After such an exciting end to last week, and the knowledge that the girls had much to learn before the following weekend, our week took off at breakneck speed. Each morning included our usual school, and each afternoon we were off to the fair fairly quickly to make some connections and begin learning. Monday's evening activites also included the fair parade, which we watched with my cousin Jen and her kids.
Tuesday, after school, we met up with a girl named Kaelyn to talk horses before she had a horse show in the evening. Kaelyn and her mom graciously spent over an hour with the girls, talking them through how to show a horse, practicing the steps with them, and even letting them get their hands on her horse Toby and practice with him. They were absolutely thrilled to not only be so close to a horse but to also get to work with him!
We also met up with a connection named Jessica who was able to talk us through showing dogs. She spent a good hour, using lambs, to talk the girls through the different patterns, and then showed them how to do the steps, letting them use a club member's lambs to walk and use as a dog for practice purposes. They lambs weren't the best stand in dogs, but the girls thought it was so fun to also get their hands on a sheep as well as learn how to show dogs.
In addition to all of their learning, the girls also had their usual evening chores to complete.
Wednesday, after school and convincing a praying mantis to take her leave of our van, we were off to the fair again to get in some more learning through talking with a girl named Addy about bunnies.
The kids also took advantage of a little down time to play on the tractors and walk through some of the barns and the midway, eating some fair food along the way.
That night, Daddy joined us to watch the tractor pulls!
Thursday afternoon, we met up with Jordan, an older 4H member of our club, who has shown chickens and turkeys and had been in the showmanship derby the year prior. Jordan came prepared with folders for each of the girls, talked them through their questions, quizzed them, and practiced patterns and other things with them. Already someone the girls have looked up to, they were so excited to have her time and knowledge shared with them.
The girls also practiced with each other's birds to become familiar with them. We also met up with a leader who showed us how to show dogs before the dog show, at which the girls spent a little time observing and taking notes to prepare them for the derby.
A night they had long been looking forward to, we finally were able to ride the rides as well!
That evening, as we waited for some cousins to be available to join us for some rides, we went to watch the Sea Lion show, which we had so far missed each day we had been at the fair.
For about 30 minutes, we were thoroughly entertained by the tricks of the sea lions!
The we were back at the rides, where we met up with my cousins Emily and Jen & Jared and their kids
Emily and her kids had to leave fairly soon after we were able to meet up, but the kids still had Mason, Cooper and Mya to rid with. We stayed far longer than we ever have before, letting the kids just enjoy the fair and the rides while we enjoyed the time watching them and hanging out with our cousins.
Friday morning we did not have school because of MOPS. After MOPS, we went shopping for belts to put the girls' belt buckles on for the derby!
Then, after lunch, we were back at the fair to meet up with the two horse showmen who would be in the derby, Sam with his driving horse Bullet and Moses with his show horse Roy. The girls taught the boys how to show their chicken and turkey, and then the boys showed the girls how to show their different horses. It was another great afternoon for the girls, as they now had hands on 3 different horses in one week!
That evening, the girls had an orientation for the showmanship derby, and this meant gathering up their animals to bring to the show arena. Alora transported her turkey via wheelbarrow!
And then she got cozy with Jenny on the show arena floor as we waited for orientation to begin.
Ezri's chicken, Princess, also got comfortable on the show arena floor, blissfully digging and scratching and throwing dust all over herself!
At the orientation, the 4 (of 6) kids who showed up praticed again with each other's animals, learned more about each breed and took in information that was important for the derby the following day.
It was decided part way through orientation that a different horse would be use as the show horse, so horse #4 of the week came into the girls' hands - Soldier Boy.
It was so fun to see the girls network and make friends as they learned and shared their knowledge, and they truly had a lot of fun.
After the orientation, the kids got to spend a little time wandering the fairgrounds with Travis & Emmett as well.
They also did chores and spent more time with their birds, who had become a very important part of their daily routine.
