Autumn: Fair Time

One of our annual rituals is a trip to our local Ag Fair in West Lampeter.  It's not a flashy fair with parades or rides, it is our favorite though.

My kids used to do rodeo events on Fridays, but we haven't for a few years now.  Still we try to get to the fair at least onetime during its three days.

Yesterday Emma, Rachel and I took Kyle and Kamryn.  They had a great time getting free candy, chips, balloons from the many booths of local businesses or churches.  Some booths are set up with activities like this one with a rock wall.

There are also many categories to enter such as kids collections, art, different sewing categories, photography, growing flowers, vegetables, baking.  My kids have won ribbons here for photography in years past.

Here were some things that caught my eye.

 This was a children's category entry.  It one a first place.

All the quilts are behind plastic, which I understand but it's hard to photograph.

One of our local dairies had a fake cow to milk. Kamryn did this for a long time!  

You can see they have a 'corn hole' type game in the back with ice cream cones.

 We watched some of the 4H kids presenting their calves.  This gal was the only one in this category.  

 My favorite little goats!

Kamryn loves animals.  She has no fear, she just went right up and climbed up to reach the camel!

Do you have a local fair that you go to?

The Fair

Thank you all, you dear, sweet, friends for your encouraging responses to my grumpy post!

Thank you too for your prayers about the fair.  First off - NO RAIN on fair day!  As you can tell from the photos is was mostly cloudy - the sun did come out a bit and we were thankful for my mom and dad's big umbrellas. We always sit at the top of the bleachers where there is a fence behind us so we can rest our backs, the added benefits of being able to use the umbrellas, and not blocking any one's view!

Kyle and my Dad did the open lead line event.  It is for kids 8 and under.  Last year he got a 6th place ribbon.  This year a 5th!  He was excited!  He has one more year in this event, so he says that hopefully he'll get a 4th place ribbon next year!

Emma was in the store so I texted her a photo...she said "They obviously couldn't see his precious freckles!"  She loves this boy!

Lindsay is the manager of the day.  She tells the kids when to get ready and makes sure the horses are ready too.  She only had her siblings to worry about this year.  Some years she has students participating as well.  I have no photos of her, as she mostly sat on the back of Cheyenne and watched all the events.  She REALLY wanted to be able to compete yesterday, but Sandy was not fully recovered yet, and Cheyenne is a plodder - perfect for Kyle's event and Sarah's event which is called "Walk - Trot/Jog."  

This event is for ages 10 and under and was a perfect event for Sarah to do.  This is the first time she has done anything but open lead line.  She is not as confident as my other kids in their riding, and she freaks out easily which for years kept her far away from the horses.

She was so excited about doing this event.  She had practiced.  All the rider has to do is show that they can get their horse to respond to their commands to walk and trot/jog.  And get them to reverse direction and do the same things.  

Imagine my surprise when I arrived for the first event and Sarah was an emotional wreck.  Apparently during some free riding time, a few horses made Cheyenne a bit nervous - their riders were cantering them in the arena - and she turned a bit unexpectedly which made Sarah nervous and pull tight on the reins which made Cheyenne toss her head a few times.  Sarah was sure that Cheyenne had nearly bucked her off, which wasn't true.  This had Sarah crying for hours and saying she wasn't going to do her event, which thankfully was the last event of the youth event.  

I told her she had to control her emotions and stop crying.  She had a long wait and didn't need to decide for several hours yet.  I reminded her of how disappointed she would be after the event, if she didn't try, because she knew she could do it!  I told her don't give into fear, you know you WANT to do this deep down.  I prayed with her...

She finally relaxed and calmed down, and watched the other events...I pointed out regularly how well Cheyenne was doing with Lindsay and being around those other horses down by the arena, and how well she did during Kyle's event with other horses in the arena.  

Lindsay called to her - and she went.  Got on Cheyenne walked her around, backed her up and then it was time to go into the arena.  

One other thing I had said to her previously was that once she got in there and saw that she could do this she would be grinning so big!  And that she would be strutting out of the arena so proud of herself.  Well guess what?  She did exactly those two things!  

When she came around the arena to our side I didn't know if she would be in tears or not, I stood in my spot watching her, nearly holding my breath...sure enough the biggest grin you ever saw!  I nearly wept!

There were 6 riders in this event because one rider didn't show, so we knew that she would get a ribbon.  But to me the victory had already been won - she conquered her emotions and fears!

Oh, and by the way she finished 5th out of 6 entrants!  You should have seen the grin then!

She came running to me - I embraced her, told her "You did it! You conquered your fear!"

