State Fair Adventures

us at 3ish am

Last Saturday, at 3 am, Miss M and I woke up and drove down to our state fair.

Yes, this was crazy. No, I don't regret it. Yes, I would do it again.

You see, Miss M is in 4H and a few weeks ago we had our county fair. She did pretty fabulously in the county fair this year and was chosen to be one of the delegates our county sent down to state fair.

Miss M with her shirt!

We thought we would head down Friday, but alas, all the hotels were booked (or had a two night minimum) and so I thought maybe we wouldn't get to go. But, she worked so hard, and this was quite an honor, so we talked over some ideas and figured out how to make it work.

So at 3am, we woke up. We had packed the car the night before, and since there isn't much else to do that early in the morning, we got on the road to head to Springfield, IL.

It's pretty quiet on the roads at that time. And so we ended up talking while driving, which was nice! I told her "take advantage of this! It's just you and I and that doesn't happen very often!"

Hello Pres. Lincoln!

We arrived at the fairgrounds a bit after 7. I attempted to nap (wait, is it called a nap if it happens that early? lol!), and we headed out.

She had to be at the 4H building around 9, and we ended up getting their early (which was great since there was a line). Since we were one of the first ones there, we checked in early, she got judged early and we had the rest of the morning to walk around.

her sewing

She showed in the Clothing & Textiles division - and did level 1 (the first level). I'm going to have a total mom moment here: I am SO proud of her! She sewed her shirt and worked really hard on it. For the side edges, she even did a french seam to make it look nicer. I was there to talk to her, to guide her (with words only) if she needed me. I stayed close as she ironed and sewed (just in case), but that girl did such a good job. Her shirt looks great! I don't think I could have done that 11. Um, actually, I didn't figure out how to do that until I was out of school!

Learning to use a drop spindle

After lunch, we were able to pick her project up, get the judges comments and see if she placed. She didn't, but it was a great experience and it's an honor just to be there (which I know sounds like a cliche thing to say, but I mean it!)

After that we walked around the fair some more. We spent some time with some other families from our club (who were also there to show a project!). And we had a lovely day.

moo!

About 3pm, we both looked at each other and declared that our feet hurt! That it was time to get going, though she wanted to do one more thing: milk a cow. So we did and we got back on the road.

She slept most of the way home, which didn't surprise me in the least bit. I was a bit jealous of her while she was sleeping! Though, we did have a plan to stop if I needed to catch a catnap. And if I felt I needed a lot of sleep, we planned to just stop at a hotel. Neither was necessary, but I think if we had stayed at the fair much longer it might have been.

We rolled up back at our house a bit after 7. Both tired, but both glad we went, and both wanting to go back next year!

Beyond this, I will say, 4H has been a great and wonderful thing for her. It was kind of dumb luck that we decided to join 3 years ago, but I'm so happy we did. She's learned so much, and had a lot of fun doing it. She's been able to show projects at the county fair, and now the state fair. She's learned some really good skills, created things she is proud of, made some friends, and has done some service projects.

I love 4H. She loves 4H and we are both eager to start the next club year!