county fair

Yesterday the kids and I went over to the Washington County Fair in Hillsboro, Oregon. I kept it a surprise until we pulled up in the parking lot and I couldn't hide it any longer. We got there very early because I was trying to beat the heat this year. The carnival part didn't open until noon so we got a good chance to look around at everything. We saw the animals- goats, cows, draft horses, sheep, bunnies, guinea pigs, ducks and chickens. My favorites are the fancy chickens and roosters with the feathers tufted on their heads. We watched the dock dogs compete to see who could jump the farthest in the water. The really fun part in this was watching the people try and convince the dogs who weren't sure of the swimming pool to jump in. One dog in the competition jumped over 20 feet! The kids got to climb around on the tractors for sale. I think this is a true highlight of the fair for many kids- climbing around on giant tractors, excavators, bulldozers for as long as they want. And it is all free. A couple of years ago- or maybe just last Christmas!- they received as gift from Grandpa Huber a stuffed Grinch and a stuffed Sam-I-Am. These two have become a game unto themselves. They are evil rascals up to no good. Samuel and his partner (or minion depending on who you talk to) spend hours and days searching them out and locking them up. When they are out and about they frequently play the Grinch and Sam-I-Am game, without the actual stuffed guys. This is what they played while they climbed and sat in the tractors. They used the vehicles to track down the dastardly villains and lock them up.

Samuel went on a couple of rides (cars and balloons) and Eva tried out the little canoes again. The three of us went on the firetruck that goes up and down in a circle. Then Samuel spent a great deal of time playing the game where you squirt water at a bulls eye and make the little frog go up faster than the others. He won a tiger and Eva won a frog. The highlight of the trip was when we found a sword that Samuel has been looking for since the Fourth of July two years ago (or was it last year?). One of those plasticky-metal swords with a pink sheath than broke last time in a couple of days. And we found one there at the fair! For just $5 we took home a new sword with a bright blue sheath. Eva found a blow-up unicorn that she just loooooved. She has had unicorns on the mind lately, particularly after watching The Last Unicorn. We looked at several pictures of them on the web yesterday as well!

And then the crowning glory came later in the day when we all went to the rodeo. Yes. This is something I swore I would never do, take my kids to the rodeo. But we have this whole horse thing going on and it seemed like a good idea. We ended up leaving before the barrel racing, which was too bad because that was the part I really wanted to see. I guess it is feasible I will go to another rodeo at some time in the future and be able to see barrel racing up close. It was an interesting time. It ran a little late because some of the cowboys and cowgirls on their way to the event were pulled over for speeding. I think they were given tickets too, which is extremely ironic given that their reason for being at the rodeo was speed. It takes like 10 seconds to rope a calf and even less to wrestle a steer. And they have to stay on a bareback bucking horse for 8 seconds. One of the guys had to do that event twice because the judges didn't think the horse bucked enough. You should have seen that horse bucking! It must be tremendous to be able to stay on a horse who is putting all of his effort into getting you off of him. We saw one man get stepped on by his horse when he jumped off to wrestle the steer. They kind of systematically fall off the horse onto the steer and wrestle it down. Wild. And Eva kept asking me if the little calves were alright. I have to say that I too was rooting for the calves...

After all of that I was exhausted. I admire the kids their enthusiasm and stamina. We woke up this morning and Samuel asked if we could please just go to the fair again today...