Then I took this photo with my phone

 
Rachel rode her pony Liberty in two events yesterday, but Libby did not cooperate and complete the events.  I am proud of Rachel for not giving up, even though she knew in her heart Libby wouldn't cooperate.  She also recognized that it is time to move on to a new horse.  She has outgrown the pony in skill and size!  Rachel has grown about 3 inches or more in the last year!  This will be hard because she loves her pony!  But she is starting to be excited about the possibilities of a horse she can compete with!

So it was a good day.  Lessons learned, fun had, victories won.

We are now moving on into my birthday week.  Tim is on vacation, we may go visit Tim's dear Aunt on an overnight trip to the other side of the Alleghenies, I get to meet a sweet blogging friend this week, something is brewing for my day itself, and I have chosen to get fruit trees for my birthday gift!

I'm getting excited.  I am nearly middle aged now - at least I like to think so, since longevity runs in my family!  Next year I will hit the big 5-0.  It seems incredible to me!  I have a post brewing about all that for Wednesday!

So, what are you all up to on this happy Saturday?

So, Today I Was Grumpy

and I kept it to myself, but basically I was feeling put upon and self centered and kept telling myself I had the right to do so.  I didn't.  Sigh....

We had a good school day though, and I am enjoying our study of the animals that live in the ocean.  We are studying toothed whales right now.

I managed to make a new chicken dish for dinner - I found the recipe on Pinterest.

Source: rachelschultz.com via Deanna on Pinterest

It was delicious, and easy.  Oh and I didn't have rosemary so I obviously left it out, and I am thinking you could substitute other herbs and it would still taste great!

Well, the tomorrow is the big day for the horse events at our local fair.  Kyle is doing open lead line with Grandpa and Cheyenne, Sarah is doing walk, trot, jog equitation on Cheyenne and Rachel is doing barrels and pole bending on Libby.  Lindsay loves to do the evening events but unfortunately this year Sandy is unable to compete.  This last week Liberty got into Sandy's stall and kicked her in the legs and the side, and while she is recovering just fine, she is 22 years old and Lindsay wants to give her the opportunity to really heal and not push her too fast.

Oh and it is supposed to rain all night tonight and all morning.  Joy.  Nothing like sitting in the rain on metal bleachers.....sigh.  

Challenges abound...pray for my attitude!

Rachel and Kyle last year with Liberty.

The Long, Long, Day.

 The fair is such a fun time, somehow I always dread the thought of it on the All Western Horse Show day, but it is always good.


Rachel helped Kyle with the Open Lead Line event.  

 They looked so cute...

This was the best behaved Liberty was all day. Sigh...she gave Rachel trouble on each event, so Rachel didn't do as well as she had hoped, but she had a great attitude about it and enjoyed the process.  She learned a lot. I am so proud of her.

Kyle was the only one who won a ribbon yesterday!  Was he thrilled?  Oh yeah!  He wore it nearly all day and even got mustard on it from his hotdog!  Such a boy - he has seen his sisters bring home these lovely ribbons and now he has one too!  All he had to do was look cute - he's got that covered!

 It was sunny and cool at the same time yesterday - I got sun yet didn't even break a sweat.  We had to use sweaters and blankets last evening.

She hates having her picture taken so she is making a face - but this young woman is amazing.  Coached Rachel and one of her students Abigail all day, took care of both horses (Liberty was full of it yesterday - she broke her tie to the trailer and got loose for one thing).  Her events were in the evening and she was thrilled to get a personal best time on in the pole bending, competed in the barrel racing (she would have been close to her best time, except she and Sandy knocked the last barrel down, and she and her old lady (Sandy) ran the 50 yard dash in 11+ seconds.  Was she disappointed to not do better and get ribbons?  No - she was thrilled with her personal best!  She and Rachel both love to compete with their horses period, though they do love winning ribbons!

 Miss Kamryn and her momma and daddy came to watch her Aunties compete...she loved all the animals and her balloon, too!

The setting sun from the bleachers at the arena...

Here is a photo from last night.  It was after 11:00 pm when we left the fair.  Lindsay and Rachel had been there for 14 hours.  Emily had been there, went to work and came back.  We were all exhausted, can you tell?


Today we prep for our New England trip...we are excited to go, and we have lovely memories of the fair to bring with us.  God is so good.

Fun Week Ahead

This week is full of fun stuff.

Today, the kids have are going to be participating in making a commercial for a local corn maze.

                                                                                                www.images.google.com

Lindsay has new riding students this afternoon.  She has had a good summer with lessons  for 5 students and now is adding two more students.  If the weather holds, she will be able to give lessons for nearly 2 more months before it gets too cold to ride.  

