Rounding out the Cousin Fun

With the Carlson cousins!

Games, drinks and snacks ensued.
 

Another Year of Detasseling Done

Philip was our only detasseler this year.  (Julia got a job at the library instead.)  They started working the week of Leadership Camp but he still got in 12 days, which is great because you need ten days to get a raise the next summer.  It was an especially wet and humid year for detasseling.  One day when his trash bag broke part way through the day, he literally poured water out of his boots before he got in the van.  Ick.  And yes, we threw away these shoes after this picture.
 

Time for the Fair- Rides and Food

The kids and Jeremy went to the demo derby on Friday so Saturday was ride day.

Nick rode some rides.  We didn't set up to meet a friend and we should have.

Philip decided not to ride any rides so he spent his ride money on food.  The half hour wait for fried Oreos might have been worth it.  They did give us two extras and he did let us all have a taste.

He did play one game with a ticket we had left over.

Rides just aren't the same after you outgrow the tractors, boats and motorcycles!

Thomas went to the fair with friends and while we were waiting in the half hour line I saw what his food of choice was!  I'm sure they were delicious.

Time for the Fair - Parade Day!

It was a hot day for the parade!

But they looked good!  Julia is playing piccolo for marching band, which is super fun for me.  We got my piccolo repadded since it's thirty years old and on it's third player!  They sounded great!

Philip and Nick gathered their candy supply.  It should last till Halloween.

Then Nick hopped on Platte Valley's float to ride the route.  

It was a fun time! 

Time for the Fair- Exhibits!

We did not enter as much in the fair as some years.  Projects just didn't seem fun for some reason.  And we only did Open Class because it's just easier than 4H.

Philip made these bars and some pinwheel cookies that both earned blues.

Nick enter two Lego guns and his Tic Tac Toe.  His guns got reds.

Julia did a bit of baking.  Bars, cookies and bread.  I think they all got blues.  She looked at her exhibits without me so no pictures of her with her stuff.

I entered brownie bites in two forms.  The buckeye brownie bites got a blue and the M&M ones got a red.

We were happy with what we earned!

Time for the Fair- Tractor Driving

 Philip and Nicholas participated in the tractor driving contest again this year.

Philip aged up to a mid sized tractor and learned to drive it about a week before the competition!  He practiced about three times and did pretty well!

Backing in to the stall is the hardest part.

Hands up, all done!

He earned a blue, which is pretty amazing for only having driven that kind of tractor three times.  Great work Philip!

Nicholas practice driving the lawn tractor quite a bit in our yard.

His practice paid off and he earned a purple!

Great work boys!
 

Tic Tac Toe

Nicholas made a Tic Tac Toe board to enter in the fair.  

He started by sanding and staining a board.

Then we made a grid template and taped around it.

Painting the grid.

Pulling up the tape.

Presto! 

 We varnished the board after playing a few games and noticing we were nicking the stain.

He painted xs and os on rocks and varnished those too.

We found a bowl at the thrift store and used silicone to attach it.

Side note:  We scored this like-new headgear for $9 while we were at the thrift store!  He's very excited about it.

We entered it in Open Class because he wasn't enrolled in a 4H category that seemed to fit it very well. (And because 4H always requires the effort of writing about what you did and he hates that.)

Nice work Nicholas!

Time for the Fair!- BB Guns

I missed watching BB guns due to my cousins get away. (It's okay, it still wins most boring spectator sport ever so I don't feel like I missed out.)  Jeremy supervised and even took some pictures!

Nick ready to go!

Philip taking aim.

Philip earned a purple and Nicholas earned a red.  Nice shooting boys!

Cousin Getaway!

I hadn't seem Michelle and Rachel for years...definitely before COVID, maybe longer.  We rented a condo in the Old Market and had a lovely three days together.  We had one misadventure but I hesitate to post the details here.  We were just in the right place at the wrong time.  No one was in danger...we just found a interesting item someone had left in the Airbnb.

We did lots of puzzling and game playing.

Visited the Old Market sights.

Posed for some pictures

And introduced Michelle and Rachel to the confetti cannon.

This was the note I found when I got home.  It's written on the schedule I made so everyone would get everywhere they needed to go and meals would be made.  Do you want to wing it next time Jeremy?