The Lincoln County Fair

Every year since I have known my husband we have made the trip to Fayetteville,TN for the  Lincoln County fair. It's become a tradition. We went before I was pregnant. while I was pregnant, and now we take our children there.

It's not just one of those carnivals that travels the country with a few questionably safe rides and a creepy clown. It's a full blown old fashioned county fair. A fair of a dying kind.

They have everything from rides, beauty pageants, livestock judging, 4H competitions, quarter horse races, cooking competitions, antique tractor display, demolition derby races, and so much more. Not to mention performances by country music artists Steel Magnolia, and Colt Ford.

It's almost like stepping back in time for a few hours. I have forgotten with the everyday hustle and bustle of adult life how much fun the simpler things in life can be. I enjoyed watching my children as they watched the hog judging, they informed me that it was the ''three little piggy wigs.'' I loved the excitement on their faces when we went into one of the barns and there were dozens of miniature horses waiting their turn to be judged, They were so cute almost made me want to bring one home! I can get away with telling people its a dog right?

Cotton Candy

As I walked around I took in all of the typical ''Fair'' smells like popcorn, cotton candy, funnel cakes, and so on. We tried just about everything. After all it only comes once a year so we might as well indulge ourselves. My babies are too small to ride most of the rides, so they had a few kiddie rides they could do alone. Then a few they could do with a parent. I let loose and had just as much fun as they did.  Seeing the excitement on their faces is just priceless. This was really the first year that they got excited about everything at the fair, not just the pretty lights. I could hear faint screams in the distance from the kids on the roller coaster and a few of the other rides too.                                                

                                                                              

I love that I have been able to share this experience with my children.  I hope this fair lasts for years to come. I wish that more old fashioned fairs like this would make a comeback. Maybe someday my children will still be able to take their own children to this fair or one like it. It saddens me to see good old fashioned fun events like this slowly disappearing. Kids these days are so wrapped up in video games and such that they don't do much of anything else. It was nice seeing all the kids in the arena with their animals for judging. At least someone is teaching the next generation how to carry on an old tradition.

It was an absolute blast! I would suggest this fair to anyone! If you are within a reasonable traveling distance it's well worth the trip!
  

                                                                               


Here is a link to their website http://www.lincolncountyfairinfo.com/map.html

and here is the link to their Facebook event's page                                          http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149866958400564

A surprise homecoming

This afternoon Sissy texted me. She wanted to know if we were going to be home. My husband was in the bed sleeping because he had to wake up at 8pm to take a shower so that he could go to work at 9pm. Our son crawled in bed too,but never went to sleep.

 I proceeded to finish cleaning the house. So later on my daughter and I decided to go sit outside. We hadn't been out there long at all. Maybe 5-10 minutes at the most. She had just reached for her bucket of sidewalk chalk so that we could draw pretty pictures together. I was focused on her at ground level. I noticed someone walk up behind her and just stop & stand there. A man obviously due to the clothing. I said  to my daughter ''baby move so he can get by''.

 It wasn't until she got up to move that I looked up at the guy. I thought it was someone going to see our neighbor. I looked at his face. I stared at him. It took several seconds for it to sink in. It was my step-son Mickey!!!! I was in shock!

I reputedly said OMG OMG OMG!!!! He gave me the biggest warmest hug ever. One of those really good ''I missed you hugs''

We haven't seen him in months! In fact I think January was the last time he was home. He is in the Air Force & in stationed on the west coast.

Since my husband was sleeping I didn't want to just go open the bedroom door & say hey Mickey is here. Instead I made it interesting!

I opened the bedroom door.

I walked over to the bed.



 ME- ''hey babe, wake up. There is a police officer at the door and he needs to talk with you''.

Hubby-What? A police officer? Well what does he want?

ME- I don't know he just said that he needs to speak with you.

Hubby- quickly gets out of bed and puts on a shirt

I had walked back into the living room. My husband and son then walked into the living room. He too was in shock. It took him a few seconds before he let out a loud MICKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Which was followed by a really awesome hug!

Haha! Sissy tricked me, I tricked my husband. I tricked Nessa.

We all sat down & started to catch up on everything. It was so great to see him. it was almost unreal.

I know how much my step-daughter Nessa has been missing him and wanting to see him.

I then called Vanessa's mother & told her what was going on. I told her to tell Vanessa to get ready & I was on the way over to pick her up.

I drove over there and she got in the car. 

Vanessa- Why does Dad want me to come over there?

Me- I don't know he just told me to come and get you

We get back home and I put my hands over her eyes so that she couldn't see in the windows.

Shelby opened the door. I then took my hands away from Nessa's eyes.

She stood there looking at him for a few seconds. She then ran over to him and screamed MICKEYYYY!!!!!

She was a very very happy girl. It seems that all of us had a delayed reaction & it had to sink in. It was so awesome getting to see him. We are all thankful for this day & the time that we shared with him. We have missed him so very much!

The text after I realized how sneaky she was : )

Mickey & Nessa





in another light

 This past Sunday we went for our regular trip to get groceries for the week. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to take the groceries home, and go to the park.  We took a trip to a nearby elementary school. Normally there aren't any other people there. Its nice to go to when we just want to enjoy time alone at a park/playground  with our kids. They were having a blast. A lady brought five small children there to play. They were all having a good time together. Taking turns and helping each other. I sat there in the grass taking in all the giggles flowing through the air. I then looked up at the sunset through the playground. It was quite beautiful. Most days I'm too busy to even notice a sunset. It reminded me of high school art class when we learned about drawing/painting with negative and positive space. I took a few photos with my iphone. (my camera was dead) They are simple but at the same time beautiful. I think this was a reminder for me to slow down and take in all of my surroundings, to be more appreciative of the simple things in life. To enjoy life more, and to be less serious all the time.