As is tradition, we attended the county fair on opening day (convenient with our schedule – particularly this year). The kiddos and I arrived about an hour before DH and had just enough time to walk through the animal exhibits before he met up with us after work. Buddy was most intrigued by a woman sheering a sheep. Sweetie was enamored by the rabbits and even asked one of the 4-H members if she could pet her bunny. I love bunnies myself, and hope that when the kids are older and members of 4-H themselves, that DH will allow them to have a bunny.
When DH joined us, we walked amongst the commercial booths for a few minutes before buying tickets for the rides. Fortunately, the kiddos are young and are thereby terrified of the ‘big rides’… the ‘kiddie rides’ seem much safer to me anyway! The kids enjoyed 7 rides a piece and we then decided to get a bite for dinner. I made the mistake of getting just enough cash for dinner – there wasn’t enough to buy an elephant ear or snow cones – but then again, perhaps that was a good thing? 
We then walked through the 4-H and Open Class Exhibits. Last year, Sweetie had entered a few things in the Kids Corner and she was encouraged to do so again this year. This year she had 7 projects: Scrapbook Page (Best Friends, sorry no picture), Apple Butter, Crocheted Item (washcloth), Nature Craft (insect collection), Paper Mache (Egyptian Canopic Jar), Watercolor (Horntail Caterpillar), and Pastel Drawing (Egyptian Pyramids). She did very well! All blue ribbons except the scrapbook page which received a white ribbon and the insect collection that received a green (at her age level, there is no category for entomology and her collection wasn’t really considered a ‘craft’).
Buddy also had one entry this year. A pastel drawing that he told me was a storm. We thereby titled it, Eye of the Storm. He also won a blue ribbon – though he was the only entrant in Pastels for his age division. Sweetie was the only entrant for Crocheted Item and Food Preserves – Jellies as well. We have noticed a significant decline in the number of handcraft entrants each year (photography is the only category that has seen an increase in entrants). I recall from when I was in 4-H, there were racks of clothing items and other entries. Now, there are only a few. This makes winning easy but takes away from the spirit of competition.
As homeschoolers, the county fair is a great opportunity to showcase our work and get an opportunity to see and be inspired by the work of others. I wish, though, that more people would take advantage of the learning opportunity.