Trip to the Fair with a Side of Ham

I made a date last week with two very special girls, so I jumped in my car and headed North yesterday morning. We met at my parents house, played a bit, and then headed off to Slates for lunch. My dates could hardly make it through lunch, as they were very excited to get to the Fair! Once we arrived at the Fair, the adults wanted to look through the beautiful quilts, check out the displays and 4-H room, but the girls had only one thing in mind-seeing the animals. I remember the many years my sister and I spent at the Fair as kids, and aside from going through the exhibit hall to see what ribbons we won on our 4-H projects and to pick up free stuff, we spent hours, and days, outside with the animals as well. We lived right behind the fairgrounds so we would just walk over with our cousin and spend the entire day at the Fair. Later on, we decided to try our hand at actually taking animals to the Fair. We each took a pig. The pigs we had thought they were dogs, until we got them in the show ring in front of the judge. At that point, they became the most obnoxious pair of disobedient pigs you have seen. My sister and I learned to just be crafty and run with them and when they stopped, we would act like that is what we wanted them to do, and then show them off to the judge. Have you ever tried to control a pig with a cane? It's not the easiest thing in the world. Our efforts must have worked because we took away grand champion and reserve champion and several blue ribbons. Of course, I am not going to mention which one of us won the grand champion, since it wasn't me. We were too attached to our pigs to sell them at market, so we decided to raise pigs to sell to other 4-Hers and many of their offspring did quite well at the Fair, as well.

Back to yesterday, the girls had a great time petting all the animals and there were some goats who were very happy to see us and climbed up on their pens so they could be petted. The girls also had fun in the wildlife building, and even decided to see what it's like inside a beavers den. I enjoyed some time getting to see old friends, and doing some quick catching up.

After the Fair, my dates became little show offs, and had a lot of fun playing with an old hat. Obviously, being around the pigs made the girls think about ham.

It was a great day at the Fair and a wonderful date with my nieces. We definitely made some memories.