Another day at the fair

We had intended to go back down to the fair last night for the firemen's parade, but two smaller but quite strong thunderstorms rolled through about the time the parade would have been going on, so we decided to stay home. Katelyn was disappointed, but we assured her we'd go back down again in the morning. So we went down along with Joyce from about 11AM to 2PM. The weather was much nicer this time, with partly cloudy skies and temperatures a more enjoyable 80 degrees or so.


Cousin Joyce holding Lydia at the fair.

Katelyn and Titus playing some instruments listening to some music.

They really had quite fun with this and wanted to stay longer.

More playing with the noise/music makers.

Here's a video of them listening to some of the music.

Here was a video their first taste of cotton candy. Colleen was quite excited to have the kids try it. Unfortunately, I don't think Katelyn gave it much of a shot. She acted as if she had put hair in her mouth or something. I think it was a texture thing. Titus, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it quite well. We made sure to get our cotton candy from the folks who also run the Miller's chicken tent where Colleen had worked when she was younger, and the same cotton candy stand where Colleen's sister Anne had worked.

Titus certainly was enjoying his cotton candy, complete with a little bit of a cheesy smile.

Katelyn, as you can tell, wasn't quite as interested. Titus had no problems finding a spot for the cotton candy in his mouth.

Sitting on a bench holding their balloons.

No trip to the fair is complete without sampling some food, so we had a nice lunch together. Pizza isn't exactly unique to a fair, but it's always fun sitting under a tent and enjoying lunch together with all the sites, sounds, and surroundings.

Katelyn enjoyed her pizza as well.

Without a doubt this was the highlight of the day for Katelyn. Right next to the horse's rink where they were showing horses, there was a petting zoo, and I noticed that they were offering horse rides. I thought they were free at first (silly me, they were actually $5 a ride), so I asked Katelyn if she wanted to go ride a horse. She was a little timid at first but did acknowledge she would like to ride one. So we went over and paid our money. The lady led the horse in a small circle for maybe 3 minutes, so it was very short, but it was well worth it. Of course as soon as we got close to the horse Katelyn suddenly became less certain she wanted to get on, but her desire to ride one eventually won out as I lifted her up onto the horse. In the above picture she was trying to convince me to hold her hand and walk with her, but after a few steps I let go and she was on her own (with the guide leading of course), and her face instantly lit up. It was very short, but it was all she could talk about the rest of the day, including a couple of requests for more rides.

Katelyn quite enjoying herself.

No fear, just fun!

Here's a short video of part of her ride.

In the petting zoo they had 9 little piglets that were only 6 days old. Titus especially seemed to like them and watched them for quite a while.

This was towards the end of our time at the fair today, and as you can see from his face he was past his nap time, though that didn't seem to faze him too much. He kept trucking right along.

Here are the piglets feeding. It was quite funny. When we first got over to the pen, all the piglets were sleeping. After a minute, one of them woke up and went over to start feeding. But as soon as the first piglet started nursing, the other 8 immediately woke up and sprinted over to feed as well, and then it became a free for all. Piglets were climbing all over each other to get some milk. After a couple minutes of mayhem, the mother pig finally got annoyed and rolled over on her belly preventing any of the piglets from nursing. Noises and squeals ensued as several of the more ardent pigs began jumping into the side of the momma, butting their heads against her in hopes of getting her to roll back over, but nothing fazed old mom. Feeding time was clearly finished.

Titus also found the baby chicks and ducks quite interesting.

And no trip to the fair would be complete for Titus without at least a little play time on the tractors. Here he is on an old antique Ford. While Titus has enjoyed all of the fair, throughout the day we'd hear pleas for "more baroom baroom?" (Titus speak for more tractors).

Titus on another old John Deere. Most of the antique tractors on display, and they probably had 30 or so, were from between 1920 and 1950. I'm sure Titus didn't have any appreciation for how old these tractors were, but I found them quite neat and fascinating. Many of them had been restored into excellent condition.

