered something won a ribbon of some kind, and we had 2 champions and 2 reserve champions included in that. Ashley won a second place ribbon for her painting and a first place ribbon and reserve champion for her pillow. She was so excited about the ribbons. The $8 dollars that came with them was truly an after thought. The kids already have plans for their entries next year.

Painting on display at Fair

Pillow on display with ribbons

Hee hee. Reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.

A little time for goofing around

The gang at the Fair on Wednesday

Better pictures of the painting and pillow

We went back as a family on Saturday so that the kids could see the rest of the Fair and so that Trent could see Ashley's entries on display. At the last minute, Ashley decided to enter the 4H junior archery competition with her friend Leonora who was there for that competition. She hadn't shot her bow in quite a while, so I was weary of this plan, but she assured me it would be good practice. You can't say that girl didn't have a great attitude about it. The kids shot 3 arrows each from 5, 10 and 15 feet. The targets were low, which was a bit difficult. At 15 feet, Ashley sunk her last arrow into the inner blue ring (6 point ring). I am sure it counted for more points considering the distance, but I am not sure how many. There were 30 kids shooting, and we had other things to do, so we left and had lunch, rode a couple of rides and left. We figured there was nothing to find out. When I returned Monday to pick up Ashley's items, ribbons, and check, I noticed the check was for $9. Confused, I looked over the itemized list at the bottom. It turns out, Ashley placed 6th in the youth archery competition and won $1. Guess who wants to practice her shooting more and enter the 4H shoot at the end of October?

That shot with the target is the arrow that won her 6th place.

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Floods oh my!

First of all, I want to thank everyone who checked in on us to make sure we were o.k. during Hurricane Irene. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. It is nice to know we have people looking out for us.

We started school off with an earthquake. That first weekend brought Hurricane Irene, and now we are dealing with some flooded roads as it has been raining pretty steadily for 3 days now. It really is quite a collection of weather and geographical phenomenon we've experienced.

It would seem that we are back to normal routine (well, mostly normal). Last week, we only had one day of school as the school was in one of the areas that lost power. The school regained power around 5:00 Wednesday evening, but they had already called the day of school and did not want to mess around with parents' child care arrangements, so the kids had four days off last week courtesy of Hurricane Irene. I am still of the opinion that they should have had school Thursday, but that is a different blog post perhaps.

On day two of our hurricane sponsored mini-break, we joined some friends for a day at the National Zoo. I love the National Zoo. It isn't as big and grand as many other zoos, but it is really fun, has something for everyone, and because it is part of the Smithsonian, is free. Jon got to see his beloved giant pacific octopus. Ashley and her friend Abby were able to go up to the bird house (a part of the zoo we have previously neglected), and Sammy got to visit the great ape house. In fact, when we left the great ape house, the orangutans were crossing the wires built for them from their outdoor area all the way to the Think Tank. I'd never seen this on previous trips. My friend Stefanie has been to the National Zoo many times and had not previously seen this, but what a fun sight for all. I am only sorry my nephews who were here for a visit in late June didn't get to see this.































So, by the end we were all very ready for school to come back. Sammy said it felt like first grade had never really happened. It really almost felt like first day of school take two on Tuesday sending them back for almost an entire week. It has been an entire week of indoor recess though as it has been raining since Monday afternoon. We were glad for the break but are very glad to be back.

In above pictures, you can see the alligator hanging out in the grass outside the reptile house, the whole gang of kids from that day, and the male lion. Behind him are the lion cubs born earlier this year. You can see that they are starting to resemble full grown lions more than cubs.