The Fair

My girls are involved in 4-H and some of their projects advanced from our county to the regional competition which is held at the fair.Each county takes turns to watch the 4-H exhibits and answer any questions. Some girls were also invited to do their "share the fun" skit on one of the stages. So, off I went with the girls to the fair.
Let me just say I'm not really one who enjoys amusement parks much and fairs are even worse. Not to even mention how HOT it's been here. I typically am convinced to attend these sorts of things by my DH, and guilt for wanting my kids to have pleasant childhood memories, but my DH is out of town working and I knew it would be all up to me to at least try not to be such a downer.
So, now that you know how I feel about these sorts of places, I did try to make the best of things. Luckily, the girls enjoyed riding the rides with the other girls, so I didn't have to ride anything. I did have some good conversations with the other leaders/ moms and some of the others more knowledgeable about 4-H stuff in this state.
I was a bit disappointed with the fair exhibits, especially the arts. Looking over the rules for the quilting section, I never did see any place my sorts of quilts would fit in. Most of the quilts I saw on exhibit were beautifully made, but very traditional. I don't think top people in their field would bother to enter with prize money being so low. In my case, I thought it wasn't worth the drive up there. Maybe I was wrong.
I think I was surprised there weren't more political booths there with elections coming soon and there were WAY too many booths dealing with windows, vinyl siding and roofs. I thought the booth talking about ethanol and flex fuel vehicles was interesting. I was able to pick up some free gun locks from the dept. Of conservation booth. (why I'd need them is too long to go into now) We were looking forward to seeing a cow born at the birthing center, but while some of the cows looked close at times, none were born all day. We did try to milk a cow. I've always wanted to try, but never had the opportunity. We had other types of animals growing up, but my dad drew the line at a milk cow, since it severely limits your ability to go anywhere. I was able to get milk my first try and so was DD#2. DD#1 didn't want to try.
We were happy to drag ourselves to the car and drive home in the AC. (so happy I have a car with AC!!!)