A Day at the FAIR

Yesterday was a great day!  We took our 8 and 12 year old grandsons to the Oregon State Fair - their first time there.  We had a wonderful time and they had a blast!  There are 4 entrances to the fair and it's BIG!  We parked at the perfect place and began our jaunt by passing through one of my favorite parts, the Artisan Fair.  There was a blacksmith working away, pottery, an Indian woman doing beadwork (she remembered me from last year when I bought one of her items), painters, hand-dyed wool, etc.  Then on to see the animals!  It was goat judging day, and we came upon this stall full of beautiful Nubian milk goats - the one in front was my favorite, I love spotted goats.  We used to raise this breed of goats and the children and I milked them every morning and every evening. It was my goal that my children have fresh wholesome milk from animals that were loved and well taken care of.  I was their 4-H leader for 5 years and we showed the goats at our County Fair - it was a great experience for the whole family.  At one time we had 16 little baby goats, called "kids".  

There was a whole pile of goats! :-)

She came over to say hello. 

They always have a mother pig with a litter of piglets.. aren't they cute?  There were a large contingent of pigs in stalls and every single one was asleep.  I asked one of the owners if it was nap time and he laughed, he said they wouldn't be quiet for long as the pig judging was soon. 

3 beautiful Jersey cows.  I love their pretty tan color. 

Two boys were walking by leading their sheep and I asked if I could get a photo of them and they kindly obliged. 

There was only one big draft horse in it's stall... we found out soon the reason was they had just put on a big show for the judges in the horse arena and all were out getting unhitched from their big wagons. 

We soon heard the beautiful sound of clip clop clip clop and these beautiful draft horses all in their gear walked by us. 

I just LOVE these draft horses! 

The one above is (I think) a Percheron and the one below I believe is a Belgian. 

Clip clop, heading in after working hard. 

Next stop... 

They have rabbits, chickens, ducks, pheasants, guineas, and all kinds of poultry here.  Here is an adorable little Angora bunny. 

This great old building has soaring ceilings and a nice arched rafter system. 

These light grey chickens were small and pretty. 

A fluffy white one. 

And.. this one.  Hellooooo.. what the heck is this?  Dayle snapped these 3 photos and did not get the names of the breeds.  Sheesh. 

Adorable mini angora bunny. 

Next we went to the kids area and they had a Wallabee with a baby in it's pouch.. see it? 

The very cute wallabee. 

Big beautiful Llama! 

Close enough for a kiss. :-) 

They had an adult deer with spots and a few younger ones.. this deer was demanding food from all the folks, hungry deer! 

A donkey with a baby suckling... very cute. 

My 2 grandsons!  They were SO good!  We told them to stick with us like glue as we didn't want to lose them and boy they did!  Gabriel on the left, Michael on the right.  

Sun dappled spotted little deer... can you say awwwwww? 

Next we enjoyed a performance by the Peruvian musicians.. I love this music!  Very inspirational and uplifting and pretty.  I asked the boys what was their favorite part of the fair on the way home and Michael said the guys playing the music.  The pan flutes are awesome.  I did a movie of them and here it is on YouTube - 

I looked around for Dayle and he was missing.. and then I saw him over by a Bell 206 helicopter like he flew for Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. in Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico during our first 5 years of marriage.  He flew crew to work on the oil rigs in the gulf. 

Mikey got to sit in it! 

Then we spied these big plastic bubbles and I asked the boys if they wanted to do this and of course they did!  They zip them open, the kids jump in and then they use a big tube to pump it back up with air and zip them in.  They had a blast! 

Mugging for the camera. 

We asked the boys if they wanted to go on the ferris wheel but Gabe said they went on one at Santa Monica pier and it was "boring".  LOL!  So, we didn't want to bore them... :-) 

Here are the guys on the midway.  The boys did this water pistol game called "Rising Waters" and Gabe won all 6 games! Gabe won 2 stuffed animals and gave one to his brother, wasn't that nice?  

And then we'd made it from one end of the fair to the other.. so we took the sky tram ride back to our entrance.  There is grandpa and Gabe in front of us. 

It was fun to see all the places that we'd been and enjoy the slow ride back.  It's a bit nerve-wracking to be up there and hope that the thing doesn't break.. :-)  The boys enjoyed it a LOT. 

This sling shot ride was fun to watch although none of us had any interest at ALL in trying it!  See those people in that thing?  They shoot them way up into the sky in it and they go UP and down.. UP and down... ugh.   

And so.. we had a great time and headed home.  We delivered the boys to their parents at Flying Pie Pizza and Dayle and I had salads.  We were totally exhausted!  :-)  Today I will muster up the energy from SOMEWHERE and go do my 1 hour of swimming.  It's Labor Day weekend here in the States -- what fun plans do you have? Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers.  We are going to my friend Shirley's new home to see it.  She lived in Seattle for a LONG time but has moved to the Portland area.  We'll go to lunch with them too.  Fun day tomorrow!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)