We had planned to go with my mom & stepdad, since I had extra Exhibitor passes (BOGO free). We decided to meet up at the Fair, because Elizabeth gave up naps cold turkey that day, and my mom had some errands she was taking care of.
Irony of ironies, despite all of our stuff going on and next to zero coordination, we pulled into one of the 6ish parking lanes (as directed by the staff at the Fairgrounds), and Robert said, "Hey, is that your mom's rig?" Yep; right next to ours. Ha!
Elizabeth - who had finally passed out a few minutes into the trek down to Monroe - woke up and was happy, happy, happy when she saw her Nana & TaTa! And we were all thinking "oh joy...no nap baby!"
But she actually did really well for having no nap, and our first stop was "My Braunze!" of course! We still have to remind Ellie that Brauze is actually Auntie Ashley's horse, lol!
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| Braunze looked so handsome! |
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| Smiling with Auntie! |
Auntie Ashley was in between events, so we got to visit both she and Braunze!
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| We have some work to do on the whole "Smile!" request... |
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| Ellie is always surprised when other people mimic her! |
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| Grandma & Ellie visit Braunze |
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| I love her face! "Is this a good activity?" |
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| She was smiling right before I snapped this one! |
A trip to the Fair to see "her" Braunze and Auntie with Grandpa & Grandpa (and Nana and TaTa and Mommy and Daddy - seriously, she had all of her entourage there!) would not have been complete without the opportunity to sit on Braunze! He was a good sport, even though we interrupted his precious nap time!
Shortly after we arrived, though, Auntie Ashley had to warm up with Brauze for the next event. We saw Celeste, Scott & Lisa on the way with Jericho!
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| Here's Celeste on Jericho! (And her awesome daddy, making sure everything is ready!) |
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| It really wasn't fair that they had to warm up so quickly - they were both already tired! But they did great! |
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| Celeste & Jericho, ready for the half 8! |
We followed Auntie Ashley into the arena to warm up, and then we went to take our seats in the big arena where the events were going on.
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| Here's a super cool picture of Auntie Ashley in action with Braunze! |
We got to watch a few events, and that was the highlight of our Fair adventure! Robert's mom joked that this is the last year we can enjoy only having to be in the big arena for 2 classes, as Elizabeth will be in Trainer's next year. I am SO not ready for that, lol!
It was starting to rain when one of the events was done, and Auntie Ashley was getting ready with Emma for Rescue Ride. That meant Braunze had to be led back to his stall until after that next event.
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| Here's Daddy & Elizabeth, riding Braunze back! |
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| I love her face, even though it's hard to see! |
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| Here's Daddy, proudly riding Braunze with Elizabeth, while Grandpa & Grandma help lead him in! |
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| This was the last picture I got - notice the wet spot on the left side of my lens! Ugh! |
The best part about going to the Fair on the particular day that we did was that it was threatening to rain all afternoon. But it never really did. We got a few sprinkles, but it really wasn't bad, and it wasn't crowded, either! Except this last one, where my camera lens got wet. :(
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| It took a minute, but Emma got on! |
We went back in to see the next event, Rescue Ride. Emma and Ashley were riding Emma's horse, Daisy. I'd like to note that Ashely had never ridden Daisy until this exact moment, and they also never got an opportunity to practice. They did FANTASTIC, though!
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| Coming home! Sadly, as you can see in the picture, Daisy did step out, so they DQ'd on that event, but it was still a lot of fun to watch! |
Unfortunately, I didn't get a clear picture of Abby doing Rescue Ride, because I was taking pictures just fine, and then the light changed - again - in that arena. So I was fiddling with my camera when she started going. Sorry, Abby! I'll catch it next time.
Because my sweet baby girl loves bunnies so very, very much, the next stop was definitely the 4-H barn to see all the bunnies! (Even though I was totally eager and anxious to see how my entries did in the Exhibitor Buildings! Ah, the things we sacrifice for our kids...)
