Farming, Food, Faith and Fun At The Fair

This year we took a day off from school to head to Puyallup to the Western Washington State Fair. We went a few years ago and decided it was time to go back. Oh, and the Newsboys were playing Thursday night… :o)

the Gold Gate

the fairgrounds

God blessed us with perfect weather and lots of fun! There was lots to see and lots of cool junk that we didn’t buy. (Not that we weren’t tempted…)

We like looking at all the different collections, hobbies, produce displays, crafts and animals. Well… some of them I enjoy more than the others. All that country atmosphere really inspires the “farmwife” in me!

the hitch and horseshoe turtle

 

one of our favorite photographs titled “Lunch on the Road” (taken in ND)

WA State Patrol drug dog demonstration

Glad ours didn’t get that big! :o)

the guys and the giant pumpkin contest

this year’s winner was an all-time record breaker!

I love all the displays from the different counties

 

Lego displays (the boys need to enter someday)

a huge Lone Ranger collection

this Speed (aka Lightning McQueen) collection picture is for our godson JD

a working wooden tractor model

nothing says Christmas like poker LOL

Zack gets one step closer to the tattoo he wants

SWEET!!!

the chainsaw guy carving a sign

baby goats

just some of the 13 baby pigs that she had the day before

 

I love this Swiss Brown cow

outside the World Vision African village

 the boys try grinding corn

it’s the John Deere store

I really want a scarecrow like this!

All I have to do is find someone who can weld…

watching “Al’s Brain” a 3D movie about the human brain with Weird Al Yankovic

they even let us touch a real human brain afterwards

baby chicks that hatched the day before

draft horses

we did have a great day!

me and the ashtray Chris won for me at the dime toss!

the craft hall (I love this place!)

so many gorgeous things

this quilt was the Grand Champion

this cake was definitely too cute to eat

On the other hand,  we all enjoyed the traditional foods (hot scones, cotton candy, shaved ice, funnel cakes, and caramel apples) and some new and funky ones as well.

making scones

 

Zack and I had our supper here

the day’s special sampler plate (clockwise from upper left corner): deep fried pickle, deep fried Oreo, deep fried frog leg, deep fried chocolate chip cookie dough. Mmmmm!!!!

The best part of all was the Newsboys concert at the Grandstand! We were all a bit apprehensive about Michael Tait and were feeling a bit reminiscent about Peter. It doesn’t seem like the Newsboys without the bald white guy with eyeliner. :o) But God is good and He has truly blessed their choice of a new lead singer! They ROCKED!!! I immediately felt good about the change when Michael Tait opened the concert in prayer. The whole concert was very fun and very God-centered! Who says worshipping God is boring??? And being a former DCTalk member meant it was a bit like being at both a Newsboys concert and a DCTalk concert at the same time. It’s pretty cool to sing both “Breakfast” and “Jesus Freak” at the same show!

getting ready for the concert

 

the guys on “Stage B”

Garden - Round 2

Who would have known you could grow stuff in your garden this late in the year? But ya can! And we are! Or at least we’re going to try again.

This morning I went out and picked the last of the cucumbers and zuchinni, some beans, peppers and more ripe tomatoes and then after school the boys and I went to work cleaning and clearing out some space for the fall crops.

 

First we took out all the stepping stones that we getting buried under compost, weeds, grass and very large garden plants.

Next we removed all the old plants to clear up more space.

Then we turned all the dirt and broke it up with the Garden Weasel.

Then we added some poop (steer manure) and planted carrots, radishes, broccoli, onions, spinach, lettuce and cabbage.

 

lettuce, spinach and cabbage

last round’s tomatoes

broccoli

carrot and radish patch

Because I have been finding slugs in the garden again I also put out the broken egg shells I have been saving all summer. I really hope they work because they look sort of ridiculous…

I don’t know what I’m thinking when we’re still not done with Round 1??? :o)