Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Ice Cream Clo-n

Sonoma County=Agriculture. Summer=County Fair. Clover Dairy booth=Free ice cream!!!

Is this not the perfect summer pic?

yessir, good to the laaaaast drop!

Clo's a popular kind of cow!

It's true: For several hours each day the fair is open, Clover-Stornetta hands out free scoops to the public. And it's mighty delicious too!

I've seen Clover milk cartons at our summer breakfast table for decades. Their clever ads crack us up. As their memorable tag line says:

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               and ... Wordless Wednesday

Magic Marker Monday: Fair Contest Entry

I took James and his sister to our County Fair this weekend. It's a summer tradition for my family. It's been harder and harder for us to finance outings like the fair, however. Last year, I stumbled across a great way to get in free: enter a contest.

In May I watched the public notice shelves at our library. When the fair contest book and entry forms come out, a healthy portion of them get delivered to the branches. The 3 of us sat down and ... procrastinated. Until the very afternoon the entries had to be postmarked. Then, I rounded up the kids, markers, and crayons: Time to colour!

Here is James' (a little blurry):

Entries were on display in the craft hall, in big binders

and his sister's:

and mine:

A couple of weeks ago, our entry tickets and participant ribbons came in the mail. So not only did we create something, we got prizes for doing so. I think this could be the start of a new family tradition.


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An Excellent Time at the County Fair

A summer weekend, and the kids want an outing. I want time to enjoy with them and the great weather outdoors. Luckily, I planned ahead! Last month, we entered a Fair contest (colouring a pre-printed drawing) and were mailed free tickets to the fair to go see our entries -- and a whole lot more. Because I saved a lot on admission, I was able to buy some ride tickets.

But first, let's start off right, with perfect weather and crowds. It was hot, but with breezes off the coastal fog bank. There were enough people to create an upbeat buzz but not so many that it was hard to wander and look at things. Our entry price? Free! We participated in a contest and received tickets to come see our entries.

We began with the kids spinning for free prizes at the credit union booth, and I being handed a credit union backpack to hold the won articles. We then mooved along to free ice cream from Clo at the Clover-Stornetta booth. Yum, it was so good! James and his sister tend to be picky about their ice cream and they ate every bite.

As we finished up we realized we were standing practically at the boarding stop for the buggy ride, so we caught ourselves a pleasant little tour of the fair, driven by a cowboy and his daughter. James tried asking a couple of questions, but I really think he was trying to engage with the cute cowgirl. Her dad explained to my daughter how to properly use a whip (which she'd seen and asked him about) and the spurs.

After this, we decided to try the Butterfly Adventure - a new exhibit to the fair. That was a hit, especially for James' sister. James liked the butterflies, but began to freak out when they fluttered close to him, so our visit was a little shorter than we might have liked. Still, it was a great experience, and no butterflies were harmed by our group.

Intro & info

A look into the butterfly room

This man was very funny; right here he's explaining that the Q-Tip-like objects were truly
handcrafted by Tibetan monks ... during a full moon

Monarchs!

I fed one, with my magic Tibetan stick!

It's a moth, I know ... but still!!

awesome!

Continuing our enjoyment of free fair entertainment, we cruised through the craft halls, where we admired some thematic displays, pies, and quilts. We came across a tiny railroad, complete with some of America's natural wonders ... and dinosaurs. What a find! Even more fortunately, the gentleman who made the entire project was there. He talked so nicely with the kids, eager to share his love of trains and to ask what they thought after watching the cars go around through the fantastic landscapes. I love coming across people like that man.

Jluy 4th display

It's not a county fair without pie!

Just really liked this; the artist is only 16!

Heh. The 10th took 3rd at the LEGO table.

tiny train and park. I wish I had gotten this man's name. He was so genial and nice with the kids.

James surprised me by asking to go on the small roller coaster. o.O  So we all went. He did very well all the way through, but once was enough. His sister took a second ride while we watched. After a long walk through the Midway, big sister decided to try the Fun House. It was okay, but too short. We wound up that area by playing one of the midway games. James actually landed a ping pong ball in a bowl. Alas, it was the colour that earned you more balls to toss, but still, it prolonged the excitement for a bit

.

We did pause for some nutritious snacks: popcorns, kettle corn, and a snow cone. Then a final look another hall of crafts and art pieces before viewing our entries in their binders.

We saw and did more things ... but they're for another post!

Fun at the Fair

Finally, after seven years of meaning to go, we made it to the Citrus Fair in Cloverdale! Because it is such an obvious, big event for this little town, I'd been curious to see what it was like. Alas, colds and flu struck us every year with uncanny precision come Citrus Fair weekend.

This year the fair fell on President's Weekend, and we took advantage of reduced admission day to visit. The weather was very cold, threatening rain and snow in the hills. Although we stayed only 2 hours, we enjoyed ourselves very much.

