Fun Day at the Fair

Britton and Elise, looking a little sheepish

   I spent some time at the Evergreen State Fair today.  I was accompanied by two grandchildren, Elise Kang and Britton Tunnell, both age six.  They were good little troopers and patiently hung out with me at the Open Honey and Beeswax booth in the Display Hall. We did take an ice cream break in the middle of my four hour shift. We spent some time looking at chickens and rabbits while the girls ate their ice cream. They helped me hand out prizes for people who were successful in spotting the queen and asked a lot of great questions.  The observation hive behind the girls in the photo below is an Ulster Observation Hive I had for sale in the shop.  I had put the bees into it just this morning before going to the fair.

Britton and Elise enjoying ice cream cones at the bee booth

   My shift ended at 6:00p.m., after which we were free to look at the animals and do lots of fun fair things. We looked at sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, milk cows, beef cattle, and pigs. One sweet girl in the sheep barn actually let Britton and Elise assist her in trimming her sheep's fleece in preparing it for show.  The girls also both got to pet a 12 day old baby pig in the swine barn. As we were leaving the dairy barn, the girls pointed out the milk vending machine and talked me into getting them some strawberry milk and chocolate milk. I put the money in while Elise pushed the buttons for Britton's strawberry milk and one bottle of milk came out. Then I put the money in while Britton pushed the buttons for Elise's chocolate milk. It was like a Las Vegas slot machine as three bottles of milk came out of the vending machine.

Britton assists in trimming the fleece while Elise watches

   We watched a hand milking contest. Then Britton and Elise played with some old fashioned water pumps and grain mills that were set up near by for kids to use.  They also both had fun riding on the toy tractors.  As we were leaving we paid a short visit to the museum they have at the east entrance of the fair. We were initially drawn in because Britton had noticed some indian buckskin clothing on display. as it turned out, there were a lot of things to hold the girls attention in the museum. Before we left they had played with model trains and each helped to make their own personal rope. We all had a great time.

I think Elise would really like a grain mill for Christmas.

Britton and Elise riding the toy tractors