Fair Week

We had a fun and busy week at the county fair. It was Ethan's first year in 4-H and he choose to show chickens and sheep. We loved caring for them over the past few months! In addition to animals he also brought a deer feeder, glass etching project and a report about a garden box he made with Grandpa VDB. Amelia and I also brought some items for the open class. Check out our pictures from the week!

Ever wash a chicken? I know it sounds pretty redneck, but it was actually kind of fun. :) Here Ethan is getting his birds washed and ready to show.

Yum, Yum... The sheep ate two signs, a poster and pretty much all the other decorations hanging above their pen. Next year we will skip the decorating. 

These are Ethan's four chickens. We started out with seven, but last Friday three days before bringing them to the fair he forgot to shut the coop door. Two got eaten by coons and the rooster drown in the swimming pool trying to escape the attack. Quite the event to discover right before leaving to have fair projects judged!

Thankfully we were able to bring the other chickens since I ID'ed them all. It ended up working out better. Ethan did well with his birds, the one he's taking out of the pen in this picture won a purple ribbon in a huge class of birds!

 Ethan is on the far right. I thought this was a fun shot showing the age range of kids competing against each other.

Purple ribbon for this bird! Ethan didn't have pen for the next round so he just held her awhile.

Champion in the Mixed Breed Class! The big yellow bird in the back is what won it.

Lucy & Rocky hanging out the night before the show.

Show day was early start, getting both sheep washed and looking good for the judge.

Ethan showing Lucy in the Commercial Ewe Class. He is 4th from the right. He got 3rd place with her. 

I thought this was a cute picture of Ethan walking Rocky to the show ring.

He did awesome and won 1st in his class! He practiced hard learning to set the sheep up for the judge and it payed off, he did great!

Ethan is in the back-middle showing for Grand Champion Market Lamb. He ended up getting 3rd, he did such a great job showing a lamb twice his weight! The winners were the two lambs on the left.

Ethan also participated in showmanship. He did great and got reserve champion! He worked very hard at home and had a great teacher, thanks to Jessica for all your help! (this picture is Ethan talking to the judge)

Thursday night we headed to the Washington Co. fair for a motocross race. This was Elijah's very  first race! He was nervous and didn't want to do it until he walked the track and saw a table full of trophies! :) That changed his mind in a hurry. He did great, kept his bike up and didn't get last. :)

One happy boy! He said he's ready to race again and wants a bigger trophy like Ethan's. 

Everybody came home with a trophy!

Today was the end of our fair. We had an auction this morning and sold Rocky.

One last picture with Rocky before he headed to market. We're going to miss those sheep. :( But,we're so thankful for a fun and successful first year! Thanks to all who helped us out, we learned so much over the past few months and are looking forward to next year.