Christmas... a review

This Christmas wasn't anything spectacular.

But it wasn't a disappointment either.

How could it be? I have a healthy happy family.

It started with Christmas eve at my grandmas house.

Since the beginning of time, ok the beginning of my time, I have had Christmas eve at my grandmas house. It is a tiny little house. But it is filled with love and family.

My sister drove several hours to be here and celebrate with us and it's a good thing that she did.

My dad gave my nephew a present he could only dream of.

My nephew is one of those rare kids that can hear a tune and recreate it within minutes.

Not exactly a musical savant, he clearly has a talent.

Once the guitar landed in his hands it didn't leave for the rest of the evening.

My dad shares his enjoyment of music and played a few songs for us all on his own guitar.

The following day we spent at my brother and sister in laws.

They had already received their present in the form of an extremely over weight and loving yellow Lab named Abby.

It's a long story but they saved one boy and one dogs heart by taking her in.

What happened next was excruciatingly sweet.....

My husbands brother fell in love with one big fat Labrador and she in love with him.

It was a Christmas miracle.

Wishing for sunshine

I know Christmas is barley over, but I can't help it.

We had snow and then rain. I just want to go for a walk!

I love those crisp cold winter days that are filled with sunshine.

We haven't gotten around to any of those yet.

So here are a few pictures from some summer days...

Enjoying some time off

This past week has brought us a bit of snow.

Last Friday we had enough that Bug spent the whole day sledding down our hill from the shop to the house and back. It's amazing how much kids change from one year to the next. Last year he didn't get the idea of momentum at all. He tried to jump on the sled but never did get the technique right and it made for some very slow slides down the hill. Because of this he wasn't too excited to march back up the hill and try again.

This year was a completely different experience. He caught on quick that if be jumped on the sled and pushed off hard it made a fast and fun ride down the short hill. I'm sure he took that ride no less than 100 times Friday. On Saturday he was able to share his experience with a friend and it was so cute to watch Bug explain the technique to his friend who had never gone sledding before.

He wasn't too thrilled with mom bundling him up tight.

One dumb parenting moment

Let me begin by saying there is a reason they don't name cows on large cattle ranches.

A very good reason.

A reason that hit me square in the face last night.

Bug was excitedly discussing how when he was big and owned a gun he would be a hunter.

He was going into great detail about how he would blow away anything in his sites.

You see, despite my child seeming ever so sensitive most of the time, he has this strange obsession with guns and hunting. This despite the fact that neither his dad or I hunt, nor has he ever been around a lot of hunting aside from knowing that my dad does hunt on occasion. I'm not against it, we just don't do it and we certainly don't talk about it.

I was getting annoyed that he seemed to have no understanding the impact of shooting an animal has. You know, that it actually dies.

I asked him in a curious but non accusing tone "So you could actually kill an Elk or a deer?"

Bug replied with hands holding an invisible gun "Yep, they'd get into my sites and I'd shoot 'em!" I was taken back by his brazen attitude and went on to say "So it doesn't really bother you that Papa had Fernando butchered last week."

Bug froze in his tracks, he stared at me with his mouth open. Then he squeaked out "You mean Fernando is dead?" Tears welled up into his eyes. Shit. Stupidest parenting moment ever.

I grabbed him up and hugged him. " Oh honey" I said " I didn't realized you would be so upset" He buried his head in my neck, I could feel the tears on my skin.

I tried to talk to him about it but he covered his ears with his hands and closed his eyes.

To be honest, he didn't act this upset when his grandma died in the spring. He was sad but not never did sob like he was now. All I can think of is that after losing her he has such a deeper understanding of what death means.

I told him I wouldn't talk about it until he was ready and that it was OK for him to be upset.

Later as I was making dinner he angrily said " I'm never eating meat again, not even chicken nuggets! I'm going to be a vegetarian."

I said that was just fine if that's what he wanted.

But then he said " I'm never talking to grandpa again!"

This shocked me, he loves his grandpa. The sun rises with grandpa when he is around.

I said " That would sure make grandpa sad"

Bug responded with " I don't care!"

I decided to just let it be and not get him any more upset. I figure in a few days he will forget that he was mad at grandpa for having the cow butchered.

I just feel like such an ass for underestimating my sons feelings.

We had discussed all along that the cow was for meat and would be butchered eventually. Never once before last night did Bug even bat an eye about it.

If I didn't know it before I'm now positive we won't be raising any cattle for meat at this house!

