State Fair

Apparently we can't get away from the Fair. We decided last year we weren't going to take everyone - it's a lot of work, and just getting in is a lot of money for a big family, particularly when a number of the participants can't really fully enjoy it. So I just took the three who would miss it most (Owen, Leah and Rinnah), and told them we'd be satisfied with the county fair for 2016.

Except, their 4H club's "Share the Fun" club-wide Peter Pan skit won Champion (of two, but still - apparently our club and one or two others were SO good in years past that other clubs just kind of gave up!) which qualifies them to perform the skit at the State Fair.

So off to the Great Minnesota Get Together we went. We were grateful for other 4H families who helped Owen and Leah get there early so we could come later with Reuben and Krassimir and the rest of the family. After meeting up with the kids at the 4H building, we managed to hike over to the Giant Slide, which we were all able to navigate in two shifts: first, I took Evania and Leah took Rinnah while Daddy and the boys watched and held Gloria, and then Daddy took Krassi and Owen took Reuben while the girls and I held Gloria.

Gloria will have to wait for another year to go on the Giant Slide.

Krassimir's always into slides - the bigger the better.

But Reuben was the happiest of all! He couldn't stop talking about it the whole rest of the day. "Dow[n]! Wow! Wheee! Buuuuh [big]. Dew - dow[n]! Owuh, Owuh?" "Yes, Reuben - you went down the BIG slide with Owen!"

Love these two cookie monsters. (Owen's already dressed up as a lost boy. He was careful to stick his toe out of his old shoe.)

The Fair's all about the food, right? That's what Gloria thought, too. But since she doesn't really do much more than dabble with the most basic of solid foods, she decided this Fair Alphabet Crown would have to do.

This is a still from the video I took of the skit. Owen's job was to help Reuben, a lost boy, navigate. Leah, in the brown, was also a Lost Boy as well as Nana the dog at the very beginning.

And Krassimir? Well, he was the crocodile! Check out the action on Smee (red/white) as he and Captain Hook tear off the stage when the crocodile comes on! The audience loved it, too, and you can see the smile on Krassi's face! He loves going fast and crazy, and his trusty stage-hand did just that.

At the end of the night, all of the participants in all of the skits climb up on the stage for final comments. I am so grateful for the kids in our club who take their job of unity as a club seriously.

What I wish I had a photo of, but don't (because, yes, I had my hands full!) was us *leaving* the Fair. It was about 8:30, so it's already getting dark, and here we were, contributing our part in getting all of the props home - we have the biggest vehicle, and were parked the closest (thank you, handicap hang tag!!), so we got the 8 foot tall pirate ship mast! What a sight we must have been with Matt, pirate ship mast in hand, leading the way with Owen, back-pack and root beer laden behind him, followed by me pushing Krassimir's wheelchair with Rinnah holding onto one of the handles, and carrying Gloria sleeping in the front pack while pulling the wagon full of food, costume, and diaper bags ... and Reuben and Evania, and Leah walking on one side or the other with her own backpack and a soft pretzal. Phew. What a night!

It's hard work, but it's good to get out. We're already making plans for next year - wonder what B will think of the Fair? (We're thinking T, unless she greatly surprises us, may prefer staying quietly at home with somebody! But we'll see - if she's at all the type that would be up for it, we might just go for it!)