Fairtime is funtime!

 

Hi friends!  I wanted to take a minute to say hello and share what I've been up to this past week.  It's been all fair, all the time!  My girls are both members of 4-H and the past 5 days have been filled with 4-H, fair and fun!  Most of our time has been spent in the bunny barn...check it out!   Above, Shelby shows her black dutch bunny, Marlene, during special junior showmanship.  Special juniors are between the ages of 5-8 years old and are invited to bring their rabbit in for a one day show at the fair.  Above, Shelby demonstrates how to check a rabbit's teeth.  Showmanship is a 4-H member's opportunity to show their technical knowledge of their rabbit and to show how to check the animal's overall health and breed characteristics. 

Our club's special juniors did great!  Here's Shelby with our friend Jack proudly displaying their Dutch bunnies and showmanship rosettes.

The special juniors recieve lots of help and attention from our older Junior members.

 

Here Jaycee waits for her chocolate dutch bunny to be judged in class.  In class, the judge does all of the handling of the bunny and he places the animals based on their achievement of certain qualities specific to their breed standard.  It's very specific and animals can be disqualified from winning a ribbon for things like mis-markings in their coat, injuries, etc..  We found out that Lilly has a pulled ligament in one of her toes which causes it to not function properly.  Poor Lilly! 

Here Jaycee competes in showmanship for ages 9-11.  She is demonstrating to the judge how to check the eye.  It was stiff competition with 12 or 13 members competing for 8 ribbons.  Jaycee did her personal best and I was proud of how she and Lilly worked together.

In the end, it was not enough for a ribbon that day but check out our third, sixth and eighth place juniors!  Good sportmanship is well and good among our 4-H members.  I love how the girls are so supportive of each other!

 

4-H is also about developing a sense of community and a can-do attitude.  Here Jaycee and Shelby take their turn for rabbit barn duty.  Keeping the animal areas clean and neat are a large part of exhibiting at the fair.  Parents are discouraged from helping as much as is reasonable, it's all about the kids!  This is where pride in ownership and hands on learning takes place....on site and on their own with just a little guidance from the adults ;)

When we weren't in the rabbit barn, we strolled down to the exhibit buildings to see how they did on their arts and crafts exhibits and cooking entries.  Shelby shows off her 1st place decorated shoes! 

Jaycee was excited to see a blue ribbon attached to her favortie project, a woven hat with a handmade fabric flower!  This is the project she put the most time into and her efforts were rewarded!   

 We also checked in on some fun fair activites like the Swine races!  Notice my oldest child is wearing a pig nose?  Here is one of the things I love most about her....when the audience is asked for volunteers, Jaycee always raises her hand.  She doesn't worry about whether or not it will be something embarassing or silly she just wants to try and do everything.  She's willing to suffer being a little red in the face....doesn't stop her from experiencing life.  I love that!  Anywhoo, she was the cheerleader for the #2 pig and lo and behold, #2 won!  She was the recipient of a pig nose and did a little victory dance for the crowd up on stage.  I couldn't resist a close up of the pig cheerleader with our friend, Lucas, and Shelby.

And then of course, there are the rides....my kids are thrill seekers it seems.  Jaycee goes for everything on the big kid side of the carnival and Shelby loves the teacups this year.  She's gone on so many times and spun herself so much this week that she earned herself some blisters on her hand!  Yikes! 

Well, that's it in a nutshell so far.  Today is the final day of the fair and we are heading in this morning to clean rabbit cages  and maybe hit up the rides one last time. 

Thanks for checking out our week at the fair!