RIP Fernando

Home Sweet Home

I arrived back home about one in the morning Saturday.

It was snowing as I started driving up our road and I had to put the Jeep in four wheel drive after I started slipping and sliding around a corner. Normally snow doesn't bother me but when it could possibly disrupt me getting back home after a week I was more than a tad annoyed.

My mom had planned to spend the day with me hanging out on Saturday but with an even colder storm heading our way and her long drive home over the mountains she opted to leave late Saturday morning instead.

Husband made a purchase while I was gone. Can you guess what it is?

We had been discussing getting him a better comuter car than the Jeep. He drives about sixty miles round trip to work. He ended up getting a really good deal on a deisel VW Beetle.

So now we have two Bugs in the family! I drove it around yesterday and loved it. Yesterday morning Bug looked outside and said " Look the Bug has a snow hat!"

It's Freakin cold here!!

When I arrived in Ohio on Sunday night it had just snowed. It snowed Monday, Tuesday it warmed up and rained and now it's spitting ice balls at us. I hope the weather holds Friday for my trip home. I'm going to be so ready to get back.
Bug and Grandma are doing wonderful back home. Today Bug told my mom that he missed me but by the time I talked to him tonight he was laughing and happy.
Apparently when he went with grandma to feed the goats he climbed up onto the hay pile in the barn. He recounted the story like this: "Momma, I slid down the hay and you know what? I got hay down my underwear! Down my underwear momma!"
Me laughing " Was it itchy?"
Bug " Yes it was, so I had to take off my pants and underwear in front of grandma. IN FRONT OF Grandma!!!" Then he fell into a fit of laughing.
I think he's doing just fine.
Thank heaven for generous grandmas.

Leaving on a Jet plane...

I'm off on another business trip today. This one will last the whole week and take me to Columbus Ohio. Bug crawled into my bed this morning and said " I wish you didn't have to go mommy". Way to break a mommy's heart.
My mom traveled 8 hours yesterday to stay and take care of Bug and husband while I'm gone. Bug will be getting a ton of one on one attention from Grandma and he's very excited about that.
Unfortunately I will be missing his Kindergarten winter concert. I just keep reminding myself how lucky I am to actually have a good job in this economy and then I'm OK with having to taking this trip.

Sunset at the beach

I love the beach.

We don't have those sun bathing beaches here.

That's perfectly fine with me.

When we go to the beach we have to bundle up, even in September.

That was when we took our last trip to the coast and I took these shots.

I'm ready to go back.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is near and dear to me.

Six years ago on Thanksgiving eve I was very pregnant.

I sat on our living room couch and complained to husband about how busy work had been that day. I was exhausted and didn't want to think about the next day.

We had promised more than one family that we would make an appearance the next day.

Husband joked and said "Could you just go into labor so we don't have to go anywhere?"

At 10pm contractions started coming hard and at 8:28am on Thanksgiving morning my little turkey made his entrance. My sister in law brought us up plates of food so we didn't have to eat the crappy hospital dinner.

I've never been so thankful than the Thanksgiving day my son was born.

So even though his birthday is Friday, tomorrow I'll tell him happy birthday and how thankful I am that he is here.

So did you get what you were looking for?

I love Google Analytics, the last position I had with my company was very analytical. I totally love me some good stats. Yea, I'm a complete dork.
But what I love the most about Google analytics is that I get to see how people end up on my blog. Usually it's a lot of poor saps looking for something that has to do with Autumn the Season and not Autumn the person. But recently someone ended up here by searching for "Autumn is a pain in the ass" Yes I understand that I am sometimes, but why exactly do you need to google that? I'm sure that search ended up on my pain in the ass post, click it .. you know you want to read all about the time I got horned in the ass by a goat.
There are multiple searches for someone that I went to high school with. Someone I did not know very well and who's name I will not mention in this post. The only reason they end up here is the fact that my dear friend Corey left me a comment telling me how that person has a blog too. Thanks Corey, whoever ended up here spent a good five minutes perusing my pages. Hopefully they found your comment and so it all made sense to them then.
Actually I thought about deleting it but I need all the hits I can get... it boosts my self esteem.
Other than those I seem to have a lot of gardeners ending up here, I'm sorry to disappoint. This isn't HGTV and I'm not a botanist that can explain what an alstermaria looks like or what ate your pumpkin.

Man do I feel bad...

