County Fair

As a child, I loved going to the county fair. It was an opportunity to see friends I hadn't seen all summer, enjoy yummy calorie-rich food (fry bread, caramel apples, cotton candy, yakisoba noodles & teriyaki chicken on a stick), marvel at the crafts and floral arrangements.

Since my little ones were born, we've gone to the fair annually but we spend most of the time looking at the animals, we take in a few of the exhibits and then depart after a bite to eat. As the kids have been getting older, we spend a little more time and enjoy more of what the fair has to offer. My daughter loves the rides... and come to discover, so does my son (a little timid at first, he declined the 'tiger roller-coaster' - but brave and outgoing after his initial ride). It was a lot of fun watching them - a good test for Disneyland in October. :)

The kids enjoyed 7 rides a piece and then we all got something to eat for dinner. The kids chose "Corn-Dogs, Fries & Soda" - a special time so we treated them to soda. The little guy is using his words more and more now and it is so cute to listen to him verbalize his desires. I love the way kids pronounce words...

After we gorged ourselves on yummy fair food - we went in to enjoy a concert... Eddie Money! Some might guess I'm too young (thank you, btw) to know who he is... but I love his music. It was great to see him perform live - he can still 'kick-it'. The kids didn't like the music so loud - we therefore didn't stay for the entire performance (unfortunately) but when we were there, they danced and shook their little booties! Too cute! :)

We then got Shave Ice and walked around a little before going into the exhibit hall to see how our princess did with her entries (and mine). :)

The Princess
scrapbook page - 2nd place
needlework - 1st place
photography (series of 6) - 1st place

Me
scrapbook page - 3rd place
pine needle basket - 2nd place
photography (computer manipulated - adult novice) - honorable mention
photography (storytelling) - did not place

My guess is that DD would have placed better with her scrapbook page had she hand-wrote the journaling (instead, I transcribed what she told me). She was the only entrant for her age-group in needlework. I hope she does this category again. I love hand-embroidery and I think she could do so well.

There was only one other entrant for pine needle baskets... her basket stood about 1-2 feet tall (resembling a tall vase) and had a lid and braided twine around the outside. It's no wonder I took 2nd... I chose to enter the 1st basket I ever created and it was rather small. I plan to enter this category again in '08. For my scrapbook entry, I went with "Autumn Apples" as it seemed to be the one for which most people (both online and in person) voted. It was the only digital scrapbook page - I think that may have hurt me a bit. I'm perplexed by the photography (computer manipulated category) - I could only find one other entry. I'll likely enter this category again as well. It's fun. :)

And now... the winner of my voting contest...

...I put the names of everyone who submitted a vote to help me choose the scrapbook book page for the fair into a bucket, mixed 'em up and drew out the winning entrant...

Amaras_Mom

Congratulations! Your prize - a Digital Scrapbook Page

Just email me 1-4 related photos and a brief description (for journaling) of the 'story' and I'll email you back an image suitable for printing. :)