We ended up with free tickets to the fair and I think we made the most of it. The theme this year was Bee the Best you can Bee:
Of course there are your traditional fair items, like who can grow the biggest piece of fruit. Yes, pumpkin is a fruit. (I wasn't aware of that before I went to the fair.)
Alyx tried the Army's vertical climbing wall. I was pretty impressed with her as she got about 80% all the way up. Not an easy task.
You may or may not know that Christian is a huge fan of bullriding, will watch it for hours on TV, has multiple toys that are only about bullriding and has said more than once that he's going to do that someday. Not that I'm encouraging this as a career but when there was Mutton Bustin' at the fair I couldn't help myself. This is an actual sport, somewhere Christian is now on record as having done it. They treated it just like a little rodeo, they even sang the Star Spangled Banner before beginning and had a clown (sounds wrong to call him a sheep fighter). This guy basically took off running with the sheep so he could pick each kid up right away once they came off. You are supposed to ride the sheep for 6 second while it is frantically trying to make it from the chute back to it's friends at the end of the mini arena.
This is the "staging" area behind the chutes. These are the big sheep and the little sheeprider.
This is Christian's biggest fan up in the stands.
Essential protective gear; vest and helmet. This pose was in response to me asking if he was ready to go. His version of thumbs up.
Here he is standing over his sheep ready to get in the chute.
If you look close you can see him on the sheep, holding on with all he's got. The guy actually leans over the top of the kids and shows them where to put their arms and legs. Christian said he told him not to worry about hurting the sheep, just to hold on as hard as possible.
He rode for 4 seconds but that went by too fast for me to get a picture. Four seconds, not bad for a 35 pound first timer. He said before hand that he wasn't going to cry. He said it because he was last in line and basically every single kid was crying, even the big ones. He didn't cry and the announcer made a point to inform the crowd that he wasn't crying and what he was doing was spitting the dirt out of his mouth. This pic is after he's closed his eyes so they can remove his dirt/mud covered helmet because when he hit the ground it was face first. You can see the dirt on his face and running off his clothes.
This would br the the "Hey, I'm proud of you kid" from his sister. (Right after she hugged him.) Notice the gesture from Chrisitan. I sense a tough guy trend coming on.
So I took a break and decided I couldn't go to bed without putting something up of Christian. I guess my blog is more of a photo album but who wants to listen to me blog, blog, blog anyway?
Alyx and Christian, first day of school (Kindergarten and 4th grade) 2007.
So, if Christian knew I posted the below photo he'd not be happy. See that nice gesture he is making with his face? I couldn't help it, I had to take the picture. This was his first day of school. We got up a bit late and everyone dressed, brushed their teeth and had breakfast all in about 15 minutes (what can I say, we've gotten up late before and they know how to handle it). So, I pick them up early from school, ask how was it, Christian is totally jazzed but can't understand why he didn't learn to read the very first day. About 7:30 that night we are in church and in the bathroom. Christian says, "Mom, come look what I did." (Not necessarily your favorite comment from outside the stall door). I get in there and he's showing me that he was so excited and in such a hurry to go to school he left on his boxers he slept in and just put new underwear and his uniform shorts on top. Up until that time he hadn't even noticed. So, maybe this is the photo I should pull out when he's brought home some girl he's crushing on 15 years from now. (OK, so 15 years is asking for alot but I'm hopeful).
This is earlier this summer. He's got a shaving kit with the all plastic razor (no blade) and the shaving cream brush. He does this process about once a week during his turn in the bathroom.
I love this...it's back at the end of April at a soccer practice for Aly. Just a totally candid moment, he was playing with a friend and had no idea I was taking a picture. This is a real smile, but he does have a fake one which is his preference.
OK, last one. This kid loves to dress up and would wear a tie to school if they allowed it. He has worn one several times just to Educare. This picture is actually Easter of 2007.
Of course there are your traditional fair items, like who can grow the biggest piece of fruit. Yes, pumpkin is a fruit. (I wasn't aware of that before I went to the fair.)
Alyx tried the Army's vertical climbing wall. I was pretty impressed with her as she got about 80% all the way up. Not an easy task.
You may or may not know that Christian is a huge fan of bullriding, will watch it for hours on TV, has multiple toys that are only about bullriding and has said more than once that he's going to do that someday. Not that I'm encouraging this as a career but when there was Mutton Bustin' at the fair I couldn't help myself. This is an actual sport, somewhere Christian is now on record as having done it. They treated it just like a little rodeo, they even sang the Star Spangled Banner before beginning and had a clown (sounds wrong to call him a sheep fighter). This guy basically took off running with the sheep so he could pick each kid up right away once they came off. You are supposed to ride the sheep for 6 second while it is frantically trying to make it from the chute back to it's friends at the end of the mini arena.
This is the "staging" area behind the chutes. These are the big sheep and the little sheeprider.
This is Christian's biggest fan up in the stands.
Essential protective gear; vest and helmet. This pose was in response to me asking if he was ready to go. His version of thumbs up.
Here he is standing over his sheep ready to get in the chute.
If you look close you can see him on the sheep, holding on with all he's got. The guy actually leans over the top of the kids and shows them where to put their arms and legs. Christian said he told him not to worry about hurting the sheep, just to hold on as hard as possible.
He rode for 4 seconds but that went by too fast for me to get a picture. Four seconds, not bad for a 35 pound first timer. He said before hand that he wasn't going to cry. He said it because he was last in line and basically every single kid was crying, even the big ones. He didn't cry and the announcer made a point to inform the crowd that he wasn't crying and what he was doing was spitting the dirt out of his mouth. This pic is after he's closed his eyes so they can remove his dirt/mud covered helmet because when he hit the ground it was face first. You can see the dirt on his face and running off his clothes.
This would br the the "Hey, I'm proud of you kid" from his sister. (Right after she hugged him.) Notice the gesture from Chrisitan. I sense a tough guy trend coming on.