I have been planning Bugs birthday party for a while. His first friends birthday party complete with invitations, pinata and goody bags. Then he got really sick so I held off sending out invitations until early this week. We were having it a week before his actual birthday because let's face it not many people want to take their kid to a birthday party the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday husband found out he has Pneumonia!

We had to cancel the party. Bug is so bummed out.

When husband said " I'm so sorry son, I'm sorry I ruined your party"

Bug responded with "Oh it's not your fault daddy, it's the sicknesses fault"

My sweet compassionate boy.

So instead of a party Bug and I are going to a fun center place with his cousin.

I'm sure after a fun day devoted to him he'll forget about how much he wanted his first friends birthday party.

Did I mention that my baby turns six next week?

I'm in complete denial.

Trying something new

I'm going to stop pressuring myself to post several pictures and a story sequence. I think it's inhibiting me from posting at all because it takes so much time.
So I'm taking a queue from one of my favorite photo bloggers, Monstergirlee and I'm going to try one shot at a time for a while. Maybe I'll get back into the groove!

I know this picture is over exposed but I love it. He was having so much fun playing in the leaves! Oh yea and I'm back to black.... sorry to those that can't read well on a black background I just think pictures pop so much better with it!

One shot

A fall blooming begonia against my dads woodshed wall.

It's color was striking against the cool wall.

Bug is doing better but still on the mend. Now husband is sick... someone rescue me.

Riding the roller coaster

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my last post.
Things are much better with Bug this week.
We got the test results back and they were all negative for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Thursday was hell, Friday was a bit better and Saturday he was like a normal kid.
He was stiff Saturday night but by Sunday morning he was fine.
Sunday night after doing school work at the kitchen table he complained about his legs.
He has been stiff all day today and not wanting to walk around.
The doctor is pretty sure it is a virus at this point but said he would confer with a Rheumatoligist just to be safe.
Bug has a pretty big cough going on now along with a lot of snot.
I'm cautiously optimistic that he is on the mend.
I swear this parenting thing is not for wussies.

Sick with worry

We have had some serious issues come up this week.

Saturday Bug complained that his feet hurt.

I assumed it was from the long trick or treating walk.

Sunday night he didn't even want to walk his feet hurt so bad.

I gave him a bath thinking the hot water would help.

After his bath he cried that they hurt really bad.

As his dad and I watched his feet started to swell in front of our eyes.

We put him in the car and rushed him to the ER.

They took blood and urine samples.

Everything came back completely normal.

They told us to watch it and follow up with his regular doctor.

The next day I took him to his regular doctor.

He was stumped as well but also felt we should take a watch and see approach.

There was no rash and no fever.

So we waited and by Tuesday night Bug was feeling a lot better.

The swelling left his feet but he complained that his elbow hurt.

Wednesday morning he was feeling good so I sent him to school.

When I picked him up at daycare that night he complained that his ankle hurt.

Then this morning he started complaining his hand hurt.

It was puffy too.

Then he started complaining about his back, and then he couldn't walk.

His lower back swelled up.

I rushed him to the doctor again and he consulted with another pediatrician.

They feel that they need to rule out many things.

He has no fever, no rash.

Just the end of a cold and all of this swelling.

So they are testing him for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I'm kind of numb and in shock and very sad.

I want it to just go away like it came... suddenly.

My active happy boy is reduced to severe pain.

And I just don't know what to do....

Please let it be something that can be over come.

VOTE!!!!

If you haven't already,
Please get out and vote today.
We need some Change in this country.

A beautiful moment

We are lucky enough to be in the flight path of some magnificent birds.
Every year in October flocks of Sand hill cranes fly south right over our house.
The year I was pregnant with Bug I was huge in late October.
I was taking my daily waddle walk during my lunch hour when I heard the most amazing birds.
I looked up searching the sky for the noise.
In amazement I saw thousands of birds. They were swirling up up up.
They looked like a large black cloud that churned and swirled as they tried to catch a stream of air high in the sky. I stood there in awe, I had never ever seen anything like it.
An old man who was working in his yard was watching as well.
"Sand Hill cranes" he said "Aren't they amazing"
Indeed.
Soon they caught a draft and took off south in one big flock.
Every year I see them, though never again in those magnificent numbers.
A couple weeks ago, after feeding the goats, Bug and I started on an impromptu walk through our property. We had just gone over a bank and into some trees when I heard their distinctive sound. "The Sand Hill cranes!" I shrieked in excitement.
Then I started running up the hill away from the trees so that I could get a better look.
Bug yelled out "Wait for me momma!!"
Breathless we both stood at the top of the hill and watched as several formations flew overhead.
Bug whispered " They are the ones with red on their head right momma?"
He actually retained something from all those hours flipping through my bird books!
When they had all gone Bug turned to me and said "That was a beautiful moment wasn't it momma?"
Indeed.

