Home, home from the Grange...

Just one of the many swine we saw this weekend.

The girls and I returned home today from visiting my family and friends in central PA. It was a great time, especially since I planned the trip to coincide with the annual Grange Fair. The fair and encampment has been going on for 132 years now. There are tons of exhibits ranging from produce to quilts to photography to 4-H projects. People also bring livestock - sheep, goats, pigs, chicken, horses, and rabbits - to show and sometimes to sell. Judging takes place throughout the week so by the end you can see who has the Best Dairy Goat or the Best Vegetable Freak (a real category for veggies that are oddly shaped - sorry I didn't take a picture).

The Senior Dairy Cattle Showmanship competition.

There is a concert every night with smaller concerts or shows throughout the day. Area businesses set up booths to display their wares and area restaurants sell food. There are crafters in abundance, like the woman from whom my mom bought a plastic bag holder. I really found it pretty amusing that the woman felt it necessary to place the bag holder (a tube shaped open-ended fabric bag with elastic around each end meant for holding and storing plastic grocery bags) in a plastic bag for my mom to carry it home. She could have advertised it as "free with purchase, a plastic bag to start your collection."

Walking on the midway.

There are also carnival style rides, games and concessions. They have actually increased the number of rides since the last time that I was there, so now there are two ride areas at different ends of the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, with two little ones in tow, I wasn't really able to amuse myself by making myself ill on all the spinning, twirling, inverting contraptions. However, there were a few more tame rides which Maria enjoyed very much.

Fast car = Fun.

We went to the fair on Saturday and Monday, but we still didn't see as much as I would have liked. Maria had a great time looking at the animals, especially the rabbits and the goats. She was especially happy when one of the goats licked her a hand. (Nope, didn't get a picture of that either.) She also enjoyed playing "the duck game," and winning fun prizes, like the "trumpet" and spiky ball in the picture above. I also had a good time playing skee ball with Amelia in the front carrier trying to grab the ball from my hand.

Two "kids" eye to eye.

Last night we stay pretty late so that I could see Jamie O'Neal in concert. Unfortunately, she was late getting there, so the concert started at 8:30 instead of 8. Then, there were possibly drunk people sitting behind me talking loudly and making crude jokes. (I was very glad that Maria was with my mom or she would have picked up some "interesting" new words from these people.) Then there was the overly friendly man in front of me who kept playing with Amelia's hands and feet. I should have told him no, but I'm such a wimp when it comes to stuff like that, so after awhile I just said something about her needing sleep and turned her around in the front pack so he couldn't reach her arms and legs anymore. Even with all that, I still enjoyed the concert. I left after the first set to find Mom and Maria, so we could get the girls home and to bed. All in all it was a great, but exhausting trip.

Maria collapses on the floor after coming back to Grammy and Pappy's after an evening at the fair. Notice that she is still clutching her " 'nother balloon", her third one of the fair - she let the air out of the first, and accidently released the second into the air. This one she wasn't going to let go of.