Cache County Fair

Well, we are back from that Cache County Fair! What an experience! Jeffrey really did a great job with that lamb considering the lack of time he got to spend training with the animal. I believe he called this one "brown ears", only I don't see the resemblance. Oh well, at least he didn't name a pet rabbit "Flowerknot" when he was 2 or 3.
Every day at the fair he would have to walk the lamb over to the washing area and give the thing a good cleaning. He did a pretty good job, I must say, a few errant sprays with the hose, and a little leftover soap residue, but not bad. Now if we can just convince him that he also needs to shower every day also. Them's the battles though with a 6th grader, right?


The proud owner. He really loves this lamb. What a great arrangement we have going with this whole extravaganza. Get a lamb for free from Grandpa Richens. He has more than enough to give one to grandkids that want to take care of them, show them and sell them at the fair. Can't complain ... well except for the poop cleaning up part, the tears after the lamb is sold and won't be seen again, and the catching up with missed homework from missing school and work. But you're not supposed to be in school anyway in early August are you?

Hailey and Caleb also thought the lamb should belong to them also. They got pretty attached to it and wanted to walk it around everywhere. It's sometimes just like that toy in nursery that all the kids want to play with. The lamb also seeemed to stay much cleaner than the kids did. Especially on Saturday when there was plenty of rain in the morning and plenty of muddy puddles in the afternoon. But then it wasn't extremely hot during the fair, so that part was nice. Hot and smelly isn't really enjoyable.
Its a good thing Tammy's sister, Pauline still lives close by to the fairgrounds (at least for the next few days) . Stopping there for some much needed rest was sure nice.

There was also enough time away from the lambs to see and do a few other things while we were there. Hailey got around and saw plenty. This guy had a couple of litters of these really cute looking chocolate labrador puppies. He only had 4 left, and since he was selling them for $500 a piece, there was no real discussion about getting one. Sometimes a hefty price is a good thing.


On Saturday, the auction was held. It was always a challenge to keep Caleb occupied and out of trouble. Here he is scoping out the cows during the auction. This big cow got a little friendly with him and scared us both a little. Did you realize that a cows tongue can stick out and lick your face from like a foot away? I didn't.



Hailey just had to ride on this little pony while we were there. For only 3 bucks, I couldn't tell her no. She just looks so natural and comfortable on the thing. She looks the part. If only she had some little cowboy boots to go with it. She had a lot of fun, I'm sure telling the girl that was walking her around on the pony about her and Jeffrey's lamb named "brown ears". And I'm sure she must have mentioned her new Kindergarten Teacher, Ms. Tipton.





There was also a climbing wall. Jeffrey just had to try it out every day we were there. The first side of the wall was a little difficult for him, but once he got onto the other side with more things to grab onto, he was much more comfortable and able to get to the top with relative ease. Way to go Jeffrey, didn't even seem very nervous. He made good friends with the gals running the climbing wall after being there each day.


I had to get in on the action too. He wouldn't let me just sit there and watch him unfortunately. I'll have to admit, I was probably a little more afraid than he was. "Would this belay rope spring thingy really hold me from quickly falling?" "How is it calibrated to account for the differing weights of the people climbing the wall?" "If I were 300 pounds would I come crashing down?" "If I were 300 pounds, would I even be able to take the first step up this wall?" Good thing I didn't have to find out about those last 2 questions.


Hailey also got into the action on the climbing wall. She wasn't going to just sit back and let Jeffrey have all the fun! I didn't think she would even want to try, but she did. You can see she made it up a little ways before she started trembling and wanted down. But each time she got down, she wanted another shot at it. Good thing the lines weren't very long and the girls running the wall weren't stingy about letting people have multiple chances for their $3 a climb admission.



We didn't even attempt to go on any carnival rides, the kids just wanted to do the climbing wall. All in all, it was a good weekend, and Jeffrey was able to get $225 dollars for his lamb when all was said and done. Not too bad for all the work he didn't have to put into it.