The County Fair
This summer has been really crazy, especially with the addition of our beautiful bundle of joy! Baby girl was born the 26th of June which put her here in time to take to our county fair. She made her first visit to the county fair at 14 days old (2 weeks exactly).
There are those people who have their stories that always take them back to the county fair. They were kids who were able to grow up at the county fair. And while I was in 4-H starting around the age of 10, I never really partook in the county fair. I showed at the horse show which wasn’t during the big part of the fair and that was usually the extent of going to the fair. Every once in a while my dad would pick me up on his lunch hour and take me out to see what was going on, then took me back to whoever I was staying with (grandma or babysitter). But I never really got the chance to show there until I got in FFA.
As a Freshman in high school I joined the FFA. I always wanted to be in FFA so I knew that was where I needed to be. When the FFA teacher/adviser started talking about FFA Projects I knew that of course I’d use the horses but I wanted more of a challenge. I went home and talked to my parents and told them I really wanted to show cattle. I had ever since I was in 4-H but never got the chance. My dad traveled for work and then when we moved they said a cow couldn’t live in a 12×12 box stall. Our new place didn’t have fences at the time.
Okay, I totally understood where my parents were coming from. Then… I conned them into letting me show sheep. It wasn’t a hard sell, especially since my dad always kind of {secretly} wanted sheep. And the rest is history.
I have made sooooo many great friends throughout my years in FFA that have lasted on into our adult lives. Sadly my husband didn’t get to experience that (even though he was in FFA for 2 years). But let me tell you, he’s all over baby girl showing at the county fair. So this year in July when our local county fair came around, we made it a point to take baby girl to her first county fair.
We’ve had discussions at our house of baby girl showing cattle, one thing her mommy always wanted to show.
If we do, we plan on showing Santa Gertrudis. Grandma thinks baby girl needs to show sheep like her momma. Especially since we gained so much knowledge in the 7 years that I showed in FFA.
We have a few years to decide what is best for us. Until then, we’ll continue taking her to the county fair, even if she prefers to sleep.
