We started out by visiting the home arts venues...dessert concoctions, quilts, place settings and other crafts. This was a new thing for us to check out this year and perhaps has planted the seeds for us to enter a few categories next year.
Next up was the livestock barns. We got to see a calf born this past weekend and overheard a lady saying they were waiting for a another cow to have her baby. Lauren wanted to stick around to try and witness the birth, but we figured it might be awhile so we "mooo-ved" on (sorry, I couldn't resist!). Turns out the cow had the baby about an hour later so we saw the calf when it was a half hour old and still wet from the birthing fluids. It was almost as exciting as meeting our children for the first time...and a lot less work on my part.
Brianna and Reese checking out the sheep...
Reese negotiating with a sheep for some of it's wool...
Visiting the animals has always been one of my favorite things to do, escpecially since the kids are able to get involved by petting and talking to them. The turkeys didn't seem to like us too much...the toms puffed themselves up and gobbled at us if we got too close. You'd think we were going to eat them or something. Does anyone know the significance of the wierd flap of skin over their beak? We couldn't figure that one out. Something I'd like to ask God about someday in heaven. That and why the baboons bums are red and raw looking.
After purelling (that's got to be a verb by now, right Dad?) our hands a few thousand times, it was time to eat. Since Dave had gone to the fair on Sunday with his mom and gotten his fill of things on a stick and funnel cake, he didn't go too crazy, but settled for a slab of ribs. Mom and I brought food to supplement what we purchased, but I did scout out the chocolate-covered frozen bananas (on a stick) and chocolate-covered frozen strawberries. These are definitely a favorite and I can't wait to have them again next year.
Before heading out we decided let Brianna and Reese try a couple of rides, another first for this year's trip. Here's their first ride on a helicopter...
If you click on the picture below to make it larger, you'll probably get a better look at Brianna's face and the obvious fun she is having.
If you enlarge this picture, take a look at Reese on the left of the ride. Dave said it Reese was fascinated with the mechanics on how the ride was working and was probably figuring out how he could construct something similar in our backyard. I wouldn't doubt that someday he will do exactly that.
We were going to get them on the ferris wheel but they were too short for the adult wheel and the kiddie wheel wasn't running, so we settled for the proverbial merry-go-round. And this is where it gets to my favorite part.
Mom and I first went on with Brianna and Reese. Luke was in his stroller watching us go around and laughing as only he can everytime the carousel brought us back around and we said "Hi, Lukie!" to him. He seemed to get as much enjoyment from watching us as we did from being on the ride.
After our turn was up, Mom suggested that Luke look like he wanted to go on the thing. Sometimes I forget that he is almost two and is big enough to do some of the things we let Brie and Reese do. I still think of him as a baby. So I suggested Dad go on with him and I am forever grateful I did because seeing the joy on Luke's face at being allowed to ride that carousel horse just like his big sister and brother was worth the cost of that ride a million times over. I wondered too if he felt it was extra special because he got to go on by himself while we watched him. For me this was the best part of the fair and one I pray I never forget. Here are the pictures of Luke's ride:
It also got me to thinking about the gifts our Father gives us. Sometimes, too often actually, I have a hard time accepting them with the same joy that Luke displayed on the merry-go-round. I think how much I don't deserve them, or that I'll become prideful or if I experience too much joy I'll be brought down a notch by God Himself because being that happy is sinful. Messed up, huh?
And so as I was watching Luke, God was speaking to my heart about how much joy it brings Him to watch me experience joy in the good gifts He gives me. Indeed, it increases His joy when I am joyful. I don't know why this should surprise me...for God is a God of multiplicity and joy is a fruit of the Spirit against which there is no such law. How I pray I might feel in the marrow of my soul and express without shame the joy He, my God of Wonders, gives me, for then the glory of God shines all the more.
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