The Fair

We had such a great time at the fair. We saw animals, rode a pony, played with friends, and rode the rides.

Riding the carousel.



Mati and Doug riding the spinning berry ride with some friends. I don't do spinning rides, but we did go on the ferris wheel as a family.

On the Apple Worm ride... Mati is big enough to go on her own!

Petting the piglets in the "Circle of Life" exhibit.

Riding a pony. We do this at Meijer (fake pony) and the zoo (real pony) so Mati is getting to be a pro at this.

The train ride with Rachel.

And here are the results for all of my fair entries:

Pumpkin bread - no place :-(

Coconut cake - no place :-(

Chocolate Chip Cookies - no place :-(

Banana Bread - 3rd place

Sugar Cookies - 2nd place

Peach Pie - 2nd place

Pumpkin walnut pie - 2nd place

Blueberry muffins - 1st place

Brownies - 1st place

Chocolate cake - 1st place and section winner which means the best of all cakes entered in all flavors/types.

And the granddaddy of them all... my ultimate fair goal... I WON THE SWEEPSTAKES RIBBON! My pecan rolls won 1st place in their group, won the section (best of all rolls), and then won the sweepstakes prize!!! The sweepstakes ribbon is given to the ONE BEST baked good of all entries in all categories. So of all the pies, cakes, breads, muffins, cookies, rolls, entered they judged my pecan rolls the best. I AM THRILLED! I have to give a "shout-out" to Carolee because we used virtually the same recipe for our pecan rolls (from Marilyn Clear) and I just edged her out. But Carolee also cleaned-up taking first place in her three other categories!

After the rain...

With the amount of rain we received the last two days, I knew it would be messy to let Mati play outside but I did it anyway. I tried to distract her from the puddles with sidewalk chalk but she simply carried her chalk to the puddles. She stomped in the mud, sat in the mud, and used a stick to splash in the mud. This child loves water in all forms.

I'll know tomorrow if her sandals will come clean; they're normally the light pink color of the soles.

And of course, Doug came home and had to get in on the action:

The Great Dairy Adventure

We went to the MSU pavilion today for "The Great Dairy Adventure." It is great fun! You can do everything from milking a cow to getting a cow temporary tattoo. Here is a bit of our adventure:

They give out milk moustache stickers and you can get your photo taken with "Got Milk?" signs and cartoon characters. Mati wouldn't keep her moustache on.

Coloring a cow.

Milking a cow... well, petting a cow.

Mati LOVES tractors!

Petting a calf.

On the way home, we were only 1/10 of a mile from our mailbox and out of the corn came two fawns. We had to completely stop because they were just standing in the road for some time.

Rahr!

We went to the zoo today; its a frequent outing for us since we bought a zoo membership. Well today was the first time in all our trips to the zoo the big cats were vocalizing. The female tiger was roaring and then the male lion next door started; it was a great time to be at the zoo. Here is a little of the female Amur tiger pacing and roaring.

Moo-Ville!

We spent the morning in Nashville (Michigan that is) at Moo-ville. Moo-ville is a great dairy farm (with awesome ice cream and milk) and they have a super cool petting zoo.

Mati on the ceramic cow.


Mati and I peeking through.

Checking out the donkeys. Crazy enough... Mati liked putting her finger in their nostrils; poor donkeys.

Throwing feed to the chickens.

Yum! Ice cream!

Video of Mati touring the goats and donkeys.

SPLASH!

So our pool has a hole or two in it. Since the thunderstorm a few weeks ago, when it went airborne and then tumbled across the lawn, it has not been the same. So we're outside playing and we only turned our backs for a second; Mati is up the play slide and splashing into the deflated, barely any water, slimy pool, fully-clothed. She had the BEST time. She played more in that pool in its damaged state than she ever did when it was fully-inflated. Here are a couple of trips down the slide:

Down on the Farm

Last Sunday we stopped by Doug's cousins' farm. It is an amazing place. They have 500+ acres, 250+ dairy cows, pigs, chickens, horses, dogs, and cats. Mati was in animal lover heaven. Here are the highlights:

Cousin Dianne showing Mati one of the horses; Mati was a little nervous at first.

Inspecting the pen; I think she was looking for a way to get in with them.

Checking out a kitten.

Going face-t0-face with a calf.

Checking out the calves with dad.