Wednesday begins our local agricultural fair.  We usually go several times. This year the girls want to go on to see the students showing their cows, sheep and pigs.  For those of you who live in the 'big city' like I did growing up, this is actually a lot of fun and very interesting as well as educational.  We will be spending time there all day on Friday due to the equine events.  Rachel will be competing during the day in the youth events and Lindsay will be competing in the evening.  One of Lindsay's students is going to be competing along with Rachel.  

The weather has been hot the last few years at the fair, but it looks like it is going to be cool this year, and rainy.  So I am going to pray the the cool weather stays, but I'm going to pray for the rain to go away.  

Sunday, right after church, we are headed to New England!  I am sooo excited!  On Monday, which is my birthday, we will be in Maine...I have wanted to see Maine and the coastline there for many years.  Tim and my Dad and our friend Denny are planning on overdosing on seafood!  We will be meeting up with a blogging friend, Vee and her husband, John!  We still have to work out the details as to where.  

The rest of our trip will find us in the White Mountains in NH, exploring the beauty of Lake Champlain, and into New York.  I will try to blog in the evenings but I make no guarantees!  

Meanwhile we have to get through this week.  Yesterday, as I was taking my son home, we heard and thumping type noise under the hood of the van.  We pulled over just down the road from my parents house and found that the serpentine belt was shredding.  There was a lot on it yet and we decided to get to my parents house to deal with it.  We barely made it up their steep driveway but we did!  We opened up the hood, the belt was really shredded!  We started to talk about what places would still be open on a Sunday afternoon.  Nate called his friend who is a mechanic at Pep Boys.  Nate talked to the parts department found out what we needed, my Dad drove us over to get it.  

You maybe wondering where Tim was in all this?  Well, he had taken all the other kids, besides Lindsay who was with us in the van, hiking along with another family from church.  I couldn't reach them by phone, so I sent a text to Emily, and Tim called just as we reached the store!

He and the kids came out to my parents, got the belt on in about 20 minutes or so, and we had a nice visit with my parents!

Whew!  I am so thankful that this happened before our trip, and that it happened so close to my parents house!  I am also thankful for my son Nate who stepped in and took care of the details!  I didn't have to do a thing!

What a start to a busy week!

 

Lindsay's Gift...

Isn't this lovely?  I am blessed to have this photograph hanging on my living room wall.  It is 8x10 right now but Lindsay had it enlarged for me, I just need to get the right mat and frame.

This photograph was taken in Vermont last year.

Yesterday she entered it in a local fair.  

We found out tonight that it won first place!

It is so wonderful when you see your children using the gifts and skills the Lord has given them.

Congratulations Lindsay!

Fair Time Again! UPDATE!

Lindsay, Sarah, Rachel and one of Lindsay's riding students all won ribbons at the fair!

Bethany, Lindsay's student, did the grooming and showmanship. She has just started lessons and wanted to participate in the fair in some way. She was one of 8 participants in this category. She got 6th and earned a ribbon.

Sarah did the Open Lead Line with Grandpa and won a 5th place ribbon out of 9 participants!

Lindsay had fun this year with the games like musical chairs, dollar bareback, and the boot race. She won a 5th place ribbon in the boot race and had such a fun time!

Rachel participated in the 10 and under Walk, Trot, Jog Equitation. She placed 2nd out of 6 participants!

We also need to mention that they did all this with the same horse. Sandy is the hero of the day! She gets extra Rounders tonight!

Unbelievably it is time for the fair again!

It seems like just last year we were there and the girls where doing fun events with Sandy, Lindsay's horse.

Yesterday we went by the expo booths and found that Lindsay won a blue ribbon for one of her photos and Emily got a 4th place ribbon for one of hers! Fun stuff!

I will use Lindsay's camera today and try to get some good shots. My camera is in need of repair. It will go to the shop soon.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Signs of Autumn

www.allposters.com

Several days ago came a sound that told me indeed the season is changing. Geese. Flying overhead looking for a place to rest for the evening. We have seen them every evening since then.

Another sign is that many of the trees have a hint of changing color on them! This is so exciting to me every year! The kids laugh as every year I say "Look at that tree!" or "That is gorgeous!" They love it too!

In our county a there are local fairs - especially agricultural fairs. You know that the last few years the girls have done different events in the youth rodeo on our horse Sandy. This year they will be doing that as well. But they are also entering their photography. One fair was this week, and Emily won a second place ribbon for this photograph of hers.

Sorry it is so small - I can't get it to enlarge! It was shot on sepia tone. With her little point and shoot. Just think of the great shots she will be able to get when she gets a new camera! We are very happy for her and proud!

The weather this weekend is going to be lovely. The menfolk are going to work on the barn tomorrow. They will be joined by Becky's oldest son. It will be a blessing to have his help!

Have a wonderful weekend friends!