My Blogversarie

As of last Sunday this blog of mine is a year old.
Time flies when you're having fun.
I wasn't really sure what I wanted out of this blog when I first started.
All I knew was that it looked like fun!
I would read my incredibly talented friend Corey's blog and I would start thinking in blog post.
I would dream of incredibly insightful and meaningful things to say.
Then I would sit down at the computer and totally F it up!
I'm just not that great of a writer.
Then I would set out to take some awesome photos and make this a photography blog.
But I'm just a mediocre photographer who gets really lucky sometimes.
So instead I write about my life and my family and post some pictures to chronicle it all.
It seems to work for me, it is who I am, average.
This past year has brought me incredible joy watching Bug grow.
It also brought extreme sorrow as I watched my step-mom die.
There have been a lot of changes in my life since she left.
I have asked myself a lot of questions.
Am I living my life how I want to?
Why am I blogging?
Do I spend enough quality time with Bug?
Why the hell do people have to die?
I slowed down my blog posts and tried to focus on real life over the Summer.
I thought about just shutting down the blog.
But in the end I have decided to just give it what I can.
Thank you for sticking around with me.

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails....

Warning, this post may make absolutely no sense whatsoever. So if you get to the end and think "What the heck was she trying to say? Boy that was five minutes I'll never get back". Stop your whining because I warned you.
After reading many of the comments on my last post I realized I'm meant to be the mother of a son. It wasn't always that way. I didn't know that I was supposed to be the mother of a boy. I wanted a girl and I wanted one bad. When husband and I decided to have children we thought it would be as simple as stopping birth control. We decided early on that we would only have one. Husband already had a son from his first marriage and I was sure that one child together would complete our family. I knew I had one shot to have that little girl I dreamed about. I read about all the ways to ensure that you will have a baby girl. I used all of the tricks outlined in those silly books but after a full year of not getting pregnant I was pretty discouraged.
I went to my OBGYN and explained my fears that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant. She listened to my concerns and said in the most unsympathetic voice " Well we can set up some tests if that's really what you want"
I didn't know if I wanted poked and prodded. I didn't even know what I would do if the tests said I couldn't do it on my own. So I left her office dejected. After four more months I told husband I was done trying. I wasn't going to put any more emotional pressure on myself. Besides if I got pregnant that month I would have a baby in December and I really didn't want to have a baby close to Christmas.
Two weeks later I had a positive pregnancy test and a baby due on December 7th.
For fifteen weeks I talked to her in my belly, decided on a girls name and hoped and hoped that she wouldn't be a he. Then the morning of my ultrasound I sat at my desk and started to cry. I told myself this is it, I know I'm having a boy. I said to myself "You can cry this one time and then you aren't allowed to cry about it anymore" And I haven't. I have enjoyed Bugs boyness. I have however asked myself why several times.
As each and every one of my childhood friends had baby girls. I wondered why I wasn't meant to have one too. When I walked through the baby aisles and looked at all the pretty girl clothes I thought "Why can't I pick out dresses with flowers instead of t-shirts with bugs?"
But earlier this week when everyone was shocked that I would let my five year old eat a sucker with a bug in it, I realized I was meant to be the mother of a boy. I pick up snakes, bugs and crawdads for him to see. I'm not afraid to let him climb trees or get dirty.... or eat bugs.
He's a boy and I wouldn't trade him for a girl. I will probably still wish I could buy those pretty girly clothes. However to curb that desire I've been eyeing the cute dog clothes section lately... the dog will love me for it I'm sure.

Traveling Bug

I'm back!
Ok so I've been back for almost a week, sue me.
Where did I go?
Houston Texas for a business meeting.

I make it a priority to bring Bug something special from my trips.

My days where filled with meetings and evenings with business dinners.
So I didn't have much time to do much shopping except at the Houston Airport.
I picked out a nice NASA t-shirt since he has been saying he wants to be an Astronaut.
While I stood at the counter I noticed some suckers in a box on the counter.
They had something in them....


Oh yes, that is a Scorpion.
Yes, it is real. Here are the ingredients just to prove it.

