Friday, August 20, 2010

My Day at the Fair

Original title, I know. ;) Doesn't it sound like I'm writing a report for a third-grade class? But I hope you don't mind joining me anyway on my fabulous day at the Humboldt County Fair!

My dear friend, Elena, joined my mom, sister, and me for a fun afternoon and evening at the fair. The first task on our list was to see how our various entries fared. My mom and I got second place stickers on our poems, and my sister got second and third place stickers on her artwork and photograph, I believe (as well as some stickers for several poems). But what really excited us was the special award ribbon my sister received for one of her poems! How exciting! Of course, my sister was especially excited about the $35 cash award that came along with it. ;)

Next on our task list was finding a bunny. Yes, my sister is getting a bunny for her 13th birthday! We'll be picking up the bunny from the fair on Sunday, my sister's actual birthday. The picture on the right is of our new (most likely) soon-to-be member of the family: Candy. (My sister chose the name.) Isn't she sweet? She's a Holland Lop, if I'm not mistaken. My sister is quite delighted, which is no surprise!

Following the two activities above, we all got caricatures of ourselves (me with Elena, and my mom with my sister). The man who drew them was really nice, and we had fun chatting with him while he worked!

The rest of the time was a blur of food, rides, food, games, and (did I mention this already?) food! ;) Elena and I shared a funnel cake covered in powder sugar early on. After all the talk on this blog about funnel cakes, how could I not get one? And believe me, it was GOOD! Dinner for me consisted of a "beef stick" and curly fries, topped off with a frozen peach lemonade. And for dessert: cotton candy! Oh, yes, I was stuffing my face with great pleasure, and I loved every bite! Yum, yum, yum!

And the rides? Oh, so much fun! Elena and I felt like little girls again, running around like crazy, shouting with glee, and taking in the thrill of it all! The picture to the left is of the three of us (my sister, Elena, and me) on one of my favorite rides: the Yo Yo. I loved spreading my arms out wide and feeling the rush of the wind. It made me think of standing on the bow of a ship, like on Titanic. I loved that sense of adventure and excitement as I was flying through the air on a swing!

This next picture is not flattering in the least (with my eyes all squinted like that!), but I decided to share it with you because I think it gives you a glimpse of how much fun we were having. The bumper cars were great, and between that and the other rides, I was laughing a ton!

There's nothing quite like a day at the fair when you're with those you love. We had such a fantastic time, and I'm so thankful for my mom, my sister, and Elena. God blessed me so much by letting us be a part of each other's lives!

It has been so much fun celebrating the county fair with all of you this week, and I'm so thankful for your friendship! I hope this post might have brought a smile to your face, and I hope it might serve to remind us all of the blessing we have in our family and friends! How great it is to be able to reach out to one another--even simply making each other laugh!

On a side note, as I'm writing this, I can smell the kettle corn that I purchased today. Yes, as an encouragement to any possible last-minute contest entrants, I picked up a bag of kettle corn to include in the prize package. I'm also adding a cute, purple stuffed monkey I got at one of the games to the deal! Thank you to all those who have already entered! =) Be sure and check out the comments section of the contest post to read the latest entries!

(Thank you, Mom, for the pictures and for the great memories at the fair this year!)

12 comments:

Kav said...

We totally don't do fairs in my area the way you do fairs in the states! That sounds like so much fun! And who knew that you could enter poetry in a fair??? And y'all won something. You must be a very talented family! Now I have another question...

What are curly fries?!

Ariel Wilson said...

Yes it's a Holland Lop ;)

Kettle Corn?? Oh goodness, did Lindsay enter? If not, she might want to now... :P

Out fair didn't have curly fries this year! :( I was so sad.

Julia M. Reffner said...

Amber, What fun. I'm glad you shared your day with us. Congrats on your ribbon...and to your Mom and sister, too. I didn't know your mom wrote poems, too. How neat!

Amber Holcomb said...

Hello, everyone! :)

KAV: I'm so sorry you don't have a fair like this in your area--they ARE lots of fun! I hope someday you get to experience it! ;)

Thank you for the compliment, and to answer your question: curly fries are just like normal french fries except they're...well...curly. At our fair, you have to pay $6 for a "boat" of them, and I think it's one whole potato! They're all curved and curled and oh so good! ;)

ARIEL: Wow--you're good! All I have to do is show you a picture and you know! ;)

And I didn't even think about that...poor Lindsay will be so jealous of the winner unless she enters today! ;) I'll have to pick up some bags of Kettle Corn at Walmart or something when I get to Oregon.

