Our crazy and wonderful 4-H fair week

And finally! The post about the fair!!! (A very long one too! :-)

Hopefully all the pictures don't take too long loading!! :-/

Last week was our crazy and wonderful fair week.  I am glad and sad it is over. (Probably more sad than glad.)  It actually started June 28th and 29th for us. (The actual fair started July 6th.) That is when all of our 4-H projects (excluding the animals) were due.  July 3rd is when we brought eleven of our sixteen goats in! (That evening is a story itself!) Saturday we brought in the chickens and rabbits, and stayed at the fairgrounds to watch the fireworks on the lake. (Yes, I did say ON the lake.)  That evening was the milk-out for the milking contest. Now, I probably need to clarify what the milking contest is. Some people think it is a race to see who is milked out first...but that is not the case.  The contest is to see whose goat gives the most milk.  That might not seem fair for people whose goat freshened just before the fair vs. someone's goat who freshened a year ago in May (kind of like....my goat ), but they give so many points for every day the goat has been freshened. Thus, my goat placed 6th out of 13...which is pretty good for being freshened for 400 and something days!  Here is picture one of fifty-something of me during the milking contest Sunday evening. I am in my show clothes because I was showing one of my goats that evening. (BTW, I'm the one in black and white down by the stand.)  That other goat--which you might not be able to see--is a Nigerian Dwarf. Although it might not mean anything to you, it does to the person milking it! Those goats are small! And it took 2-3 people to milk that goat! Two holding it's legs and the other milking.  And I don't know why it was in the milking contest...because they don't give very much milk! Maybe it was for the experience :-)

Anyways, I still have lots of pictures to explain....

This is at "the wall" where we had our pictures taken for the newspaper....Cassia, Rebekah and I are standing on the far right.  You might notice, or maybe not, that all three of us have one hand behind us. That is because we are holding a paper that has our name and why we are standing there. In other words, what champions we got.

And more pictures at "the wall" for llama.  Cassia and I are on the right again. :-)

During the goat show on Monday, getting the results for the milking contest.  And I am--in case you didn't know--the only one looking at the camera. :-)

Me in Master Showmanship during the goat show.

During the rabbit show, Monday morning.

This year, someone brought in "The Big Cats".  I think there were 4 tigers and 2 lions. Every day he did a show with them, but it was a little pitiful.  Only the tigers did the show.  But they were interesting to look at! :-)

 Now for some "scenic" pictures.

This is of the poultry side of the poultry and rabbit barn.

 And Bekah feeding her chickens...

Every year in front of the poultry barn they have ducks and ducklings. They are so cute! :-)

This is part of the Mid-Way. I think it was during set up because I know there were more rides that that! :-)

Looking up the hill from the llama tent.

Looking down the hill at the llama tent and the lake.

On Tuesday they had a kiddie day where all rides were one dollar.  Only the non-4-H'ers rode on that day because the 4-H'ers got to ride for one hour free on Thursday.  Noah and Isaiah are in the back of the boat...looking quite happy! :-)

 You can only see Noah in this one, but Isaiah is there beside him.

Although the dragon might look quite frightful, it is really fun to ride, well, that is, if you are not too tall for it!

Now for Tuesday's llama show!!!  I had SO much fun that day!!

I'll start off with the costume class and show you most of the costumes. I'm not showing all of them because we didn't get very good pictures of the rest of them.  There were 17 4-H'ers showing llamas!

 Cassia is going to do her own post and show you her llama costume...but for now, here is mine:

Kricket (my llama) and I are supposed to be hikers. You probably can't see it, but she has socks and shoes on her front feet and legs.

Sure we might look a little absurd, but it was really fun!! I think every llama looks really funny dressed up!  The point for llama costume is to put something on it where it does not like to be touched. Like the socks, glasses, hat and wig etc.

 I cropped a picture to show the socks and shoes:

This is during PR (Public Relations).  (Hee, hee. There is the lovely bear that my llama was absolutely terrified  of!!!  My goodness! She must have thought that the bear was going to eat her the way she ran from it!! )

And during PR again.

Getting results from the one of the classes

The walk through for pack class

Grand champion obstacle course!!

 Getting results for another one of the classes

During obstacle course.

 And showmanship (which I got reserve champion on!)

 I am the second and Cassia the fifth from the right

The judge talking to us during showmanship

 The classes for llama (and what we did in each) were:

Showmanship: There are a lot of things we have to do during this: keeping an eye on the judge as much as possible; not touching the llama; keeping our llama set up; making sure we are always on the right side (depending on where the judge is); knowing facts and parts of the llama; keeping space; etc...etc...etc... It takes a lot to get this one right!!

Pack: we went through the obstacle course (excluding the jumping) while the llama wore a pack

Public Relations: we have to get the llama used to things that it would see as if it went to a nursing home. Going through a door; someone petting it (and the llama can't move); over a step; stairs; going up to a mirror, a stuffed animal and a man with an umbrella.

Obstacle Course: walking across a thin plank (we had to walk single file) with out stepping off; weaving through cones; jumping; the llama has to put it's two front feet in a tire; under a tunnel; over a ramp; under a obstacle that had leaves so the llama would have to duck; and in and out the trailer.

Costume: covering at much of the llama as we can.

An award that I won: Grand Champion Versatility!

And since I am a 9-year member this year, I got this plaque:

I am taking Cassia's (on the right) and my llama for a walk while Cassia cleaned their pen.

Feeding and milking goats for the last time at the fair.

 Yes, we DID make it to 100 ice creams in one week!! For more about it and pictures too click on the link at the end of this post.

 Noah and Isaiah had fun playing with the llama obstacle course the next day...it kept them quite occupied!

On days that we needed to kill time, we hung out at the llama tent playing games.

This is my llama "Kricket"...who doesn't look very happy at the moment. :-)

This is above our llama's pen:

And these are my general projects.

My photography:

My foods display:

Foods preserved picture, ribbon and recipe card:

My tatted bookmark (selected for State Fair!):                

And my dress...that I finished!!!! (also selected for State Fair!):                

You can see MORE pictures if you go to our Mommy's blog  and see her post "Sweeeeeet Accomplishments!" I was going to put those pictures on our blog, but I already have over 50 of them on this post!

~Susannah

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