County fair and rodeo

The Oakland County 4-H fair always happens during one of the weeks we are here, and we had free rodeo tickets so off we went on rodeo night.  We went with my mom, my sister's crew, and good friends of my sister's family, the Kranz family.  We always have the same rule:  the kids get to ride one ride each, and get one carnival treat.  Kendra is not a fan of the rides, so her "ride" is always a carnival game instead.  This year I talked her into a ring toss game.   I'm always seeking out the best value for the buck, and this game was a pretty good deal.  For five bucks, you got to choose a hat filled with rings (I estimate there were around 30 in each hat) and whether you ringed a coke bottle or not, you got to keep the hat.  Lots of tries to win, plus you walked away with something regardless.  So, Kendra chose the sombrero. 

Sadly, she didn't win one of the ginormous stuffed snakes or monkeys that we didn't have room in our house for anyway (whew!) and she looks awfully cute in that hat, don't you think???

Most of my sister's kids chose the ferris wheel, which I would have to say would be my choice as well.  It was hard to get an action shot as they rode by, but I thought this one was pretty neat looking:

They were in the green car at the top at the time, I think!

Next it was off to get treats.  My mom treated the kids to a fair goodie.  Kendra was parched and decided on a blue sno-cone, Grace chose an elephant ear, Jack got a caramel apple, and Luke and Tessa each chose cotton candy.  I also got an elephant ear and was disappointed.  It was thick and tough, and was NOT what I had in mind.  Sigh.

The rodeo was about to start, and luckily we had the foresight to go stake our claim on a prime piece of land before we did rides.  We were in the shade on blankets and the weather was delightful!

Check out the blue lips!

Nice smirk, Jack.

If you noticed, many of us had flowers in our hair.  That is a new project of mine lately---I love that look and it works for short or long hair!  Kendra's sporting one of the bows I've made for her, but my mom, sis, and I all wore flowers that night.

The rodeo was exciting, with the bulls winning the night by keeping all but one cowboy from reaching eight seconds.  Every year they have a shoe race event for the kids at "half time".  They call out the girls first, then the boys race.  The kids leave one of their shoes in a pile at one end of the arena, and the object is to race over and find their shoe, put it back on and race back to the rodeo clown.  The shoes start out in a pile but the rodeo hands toss them helter skelter when the kids start running, so they have no idea where their shoes are!  The girlies were in the restroom and missed their event, but the boys went out.  And guess who won???

Yep, that's my nephew Jack in the white shirt and he overtook that big fella and won!  He got a lasso for his troubles..

Here's the bunch o' kids at the end of the rodeo....

After the rodeo we went to see the animals in the barns.  We visited cows, sheep, goats, poultry, and finally horses.  Another friend of my sis's family was at the fair with their horse doing shows, so we got to visit them and their horse and learn a little more about what it takes to be at the fair and take care of a horse. 

Look at that sweet baby cow....awwww....

We left tired and dusty, but happy from a great time at the fair.