A day at the fair

The state fair is on through Labor Day. A friend of mine who is also a transplanted Midwesterner and I usually make it there to get in touch with our farm roots (even though neither of lived on a farm). She was unavailable for Little S’ inaugural trip to the fair. And what an adventure she missed!

We met Annabelle the cow

 

Got to sit on a sheep

And develop an obsession with sheep the rest of the day.

She dreamt of bacon

 

And got to meet a horse that was her size, which will make my grandparents happy!

 

She got an up close look at a chicken

And was fairly overwhelmed in the poultry barn by her favorite animals “bee-bee’s” (birdies). All a squawking loudly. The bunny rabbits that were there didn’t seem to mind it all, and she was delighted to see them as well.

The fair has a relatively new sports pavilion where Little S showed off her rock climbing skills 

Before you start calling potential sponsors, here’s the scale of that boulder she was summiting

A girl’s gotta start somewhere, right?

She still has a ways to go until she learns all of the rules of soccer

No hands, unless she’s trying to tell us she wants to be a goalie.

After her sports break, we got back to more typical fair activities. She was enthralled with team calf roping at the Junior Rodeo.

Momma couldn’t be more proud of her little cowgirl! We wanted to see how much Little S had learned by watching, so we gave her a saddle and some rope:

Turns out she’s not quite ready to turn pro yet.

That’s okay, she knows there’s more to farming than riding and roping. Like plowing the fields

I can’t imagine a cuter farm girl on her pink tractor.

Even though I didn’t grow up on a farm, we were surrounded by farmland, had classmates in FFA (yes, it’s still around) and my grandparents lived on a farm, so we were regularly exposed to animals, hay and manure shovels to use as sleds. I want Little S to know what farms are all about, so we will definitely make it a point to see that she gets to spend time with any kind of farm experience she can. If only I could talk Big S into a backyard sheep….