Having the Grimes County Fair in June ends the school year officially.  Now it is time for summer even though summer does not technically begin for another week or so.  Last week was exhausting with ups and downs.  This is how it went.

Friday, June 3rd-
Jake and Kyla were baking their entries for the fair.  We were busy gathering all their other Creative Arts entries.  Mounting photographs, mounting art, filling our forms, writing out recipes, etc.  Kyla’s first batch of almond butter bars failed so she was up late making another batch.

Saturday, June 4th-

Reserve Champion Beefmaster

The heifer show began at 8:00.  The Creative Arts entries were due at 9:00.  I barely made it back to the show ring to watch Jake show his heifer, Sugar.  I am glad that he did because he won his class.  Then he ended up with the Reserve Champion Beefmaster.  We were very proud of him. 

Then Isaac and Andrew showed Sugar in the PeeWee Beef Show.  They had a great time.  Isaac still talks about how much fun he had and how many heifers he is going to show when he is older.

We went home and changed.  Unloaded the heifer and loaded up our horses.  Jake and Kyla were riding in the opening of the rodeo that evening with the Grimes County Mounted Posse.  They did well; however, a few horses misbehaved because of the steers and horses that we already in the chutes waiting for their events.  We stayed for the rodeo. 

Sunday, June 5th-

Proud Rodeo Cowboys

All the market show animals had to be brought to the fairgrounds.  Our pigs and goat were unloaded.  We set up our family’s site at the fair complete with a big fan, chairs, and a grill.  Once everything was taken care of, we went home to get the horses again.  Jake and Kyla were riding one more time with Posse.

Before they rode, Isaac and Andrew competed in three events at the Kids Rodeo.  They competed in Stick Horse Racing, Dummy Roping, and Boot Scramble.  My boys had so much fun!  Isaac actually won 1st place in Dummy Roping.  He successfully roped a dummy calf twice and his combined time was better than everyone else.  He was thrilled when they called his name and presented him with a brand new lariat.

The Posse performance went almost flawlessly.  The kids felt great about it, and we were so proud of everyone in the group. 

Monday, June 6th-
We were up at the fairgrounds by 7:30 a.m.  The Lamb and Goat Show was held later that evening.  It was a full day of caring, preparing, and exercising Kyla’s goat.  We were so excited when Kyla got 5th place with her goat.  The same goat that broke two bones in her ankle earlier this year.  Then Kyla surprised everyone when she won a beautiful belt buckle for Junior Showmanship.  Her goat also secured a place in the Premium Sale.  Needless to say, Kyla had a great day.

On Monday, we also found out that Kyla won Grand Champion with her embroidery.  Jake won Grand with his watercolor of one of our dairy goats.  He won Reserve Champion with his crocheted dishcloth.  I won Grand and Reserve in the open category for two of my paintings.

Tuesday, June 7th-
The Swine show is today.  Kyla and Jake’s pigs are still underweight, but we are going to show them anyway for the experience.  Kyla’s hog is actually pretty close to the weight he needs to be at; therefore, we spend the day trying to get him to eat and drink. 

Jake got 10th place in his class.  Kyla did too.  They both had fun and knew that the pigs would be disqualified because of their weight when they walked across the scale.  To our surprise, Kyla was called back for showmanship.  We loaded up our pigs and brought them back home.

Wednesday, June 8th-
Isaac and Andrew were so excited about showing in the PeeWee Shows today.  Isaac showed a pig and goat.  Andrew showed a pig, goat, and lamb.  They really enjoyed it.

Thursday, June 9th-

Sold! Kyla and Coco at the Premium Sale

Jake participated in a Livestock Judging Contest.  It was his first time, and he enjoyed it.  He told me that he nailed the beef classes, but needs to work on judging pigs.

The Premium Sale was that night.  Kyla was dressed up and Coco, the goat, was bathed.  Kyla did well at the auction, and made up her money and more.  Jake sold his crocheted dishcloth at the Silent Auction.

Friday, June 10th-
We drug our tired carcasses back up to the fair and cleared out our belongings.  We picked up all of our Creative Arts entries.

We did our best at the fair this year.  I could not expect anything more from any of my children.  We enjoyed great successes, and some lows.  We all learned a lot this year and had fun.  All in all, the 2011 Grimes County Fair was an exhausting, but rewarding experience.

Tags: creative arts, fair results, goat show, Grimes County Fair, Grimes County Mounted Posse, swine show

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 10:25 am and is filed under Homesteading, Texas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.