The County Fair Animals

Last week was the fair - on the hottest weekend of the year - and my favorite thing is usually to wander through the Open Class building and look at the entries covering a wide range of homemaking goodness and crafting. But not this year. Oh, I went to the fair, but just for one morning, before the exhibit buildings even opened. And before the oppressive heat stole all the oxygen from the atmosphere.

It was Friday morning and I was scheduled to babysit for the morning. I had thought I'd take the kids to the library, and I already have library photos, so I didn't grab my camera. (I'm kicking myself for that now.) I had forgotten about the fair, but when I left the gym, headed for their house, I drove past the fairgrounds and the small animal barn. That's when I thought I'd see if the kids wanted to go see the animals.
None of the exhibit buildings or rides were open yet, but we got to go through the small animal and cattle barns. The kids LOVED it. The first things we saw were chickens and ducks, and there was a huge Tom turkey. Garett kept sitting on the dirt (ew!) and getting his face right up to the cages to see the birds. He was very excited. :o)
Then we went through the goats and sheep. One little teeny goat was trying to eat a chain and Grace was enthralled. She got to touch one on the nose when it stuck it's face through the gate bars.
Then we walked past the outer part of the arena where the 4-H kids were showing calves. There was an older teen-aged boy waiting there with his calf and he invited the kids to pet him on the forehead. I so wish I'd had my camera. This "calf" weighed 1100 pounds!
We skipped the swine barn (p.u.) and walked through where the rest of the cattle were. I couldn't believe how much the kids were enjoying it, except Wyatt kept pinching his nose closed. :o)
Then we stopped off at the 4-H building to have a snack and get some water. After we ate, we walked over to the exhibit buildings, but they still weren't open, so we climbed back into the van and started home. We were disappointed that we hadn't seen any horses, then I spotted a large red and white striped tent on the outskirts of the fairgrounds and I saw ther was a horse inside. So we stopped and climbed back out of the van (I lost count of the number of times I buckled car seats that day...) and found the tent was a petting zoo sponsored by the FFA.
The horse came right to the gate and nudged our hands as we petted her. Grace was in HEAVEN. The biggest hit was the tank full of baby chicks. They got to reach in and pet them. Grace also petted the piglets, and Garett reached his finger in the duck cage and got a sweet little peck. He just giggled. :o)
We spent quite a long time there, but I was beginning to melt, so we headed home. The kids were sweaty and stinky, but they all were sad to leave. Our first trip to the fair was a success and I look forward to making this a tradition.
So, no fair photo for you tonight, but here's a peek at the big plastic cow that was parked in the grocery store lot all last week.
Yeah, I had my camera the day I drove past the big plastic cow. Don't judge me. :o)