Ingredients: Malitol syrup, SCORPION, artificial flavoring and coloring.

I had to get it for my bug loving Bug. There was a day of show and tell where he thought up the following conversation.

Bug: I'll show K the sucker like this (holds sucker where you can't see the scorpion) and K will say " Oh cool a sucker". Then I will say " Oh contrare" and turn it around.

Then he announced that he was going to eat the sucker.

Husband didn't believe him and asked 100 times if it truly was edible.

But yes he ate it.

Here is the proof:

When asked what the scorpion tasted like, Bug replied " It tasted like sucker"

Only in Texas... or California where the sucker was actually made.

Life's a beach

On a weekend in early September hubby and I made a last minute decision to take a trip to the coast alone. We met up with husbands brother and his wife who were camping at the beach sans kids. We did some antique store shopping, lunch and then we headed down to the jetty.

I was trying out my new lens, snapping some pictures of my sister in law.

Then some pictures of my her and my brother in law together.

And I took some pictures of the brothers together.

Then my sister in law ripped my camera out of my hand and insisted that she take hubby and my picture! OK not really. She nicely offered to take a couple pictures of us.

This next one is deceiving. It looks like we are lovingly looking at each other, but in actuality husband make some smart ass remark and I'm giving him a stink eye.

Then I set out to get my macro on....

As I was finding interesting patterns in the rocks, I noticed my crazy sister in law. She had taken off her shoes and running around in the freezing weather barefoot in search of sea shells.

When you look at a larger version of this next picture you can see the hairs on these berries.

Someone had a large dog that left wonderful prints in the sand.

Remnants of a pier was a fun subject as well.

After a short time on the freezing sand we made our way back to the campground.

We sat in their RV talking until husband and I realized we needed to start the long drive back home. As we made our way back to our car this was our reward at the end of the day.....

Any day I spend at the beach is a good day.

Score: Bookcase - 1, Bug - 0

Bug's daycare called me this morning to tell me that a heavy bookcase had fallen over and landed on Bugs hand. They thought I should come take a look at it right away.
When I arrived he started crying and showed me his pinkie.
It was twice the size of his other one, with a huge blood blister.
So I took him to urgent care and the verdict is a broken pinkie finger.
Ouch!
He seems almost proud of it now though.
On the way home he said " I'm the youngest person in my family to have a broken bone"
With that "I'm pretty cool" tone to his voice.
God help me when this boy becomes a teenager!

The offending bookcase has been punished by getting screwed to the wall.

My frienemy

I have a love/hate relationship with Photoshop elements.
I love what other people can do with it.
I hate that I suck at it.

So I did what I thought was the best thing to do.
I signed up for a Photoshop elements class at my local community college.
Then I found out I have a business trip and will miss the third class.
Undeterred I went to my first class last night only to find out that;

1. I am the youngest person in class by a good 25 years.
2. The syllabus lists the third class as having everything I want to learn.

Am I the only 30 something person that couldn't read a book or fiddle
with Photoshop and learn it really well???
Don't answer that, clearly I suck.
I'm hoping I get something out of it despite missing the best class.
Lucky for me I found out that they will be giving an advanced class next semester.
I suppose I'll have to pony up for that one too.

School update

I really hate that Bugs school starts at 8:30am so I have to drop him off in the gym for breakfast.

He really hates it too.

He has stopped the crying but is continuing with the clinging.

He just wraps his arms around me and whispers "Not yet momma, stay a little bit longer"

So everyday I sit a little longer until he's comfortable.

Then I haul ass home so I can start work on time.

Bah!

If I could just drop him off in his classroom I know it wouldn't be like this.

Then Wednesday night he comes home with a note that says

"Reminder there is no Kindergarten on Friday"

Whaaaaat???

So far this month this is the third regular day they didn't have kindergarten.

Just when I thought I was cutting daycare cost in half, it's more like just a quarter savings and a hell of a lot more stress!

Trying something new

IMG_3411 copy
Originally uploaded by autumnsbug

I'm trying something new by posting from flickr.
You see I received the most awesome birthday gift from my dad.
Can you tell what it is from this picture?
My dad spoiled me with a Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens!
I have taken many pictures with it but this was one of my favorites. It's SOC and when I took it I fell in love with this lens.
I am having issues with getting the focus just right though.
Now I feel like I need to get a little more serious with this photography hobby.
I need to live up to my cameras potential.
Scary!