Quite often when they were in the barn doing chores, they were happily chatting up visitors and teaching them about the animals as well!
Saturday morning, we let the kids sleep in instead of going to a soccer game or the other horse show, and it was a good decision! Rested and ready for a big afternoon, we headed to the fair after lunch to learn a little more. The girls were finally able to determine which dog would be used in the show and learned from the youngest sister of the two other girls who would be in the show with the dog and rabbit how to show it. We had a pretty rough experience with this family being unwilling to really help, their need to compete and win seemed to be more important than the experience for the other participants and it showed in their demeanor, response to the girls any time they approached them during the week and even in the way they shared some misleading information. However, we just reitereated to our kids the importance of having fun, learning and doing their best, and that was their focus.
The girls watched the class showmanship derby for a while, and then went to get themeselves and their animals ready!
They were so excited to have the support of cousins and family in the arena.
This time, Alora insisted on bringing her turkey over herself, carrying Jenny the whole way!
Then, as nerves began to build, we grabbed some pictures as we waited for the final arrangments to be made.
Each of the kids showed their own animal first, while the others watched, and then began a rotation of everyone showing at the same time.
While they watched and waited for their turn, the girls were friendly and chatty with the new friends they had made.
Then, the derby began! Alora went to chicken...
Ezri went to rabbit...
At 5 minutes, Ezri went to dog...
and Alora went to rabbit.
Next, Ezri moved on to the driving horse,
and Alora moved to the dog.
Then Ezri moved to the show horse,
and Alora to the driving horse.
Finally, Ezri moved to the turkey,
and Alora moved to the show horse.
When each kid had shown each animal for the timed 5 minutes, scores were added up and before they were announced, each kid was introduced.
When the resere and top all around showman were announced, neither of our girls' names made the list, but that was absolutely ok!!! They gathered up their score cards and left the arena floor with huge smiles.
We are so very proud of them for all of the hard work they put into learning new animals, spending the time to practice how to show them, meeting new friends, learning to communicate and network, and above all showing a great spirit of showmanship and team work. They walked out of the arena with much bigger prizes than a chair, a jacket or a placque, they walked away with memories, friends and lifelong skills!
All that was left to do for that final day of the fair was to bring their animals back to the barn, do some chores and take in the last bits of the fair.
We had to leave sooner than any of the girls wanted, because we had made plans to attend the Night of Destruction at the Kalamazoo Speedway long before the fair or the news of the showmanship derby. This meant our some of our friends went to the speedway to hold our seats that Alex had reserved in the morning until we could get there. Alex, Jay & Becci headed that way long before the kids and I, as there were tears at the leaving of the birds and the fair and all that week had held for them. Reluctantly, however, we made our way to the speedway to be with our friends.
We watched demoltion derbies, races, campers & boats being pulled during races and a monster truck.
Then we closed the night off with fireworks.
It was a very late night before we got home and into bed due to traffic and all.
Sunday, after church, we made our way back to the fair to get the kids' still exhibits. It is always shocking to see the difference 12 hours can make at that fairground once it is closed down for the season. Almost all of the rides had been disassembled and removed already, most of the food trucks, the crowds, lights, animals... it had such an empty feel.
After getting their things and celebrating their ribbons, we found my aunt, uncle, cousins and their kids and took advantage of the slower pace to get in some pictures and a little more fun to cap off our fair experience this year. These kids (and myself) have grown quite close to our cousins this past year, and it was so great to share the fair fun with family, and also sad to realize we won't see them nearly as much with the fair over.
We gladly joined in when an invitation to get lunch was extended, happy to extend those moments as long as we could.
Back at home, we checked out all of the kids' exhibits and wins...
Sent Ezri off to youth group, and enjoyed a show compliments of Alora, and a song compliements of Tierney (I like my chicky, you like your turkey, that's just the way of our family, we like poultry!)
What an amazing fair week that we will not ever forget!!!