I'm sorry ya'll didn't have curly fries! :( That IS a bummer! But at least you had funnel cake, right? ;)

JULIA: Thank you! It's funny, because actually the only "ribbon" any of us won was Emily--the rest of the "ribbons" were stickers (and most everyone gets somewhere between a first and third place sticker!). ;)

In the top picture, the little red ribbon at the bottom of Emily's poem is her second place sticker, but then she got a special award--hence, the actual ribbon below it! Complicated, I know...but it's just fun to enter anyway. :)

My mom wrote a poem about my sister when my sister had an assignment in school (she had to pick someone to write a poem about her, and then she would write a poem about them). It turned out really sweet and moving, and we were quite proud. ;)

~Amber

Bluerose said...

I'm so jealous!! We don't have fairs like that either. The one in my town consists of a few rides and a few "carnival" foods. There's no contests or anything. :(
I'm so happy for your sister getting a bunny! They are so cute. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Bluerose,

I'm sorry. :( Like my wish for Kav, I hope you get to experience a fair like this someday!

And that's so sweet of you. :) The bunny IS really cute, but I confess I was a little bit of a "Negative Nancy," knowing that this decision will most likely affect the next 6 to 8 years of her life or so. But I need to think positive! I hope having another pet will only enrich her life, rather than add more stress or worries for the family. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber

Julia M. Reffner said...

Oh, that's so nice about the poems. I'm so glad for your sister that she won. Maybe the ladies in your family will write a joint novella collection someday.

Amber Holcomb said...

Julia,

Thank you! :) I'm happy for her, too!

And what a cute idea! That would be fun, wouldn't it? Since my sister is so into art (especially drawing horses), we joke in our family that I should write the books and my sister should do the illustrations. ;) Maybe someday!

~Amber

Ashley (Ibreath2read) said...

A family of award winning poem writers. I'm not surprised in the least.I'm so happy for y'all that you won those awesome stickers. And Love the pics, Amber. Looks like you guys had a blast at the fair.

I LOVE your sisters new bunny. He/She is super cute. And don't worry about the bunny adding tons of stress to you guys. I had a bunny named Pinky, when I was younger and I loved him and it was so much fun taking care of him. But, now he lives under our pear tree... 2 feet under:(
Now I have two Chinchillas and I love them to death (well... you know what I mean). The crazy thing is, they can live up to 20 years. So, they've got a lot of life and energy left in them.

Well, here I am going on about chinchillas, when this whole post is about friends, family and the fair (Oh, my!). Your post really made me cherish all my friends back up in NC, how much they have been a blessing in my life. And my new-ish blogger friends, like you Amber, are an even bigger blessing to me. :)

And the prize pot, for the writing contest, just keeps getting biger and better everyday. I know the winner is going to be one lucky person;)
Love Ya Amber girl!
~Ashley

Amber Holcomb said...

Ashley,

Awww...thank you! ;) I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures, too!

And isn't Candy cute? She's a girl, so hopefully she'll be a bit calmer than a boy would be. Thank you for the reassurance, and chinchillas are so cute! I hope they're good to you. ;)

I'm so glad the post encouraged you! I'm so thankful for all of my friends, as well--including you and all of my other great blogging buddies! You guys are so wonderful! :D

Love ya, too! :)

~Amber

lindsayw said...

Ooh, I'm sorry I missed the kettle corn! I wouldn't complain if some kettle corn showed up in Balyo sometime... :) Actually I was thinking of buying some myself.

I loved this post, Amber! Congratulations on your awards, and on your new pet! She is so cute, I really hope you get her.

Amanda Stanley said...

WOW, Amber, talent is just in your blood, girl!!! Congratulations on your poems and congratulations to your mom and sister, too! Maybe you could share them with us sometime?! I just love poems :D

Your pics are great and makes me wish I was there, laughing and flying through the air with you! It's been forever since I've been on rides like that. So happy you had a wonderful time with your family and dear friend! There are few things better than making fun memories with people we love :)

And Candy is SO cute!!! When I was a kid I wanted a bunny so bad! But, now I'm just content with my 2 little dogs ;)

Thanks you sharing your fun day with us, my friend!!

Blessings,
Amanda Stanley