Acton fair weekend

The summer is certainly coming to a close... because.. it's fair weekend!!! And when the fair is in town, the fall season is soon beginning. This year I took full advantage of the fair weekend, and went several times to check out the events. The first day was with Mom and Aunt Doreen. It was fun to see the fair in the daylight and be able to see many of the exhibits that you don't take the time for when the grands arrive. I loved the "old time bee keeping" display...

and the "spinners"... I am determined this winter to find a spinner mentor and really learn this art. I have "tried" it a few different times, but I really need a mentor. These ladies had several ideas for me, so now I have names to contact and see what I can do about it... but, that's for a later story. 

One of the things I love about our local fair, is that is has stuck to it's roots. Mainly meaning that it still very much about the animals, crafts, farming and the like. Sure the midway is fun, and the fair food wonderful, but I do enjoy a fair with beautiful animals...

On my second visit to the fair, we met up with the family and the grands. On this trip I also brought Cadi along to do some "service dog work"... and we started off with the pulls.  Those beautiful drafts, doing the work they were bred to do... I hear people making comments about how this isn't a good sport anymore, etc etc... but these horses were born to pull and their owners are so proud of them. 

Cadi enjoyed the pulls too. She sat so quietly and watched the horses work. She's used to horses, so seeing them is no big deal, but she seemed to think this pulling business what kind of neat. (maybe because she is not allowed to pull!!!) I was so happy at her behavior... she is really coming along in her training. 

Oh.. the trying to get a photo of the grands!!!! but, this one is pretty good, and includes Haley who also joined us at the fair.....

and technically , this is baby Kelsey's first fair.... doubt she'll remember being here this year  (LOL)

The grands have to have sometime at the midway. We coaxed them to try some different things... I have to admit, I worried bit about the safety of the traveling road shows.... so, we try not to make a big deal of the midway. But this bungee jumping thing caught the eye of the kids and so they had to give it a try. 

Took Reagan a little to get the idea of jumping big... but after a bit, he did quite well....

Cadi took it all in......

Abi's turn. She had a great time and got right into jumping.

I was so happy Haley could join us. It made the fair more fun for Abi..especially since she had someone to do the rides with .

This nice lady was so sweet with the girls..even gave them a lesson using a spindle spinner. Then I go d out, she teaches spinning...so needless to say..I found my mentor. I got her name and number and I plan to call her and set up some lessons..

Had to explain to Cadi this is a sheep...not another black dog...

Our third visit to the fair was to check out the pig scramble. Abi wants to put her name in next year. They draw the names out of a hat...17 out of 75 were chosen...kids only..ages 8 to 10...and you have to live in our county...

17 children...15 pigs..you need to catch and sack him..harder than you think. 

The piggies run..and they squeal...but these kids got right in there. We told Abi she would have to ignore the squeals and just grab...she can't wait for next year..

Goats are very popular pets right now so I expected they would be shown at the fair. There are so many interesting breeds...I don't know what they're called but some are so different to look at...

We caught up with some friends who show their cows at the fair. This year they brought a couple of babies with the big cows. Abi thought the babies were cute . Jenn asked her if she wanted to walk the babies around, course Abi jumped onto that idea....

She looked like one of the 4h kids. I'm surprised she didn't ask us to bring one home for her....

As the day was coming to a close..we got our favorite fair foods and headed home. Another successful fair.


Oh and how did the bee quilt do....well the ribbons say it all. Not only a first place...

But judges choice as well!!!! I was so excited when I saw that big rosset ribbon...what an honor ....now what to make for next year????

Since we had Abi with us, I wanted to spin out the honey we took off the hive a few days ago. She likes to help us do that. We had five frames to process and I was eager to see what it tasted like.

With a hand crank spinner, the more help the better. Abi likes to spin it.

After we spun the frames..I put them out by the hives and let the bees finish cleaning them off. Goodness it doesn't take them long to find them and get to work. They'll have these picked over in no time.

Running the honey threw the strainer and getting it bottled.

I was excited to see how much we got. Especially  where we only took half of what we could. Our bees have been busy and we'll enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I'd say this has been a grand weekend in many ways.......