State Fair

If you've followed my little bloggity

or me on facebook,

you know my big boys had State Fair trips

with their animals.

And since it happened, 

I must blog about it.

Disclaimer:  the following pictures were taken by me

while wearing Ivy in my sling.

She reaches for everything,

and that would include the camera.

Hence, nearly every single one is a bit blurry.

I have a fairly steady hand,

and I never drink before 3:00 in the afternoon

(just kidding--it's actually closer to noon)

(ok, really just kidding, 'cause I don't drink)

so usually I can get pictures to stay pretty clear

even when zoomed pretty far,

as I was in many of these.

Just had to mention that

because I wouldn't want to tarnish my super-mom

image by having you think I take blurry pictures.

Here goes:

Isaiah showed his goat on Friday morning,

shortly after 8:00.

This was the half of the show ring with the market goats.

The other half was for the dairy breeds.

Ivy was a good spectator.

Isaiah got a blue for showmanship

and his goat also received a blue in the market class.

The judge was so great, explaining so well in her reasons

why she placed them as she did 

and what she looks for in a market goat.

After showmanship, 

there was some time until the market class.

We wandered through the barn a bit and saw

Reggie, Minnesota's largest boar.

1450 pounds.

Goodness me!

and a REALLY big horse.

There were many such horses.

And many that were very very small, as well.

Then is was time to go back for the market class.

Isaiah is to the left of the really tall kid.

When the boys weren't showing,

they were in the barns.

Playing cards was the typical activity,

you know, when they weren't pitching manure

or hauling water to the animals.

If it ain't one end that needs attention,

it's the other...

Resting was another thing they did to pass time.

The dairy barn is so big!!!

So many cows, all shapes, sizes and colors.

So clean and pretty...

Nathaniel showed on Saturday morning.

Here he is ready for the show

with his Brown Swiss heifer named Sweet Pea.

This is the coliseum where all the dairy were shown.

It was HUGE!!!!!!!!!

They ran four "rings" at a time.

Looking at this picture,

you could imagine it in the upper left and right

and middle left and right.

The lower left was the entrance area

and the lower right was the picture taking area.

In the exact middle of the picture are two stage lights

that I didn't realize were there until we had climbed up and sat down.

And by this time, I was too tired to get up and move

so that they wouldn't be in my way.

The dairy show began at 9:00, 

and by 2:00 it was almost time for Nathaniel to show.

Almost.

And Isaiah could keep his eyes open no longer.

Dennis' work still needed to be done,

and he was making a call for parts for the tractor.

Nathaniel is a natural showman.

He handles his animals so well.

He's very confident in the ring and 

the animals trust him because of it.

The lady in the black shirt is one of the judges.

I just had to include this picture.

Take a look at the lady in the upper right?

You'd think if anyone would know

not to wear high heels at a dairy show,

it would be a dairy judge.

Wouldn'tcha think????

All in all,

it was a GREAT experience.

We are blessed to have family who helped to make it happen.

We hope to have many more opportunities 

for our kids to take projects to the State Fair level.