Drinking from a Fire Hose

Wow, the past three months have been a wild whirlwind.

We started July with the county fair. That was a milestone of relief for me, as I had led the Cloverbud group for my aunt's club this year. It was fun, we did some great experiments, I loved working with the kids, but wow, it was a lot. I was so relieved when the time for the fair finally came and we could wrap it up.

T had a great time showing off her Cloverbud project. C's Science of Flight project was selected to represent the county at the state level. It was an honor, to be sure. C revamped her display and boned up on the physics of flight in order to be prepared for her judging.

Then we headed out to visit the grandparents and the kids' great-grandpa in Texas. That was an awesome time. In addition to the spoiling we always get at their house, we also visited The Schlitterbahn, the nation's largest waterpark. It was crazy fun. One day was definitely not enough to take it all in.

We came home for about two weeks, and then we were off to Mammoth Cave for the annual "Not Back to School" camping trip. The girls had a blast camping with about 15 of our homeschooling friends. Thankfully D was there to help me ride herd on He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Contained.

We returned home for another two weeks or so, only to pack up and head out to Puerto Morales, Mexico. I cannot begin to do justice to the Mexico trip. It was phenomenal. We saw the ruins of Tulum. We visited Xel-Ha. We celebrated Mexican Independence Day with a traditional Mexican feast. We drank margaritas on the beach, napped in hammocks, jumped from cliffs, snorkeled with tropical fish, took a ride on a catamaran, swam in pristine waters and made new friends. And through it all, we had a fabulous time with the folks.

Each of these things was so enormous. I want to do justice to the chronicles (or at least share some pictures!) But this will have to pass. For now.

State Fair

We attended the State Fair this week. C's 4-H project (Science of Flight) won first place at the county fair, and was also selected for competition at the State Fair. The age category was 8-13 (as of Jan 1.) She was one of the youngest kids in the class. She didn't place. She was disappointed, but not overly much. She was pleased that the judge rated her presentation as "very good."

It was blisteringly hot, and I wasn't about to spring for the wristband for the death-trap rides, so we mainly kept to the barns and agricultural displays. Both girls milked a cow. They chatted with the state Weavers Guild ladies and tried their hands at spinning and weaving. That was a huge hit with T (D and I refer to her as our yarn spider--her enthusiasm for yarn crafting is something to behold.)

My aunt was there with 17 of her sheep. At one point she had two in the show ring at once and not enough hands, so I jumped in to help. It's been quite a while since I've showed a sheep--and honestly, I've never showed a ram lamb fresh from the field, but it turns out it's a lot like riding a bike.

We packed a cooler, but D didn't let that stop him from enjoying the full range of fried offerings.

We left exhausted and sunburned, and feeling like we'd had a complete Fair experience.