Ok I just looked and I don't like how Flickr posted it at all.... crap.

An equation

Husbands cell phone goes swimming = New cell phone for me

Cool!!!!

Husband forgot to take his cell phone out of his pocket before jumping in our pool on Sunday. This time the phone didn't recover and neither did any of the 200 numbers he had stored in it.
Yes you read that correct, this is the second time the phone took a dip.
No he didn't learn to write his numbers down after the first time.
The first time it went into the washing machine.
Lucky for me, my line was up for a free upgrade.
Now we do the phone switch and he gets stuck with my old one.

My crappy morning

For days I have explained the new school routine to Bug. Knowing that change in routine could cause a meltdown of disastrous proportions; I try to ease the pain by talking about it a lot.
This week we had to change the school routine by having Bug eat breakfast at school.
This means we leave the house earlier in order for me to get back home to start work on time.
We pulled into school a few minutes before they opened the doors.
As soon as I turned off the car Bug said " We have to go back home now"
I responded with "What? Why?"
Bug said " I have to poop, we have to go home."
I stammered " Are you sure? Can't you just go here at school?"
Bug shaking his head.. "Noooo mom I have to go home!"
Many options are racing through my head at this point.
Be firm and make him march in there and poop in the school bathroom.
Race home and be late to start work, but it would be OK because I would just work late tonight.
Then I thought, if I do that I am just giving in to him. He needs to get over this phobia!
Then I thought of my little boy, crying and holding in his poop because he refused to go. Only to have an accident later in the day... at school.
I turned the car back on and drove home.
10 miles round trip and we were back at school. Everything was OK until we reached his classroom. His teacher told us that every Monday the kids all start out in the gym.
As I walked him down to the gym he started to tear up. I tried to get his mind off of the sudden change, " Oh I don't know where the gym is, can you show me Bug?"
He took one look in the gym, with the chaos of kids yelling and playing. He grabbed onto me and burst into tears. He would not let me go.
I stood there trying to figure out what to do. Finally I peaked back into the gym and saw a friend of his that goes to his daycare. He was there with his mom.
Hallelujah!!!
We made our way over and when Bug saw his friend there he stopped crying. Still upset but not as bad, he gave me a hug, told me goodbye and let me go.
I got in my car and cried the whole way home.
God I hope tomorrow is better.

Mutton Bustin'

You will get the reason for the title by the end of this post, I promise. One of our favorite late Summer activities is going to our state fair. Usually we end up going on the hottest day and get super cranky by mid afternoon. This year the weather was perfect, mid seventies, partly sunny. We arrived around 11am and stood in a long line to buy ride bracelets for my husband and Bug. I am not a ride person. I can't stomach whirling, twirling, bumping and jumping. But the husband and Bug love a thrill and were excited to start.



He insisted on doing the boring canoe ride too, dancing in the boat to the silly music that played in the background.


Then he spotted some blow up plastic guitars and NEEDED one. So he "won" one on a kiddy game.


After we worked up an appetite at the carnival portion, we made our way to lunch. Then on to the animal pens to see tiny horses, pigs, cows, sheep and goats. On our way out of the animal pens we grabbed some ice cream and heard a bunch of commotion. We sat down and watched as little kids rode sheep like buckin broncos. They asked if any other kids wanted to try. We asked Bug if he wanted to try. He said " Not yet, I'm eating my ice cream." He was calm about it, watching the other kids ride and fall. When he was done with his ice cream cone he proclaimed that he was ready. He got his helmet on. They asked him his name and where he was from, then they asked him to name his sheep. He christened him "Lightning".


They put him in the shoot and off he went! With a little help from two teens, one holding the sheep's head and one hanging on to the back of Bugs shirt.





He stayed on for a long time. Once he was off the crowd was cheering and he gave them a big wave. They presented him with a blue ribbon that proclaimed him "Mutton Bustin' Champion". He is so proud of that ribbon. Then we watched Chinese acrobats, walked through the garden and photography exhibits. By that time we were beat and started walking out.
Earlier in the day we talked about the "sky lift" that runs the length of the fair grounds. None of us had taken it before and we wanted to ride it some day.
It's just like a ski lift, you ride in little benches over the tents and people below. As we were almost walking out Bug said "Are we forgetting something?" and pointed to the sky lift. We couldn't not do it then and I'm glad we did. A birds eye view of the fair is a fun sight.


As the sun went down, we left the fair for another year.