On our way out there was a tent that had some live country music being played, and Katelyn couldn't help but dance a little while we stopped.

We were on our way back to our car and we weren't more than 50 yards off the fairgrounds when Titus fell asleep. It had been quite a busy and fun late morning and early afternoon, and he was about 2 hours past naptime, so this wasn't surprising. He and all of our kids have really done very well and have been enjoying themselves. Even Lydia has done quite well.

A day on vacation

Waterfight:

It started so nicely...

With Katelyn helping Grammy water the flowers

In front of the barn, but it quickly turned into...

Dinner at the Hendersons:

Uncle Bruce and Aunt Linda had us over for dinner on Sunday night as Zac and Emily and their family were in town.

Our kids with Zac and Emily's kids, Wyatt and Lizzie.

Katelyn and Wyatt running through the corn in the Henderson's back yard.

Lizzie is getting bigger.

Titus enjoyed playing T-Ball in the Henderson's backyard.

Lydia with a smile!

Tractors:

The kids enjoying riding in the wagon with grandpa driving.

Titus would have been content to ride all day long. He LOVES tractors (barroom barroom as he calls them).

More tractor fun.

It's not a tractor, but Titus got to ride with grampa in the truck up to the sawmill to pick up some wood, and as you can see, he was quite thrilled. (I should add that the sawmill is on Grammy and Grandpa's property and thus this ride required no road driving, only driving the truck about 25 yards up the hill!)

Titus thought the animals were OK at the fair, but when he found the tractors, he was in heaven. He wanted to sit on every single one. There were too many to do that, but there was a really neat antique section.

Turning the steering wheel.

Sitting on the Minneapolis Moline.

Sitting on an old Farmall.

Sitting on another old Farmall, this one not as shiny.

And we couldn't pass up a chance to sit on an old John Deere.

Animals at the fair:

It was actually a pretty warm first day of the fair, as it got into the low 90's, which is very warm for Walton. We went in the morning for a couple hours while it was still in the upper 80s, but even then it was quite warm. We purchased the week's pass as we anticipate going down at least a couple more times.

Katelyn helping hold a baby bunny.

Looking at some baby goats in the petting zoo.

Dad and the kids watching the horse's rink where there were some show competitions going on.

Watching some baby ducks and chickens. Titus found the cows, sheep, and pigs, a little intimidating up close and personal.

This little girl won the best of class for the under 12 group. She couldn't have been much taller than Katelyn. Katelyn actually took this picture, so it's a little blurry, but it still was pretty neat.

Titus wasn't so sure about holding the bunny.

Picking Blueberries:

When we first went up to the patch, Katelyn knew what was there, but Titus didn't. So when he got to the patch (mind you Titus LOVES blueberries), he looked at the first bush a little quizzically. I picked a blueberry and gave it to him, and after eating it, his eyes looked around at the whole patch, got very big, and he began jumping up and down and clapping his hands. After eating quite a few, I told him it was time to go, and he started yelling "No, No!" and ran deeper into the patch. I tracked him down and picked him up and began carrying him back down the hill, and he started screaming bloody murder!

The morning dew on a patch of blueberries

Katelyn turned out to be a very good blueberry picker. She ate a few, but filled her bowl quite well.
Katelyn smiling with her pickings.

We gave Titus a bowl, but all of his picking consisted of hand to mouth. After Colleen told him he needed to try to put some in his bowl, the below video occurred.

Grandpa playing in the brook with the kids. He couldn't remember the last time he had been in the brook.

Grandpa standing in the brook.

Swimming lessons

Here are some pictures and videos of Katelyn's first swimming lessons. She started out the week fairly timid in the water and towards the end of the two weeks was fairly comfortable, though she was still not crazy about getting her face in the water. "Lessons" is a pretty loose term for the sessions. It was really just a time for the kids to get familiar with the water, and it provided some good father-daughter time which we enjoyed. She's already looking forward to next year's lessons.

Lydia smiling