So, Cloverdale thought it would become the Citrus Capitol of Northern California ... until it went through a couple of Sonoma County winters, that is. Still, there are pockets in the county that boast decades-old, hardy citrus trees. Here's what we saw as soon as we entered the fairgrounds:


After touring the citrus and floral displays (created to a 50's theme), we headed outside and ate our bag lunch at the outdoor picnic tables. We were right by some noisy carnival rides and music was on the loudspeakers. I was proud of how well James did with all the noise. We walked around and looked at the rides and games. A departing family handed us some of their leftover tickets, and I bought a few more. I told the kids they could do one game and one ride.

James didn't want to go on the rides, so I took his sister on the mini roller coaster. James had a conversation with his Nana, showing he was correctly counting the number of times we'd looped the track and asked her how many more times we'd be going. At ever trip around, we'd all wave at each other.

At one of the game booths, the carnival worker assured me they would both with a prize, so they tossed ping-pong balls and made their horses chase to a finish line on a board. They both won little turtles, which they love. Big sister named hers "Cutie" and James named his "Toby".


Big sister took a ride down the big slide all by herself while we cheered her, and then we had a snack:


We spent half an hour at the bubble tables before calling it a day.



Freezing, family fun, and first of many visits!

SOOC Saturday: Dino Pet

A boy and his dinosaur, awwww, what could be better?



The Slurping Life is on hiatus, but you can check out past SOOC Saturday entries there!

Our day at the Fair

My mom came and picked up I & the kids after 10 this morning and we parked early and got in the gates for the Sonoma County Fair before any lines formed. The exhibit halls were not yet open so we went and checked out the animals. We saw cows, goats, and horses. We stopped at the wildlife rescue tables (birds and animals) and checked out the poultry & rabbit cages. They even had a few guinea pigs on display too.

By this time, James wanted to run around, and the llama arena was ideal for that. They had a covered coral/pen area with a little grand stand area (also covered) set up in front of it. So James went around the stands in a circle for about half an hour while my mom & his sister made friends with Lakota, a sweetie of a llama who also sported a nifty hat w/ cutouts for his ears.

We learned lots of things about llamas, like they have no lanolin so their wool is not greasy. Their hairs are hollow on the inside, so even though they have a ton of it, the weight doesn't crush down. People who are allergic to sheep wool are not allergic to llama wool. Llamas have two toes in front and behind that is like a dog's paw. There are many, many, many llamas named "Kuzco." They have to complete an obstacle course while competing at the Nationals; the hair on their backs and torsos are also often shaved for the Nationals, to better show their lines. Americans are breeding llamas to be taller. The National Championships this year will be held in Nebraska (known for it's llamas ... not). While all this knowledge was being absorbed, James inhaled a whole PB&J "samich" and polished off a bottle of water.

Off we went to see the Flower Hall. James had a great time making animal sounds as we went. The theme for this year's Hall of Flowers was a weird one: Red, White, and Blue/Fall in a New England Garden. Yeah .... right. Those two go together like .... never mind. But somehow, it worked, and I ended up liking this the most of the several years I can remember!

I took eeeexactly a gazillion pics and ran down my battery. Some groupings of flowers were amazing -- I could see the fireworks star-burst patterns in the plantings. Others paired rust orange, purple, & golden yellows with the red, white and blue theme. And it worked. I am still trying to understand that. Instead of building up the framework for all the garden displays (fake mountains, pagoda, and buildings everywhere), the feeling was light and airy in the hall, which contributed to a glowing effects all the flowers had (which I adore).

Most of the faux buildings were right up against the hall walls. The exception was a huge covered bridge that crossed over a large, man-made pond and a lighthouse (complete with cottage and garden) on the far end of the pond. I was charmed.

Some of the gardens looked like they could have been sets at Disneyland (high praise indeed) and one went totally bonzo with a winter wonderland (complete w/ Santa sleigh, penguins, snowman, and fake snow and sparkly ice all over).

If you're a SoCo local and haven't seen it, I'd recommend going. That alone was worth $7 for me and I think we were in there with the kids for over half an hour.

Then we got cotton candy for & a snow cone for the kids. My mom went to go check out the amazing kinetic sculpture of San Francisco while they munched. She was so impressed I had to take a look -- it was AWESOME! And the guy who made it was talking about how he did it, while rolling ping-pong balls through it. Check out this video. I love people who make things like this!

And man I was bummed I'd zapped my battery by this time because it was an awesome piece of art!

So then we left about 1pm, and all the lines had formed to get tickets and in the gates. Our parking lot was almost full. There was no traffic going home. OMG, the perfect outing. Now the kids are napping and I am out in the back with Meow (the backyard cat) and coffee (and you). My husband is happy because he had most of yesterday to relax and today to wrassle with the garage; he is napping too.