Emilie of the Everglades

We went to the Davis County Fair yesterday. It was quite hot (95-ish) and we felt like we were melting most of the time. But we had a lot of fun.

First, we took our turn doing various strength and agility tests at a tent sponsored by a local gym. Elizabeth vertically jumped 14 inches! Mary did ten butt pushups (meaning her arms remained straight while her little tooshie went up and down) and Emilie threw a baseball at 24 mph! I guess not quite all of us took turns--Josh was hot and disinterested and instead chose to alternately cling to my legs and bump against them from behind almost knocking me over.

Then we moved on to the science and discovery tent where they played with bubbles and miniature robots and tornadoes made from liquid-filled liter soda bottles. We got to look at all sorts of creeping things, like cockroaches and tarantulas. We also got up close and personal with a large tortoise and a large snake and saw a grown woman make a fool out of herself by screaming at the top of her voice upon turning and seeing the latter.

To cool off, we walked through the 4H tent and oohed and aahed at the arts and crafts and vegetables the 4H kids had displayed there. We were very impressed by the winning entries and their ribbons. We decided that next year we should find a way to enter some of our own creations and vegetables since the cabbage Elizabeth has been growing as part of her third grade project was much larger than the blue-ribbon winner in that category.

Next, we considered the carnival rides, but decided they weren't worth the cost. Well, I actually decided that part and they were too hot to argue--much. We moved on to the chicken house and then the bunny house. It was really interesting to see the variation in the different breeds--some chickens with long legs and other chickens with naked necks and still others with what looked like a bad hair day. They were of all sizes and colors as well. The bunnies were a similar story only it was the ears and fur that attracted attention--long, short, and floppy ears combined with long, short, and fluffy fur. One particularly fluffy bunny even had a pink polka-dot ribbon clipped into its fur at the base of one ear. "Aw, how cute..." we all cooed.

The Alligator show was next. I was really interested in this. I wanted to see that gator! The kids all complained and said how they didn't want to see it because it was outside in the sun and it was too hot. I exercised my parental authority and said, "Too bad, we're going to watch it anyway." More complaining, but general compliance. We squeezed in and found a place to sit just as it was starting. The man-and-woman team introduced us to their alligator friend, which was hissing in the corner of a shallow pool of water. We were all melting again as we listened to the woman explain all about alligators and watched as the man demonstrated just how to catch and handle one--we were close enough to get splashed during this wrestling match!

Then the woman asked for a child to volunteer to come up and touch the gator. The man pointed out a child in the audience, but I couldn't tell who it was from where I was sitting. Before I knew what was happening, Emilie, my 8 year old, was up out of her seat and headed for the stage area! She was very good at participating with them and proved to be very entertaining as well. At one point the woman asked Em which hand was her strong hand--the one she might want to use to pet the gator. She replied that it was her right, but then said "I might want to use the other one though because this one has a broken nail." We all laughed at that because she sounded so girly-girl when she said it. Not only did she touch the alligator, but she got to sit on it (it was already subdued by the handler) and get her picture taken, too. Reporters and photographers were there to capture the fun. Check out these links to our local papers and be sure to enlarge the images so you can see what it looked like! www.standard.net/live/news/180505/ and www.deseretnews.com/article/705323289/Photos-Davis-Co-Fair-Slow-and-furious.html (click on the photo gallery).

We finished our day at the fair with lots of water to drink, a pony ride, and a promise of dinner at Golden Corral.