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| She is so spoiled... |
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| Nana taking Ellie around to all the bunnies! (Yes; that is actually her "smiling" face). |
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| She was making cat noises - none of us know why, lol. I think she was just excited to see the bunnies! |
At some point during all of this, I turned to my stepdad and said, "I see another bunny in TaTa's future!" To which he shook his head vehemently and said, "Nope. Nada. I see a horsie in mommy & daddy's future!" Well played, TaTa.
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| I'm fairly certain that actually touching Rachel's bunny was not on the list of approved activities! |
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| "Mommy? Ba ba ba ba ba!!" |
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| Soft bunny |
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| "Bah-bah ba!" AKA, "bye-bye, bunnies!" |
Nana wasn't the only one who got to enjoy the bunnies with Ellie Jo!
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| Here's TaTa and Ellie, checking out the bunnies! |
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| Elizabeth got her first Fair corndog! |
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| "No, Dad - I want the piece you just ate!" |
After some of us got some food, there was (finally!) time to go see how my exhibits did!
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| The winning Grange's display! |
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| It has nothing to do with me, except that I love to see it, lol! |
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| A picture of my pictures! 2 1st place ribbons and a 2nd place ribbon! That's better than my 1st, 2nd and 3rd last year. Yay! |
So, we were able to find my applesauce (which the Kings also found!), but not my blueberry jam. :( I have a sneaking suspicion that it was DQ'd, mostly because all of the rules regarding Food Preservation are so specific. Oh well. I'm going to start canning earlier in the year next time around, and try to enter more stuff, if I can!!
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| My chair got a BIG blue 1st place ribbon! It was the Class Winner! WAHOO!!! |
Huge shoutout to my sweet friend, Kelly, who graciously gave me this adorable little chair to restore for Elizabeth to use! Without her kindness and generosity, I'd have nothing to show here!
And that's really why I like entering stuff I do in the Fair - I like sharing with others my love of hobbies and crafts!
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| Speaking of winners, here's Ellie with Daddy in front of Auntie Jenny's 1st place quilt! |
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| After they had food, TaTa and Ellie were both much happier, and definitely loved spending time together the rest of the afternoon! |
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| Here's me with my chair! That little book at the bottom right is all the pictures and descriptions of my process - and I left it at home by mistake the day I drove 3 hours to drop off that chair. I sure hope that helped the judges make their decision! |
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| Checking under TaTa's hat! |
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| By the time we got to the pigs and cows, Elizabeth was pretty much exhausted! |
Next stop: Pigs, cows, sheep and goats!
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| This was a new expression she added to her repertoire this weekend, lol! |
But as tired as she was, she just kept going!
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| "Hi pig!" |
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| Making pig noises, lol! Best picture ever! |
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| Yep - she insisted on walking like a big girl! TaTa is behind her because she was so tired, she was losing her balance! |
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| Nana wanted to show her sheep, and was asking Ellie what sheep said. She literally said, "Bah." And then stared off into space, lol! So tired. |
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| Walking with Daddy |
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| Despite being completely exhausted she was super happy! |
So we walked through all the animal barns. We did not do the "petting zoo" area, because she was just spent.
The day ended for Elizabeth with her very first carousel ride! We weren't sure she would even care about it, but she definitely loved it, and Daddy did, too!
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| I get to ride, mommy! (She was barely tall enough...WITH her ponytail, lol! I think their measuring stick is off...) |
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| Daddy showing Ellie how to hold on. |
Elizabeth thought the very best part was that she got to ride a "real life Zoe" like her Zoe Zebra lovey that she adores!
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| I get to ride a real life Zoe?!! AMAZING! |
We all went back to the camper for dinner, and Nana & TaTa took Ellie home with them, in hopes that they could get her to take a good nap on the way home.
Due to the long weekend, Elizabeth didn't go to Nana & TaTa's today like she usually would on a Monday. Instead, we got to spend time together as a family and get stuff done around the house. It was great!
Here is the video of Ellie Jo's carousel ride. Enjoy!
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