4-H Fair Time!

Fair has begun!  Always a hectic but nostalgic time for me.  Katie took three projects this year.  She does Shooting Sports which involves a monthly meeting starting in April at the shooting range at the Linden Conservation Club.  She shoots revolver, pistol, rifle, muzzle loader, and bow.  Jason takes her (not my thing).  She has to make a poster for the fair.  She earned a blue ribbon on her poster.  She also did Farm Toy Scene.  This is another project Jason is more the expert in than I.  She did a display board with a silo, goats, loader, and truck/trailer.  She also earned a blue ribbon.  By far her favorite and most involved project is her sheep.   She had two sheep this year, a black face commercial ewe and a Dorset market lamb we purchased from Stillwell's in Frankfort.  She was pretty good about getting up before we had to leave for the sitters to walk and feed her sheep everyday.  Jason sheared them (I'm glad I just have to help with washing them) while Katie kept it calm on the stand.  Getting the sheep ascetically ready for the fair is Katie's least favorite part.  Her favorite is showing the sheep.  This year, we met our neighbor down the road who raises Shetland sheep.  He helped some local 4-Hers by leasing his sheep and teaching them about the breed.  One 4-Her had his sheep in the same class, so needed someone to help show and he asked Katie.  She was thrilled because she got to show more and since it is a small class, he won Grand Champion as well as other awards.  He let Katie keep some of the ribbons if she promised to show Shetland's next year.  She is sold because they are small and require next to no prep for fair.  She will also do some market sheep, but really likes the little guys.  She won first in her class with the ewe (a total surprise to both her and I) and second in her class with the market lamb.  She was thrilled because the only lambs that beat hers were owned by families that show all over the place at national shows and always win at our fair.  It also allowed her to show in two champion drives, which she liked because she got to show more.  She also did showmanship.  She picked her market lamb (the biggest) for showmanship and she did AWESOME.  She had her huge lamb set up the whole time and looked like an expert.  She didn't win and they only announce the winner, but we all agreed she was probably second and the judge took a while to pick.  She was a little disappointed, but she knew the winner showed all year long and her showmanship class was very large.  I was very proud of her.  We still have a few days left of fair, but here are some pictures from the beginning of the week.

Shooting Sports Poster

Farm Toy Scene

Showing Shetland sheep

Getting her ewe ready

Waiting to show

Showing her ewe

Judge checking out her ewe

First in her class!!

Her weather...this may have been showmanship

Eating a quick snack

Grandpa Jim

Even Baby Rose came to the fair!

Grandparents did a lot of babysitting that day!

Ben and Addie

Lucy eating Lion's Club ice cream....yum!

Introducing Dixie

Katie's other birthday present (but really she's for the whole family) was a dog.  She was a stray from a place that did not treat her well.  Through the grapevine, we heard about her and decided to adopt her.  We knew nothing about her, not even her name.  She is a Blue Heeler (Australian Cattle Dog).  She is very timid.  She is house trained, leash trained, and rarely barks.  She does whine a lot if she doesn't have someone from our family in her line of sight.  We've kept her on a leash in the kitchen and front porch because she doesn't know this is her home yet, and we are afraid she will run.  She has been a very good dog so far.  Her only issue was scratching up our kitchen door one day when she was left at home.  She doesn't like to be indoors at all.  She really doesn't play yet and will only eat when she's outside.  She likes to be in her crate when she is inside.  I think she had a lot of mixed signals and abuse, so it may take awhile for her to figure out she is safe.  She loves the girls.  In fact, that is about the only time she wags her tail and gets a little excited.  Both Addie and Katie love to take her on her walks around the farm.  Lucy is still apprehensive about "the woofie", but she does like her from afar.  Below are a few pictures of our Dixie!

On the way home for the first time!

Fourth of July Camping

We were fortunate enough to borrow my parents camper for a long weekend of camping with friends at Mississinewa Reservoir.   There were four families there.  The rain held off all weekend and the weather was nice and cool (I wore a sweatshirt all weekend!).   Katie got her birthday present a little early so she could ride a bike that fit her at the campground.  She wanted a "beachy" bike.  It was a Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville bike...oh well...she loved it!  It was definitely beachy.   It was just a great weekend of relaxing.

Katie's birthday present!

We spent a lot of time around the campfire.

Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jim's camper all set up!

Breakfast in the camper

The fire ring next to "our" camper was the meetin' place

This about sums up the weekend

Swim Club - End of Season Party

We ended the Frankfort Swim Club Season by a pizza party at the park and swimming at the community pool.  One of our board members was kind enough to rent out the whole place just for our swim club.  The girls had a lot of fun.

Brock (our sitter's son) helping Lucy

Addie at the big slide!

Addie after getting done with the slide

Stephanie (our sitter's daughter) helping Lucy

Katie sliding

Brock and Katie

All the kids

Beach Day!

My sister Megan and brother-in-law went up to St. Joe a few weekends ago to go camping (my in-laws love it there, so they thought they would try it) and loved it.  So, Megan planned a quick trip to the beach with my parents and her kids and mine.  I was able to take a day off work and my nieces were also able to join us, so it turned into a nice trip to the beach.  We were worried about the weather so both St. Joe and Holland were on our radar.  At the last minute, we decided to chance the weather at St. Joe since it was a bit closer.  It was cool and cloudy on the beach and then got a little windy (it didn't stop the kids from swimming and playing).  We moved off the beach to the playground while Mom found a place for lunch out of the wind.  Megan packed a great picnic and as soon as we set down to eat, the sun came out in full force.  We ended the day with the kids playing on the splash pad and a trip for ice cream to Kilwins.  We left around 3:30 and the kids were tired.  All in all, a nice day and thanks to Megan for planning it.

Notice Grandma Debbie in a towel - it was chilly!

Dad ended up chasing the umbrella across the beach later :)

Emily and Katie - braving the wind

Grandma Debbie, Lucy and Addie building a sandcastle

Ben, Kyran, and Tiffany

Grandpa Jim helping Kyran and Lucy.  Addie destroying the sandcastle.

Fun on the beach

Playing shark tag at the playground

Lucy at Splash Pad

Heading off for ice cream

The "big kids" 

Lucy wanted a turn too!