Fair Day 2

Yesterday morning we headed back up to the fair for another snack shop shift. After looking at the weather and seeing scattered thunderstorms in the forecast we decided earlier was better than later so Maddie could visit the places she wanted to see and hot some of the rides before we had to leave. It was a smart move! The morning was hot, humid and muggy followed by clouds we could actually see rolling in and a violent thunderstorm.

Maddie and I wore our new snack shop shirts which declare "World Class Strawberry Shortcakes" on the front and "Follow Me...." on the back! Brian liked these shirts, he didn't lose us once in the crowd all day for obvious reasons!

Our first stop on arriving at the fair was the wildlife rescue group to see the owls, falcons and hawks. I was amazed both days at how calm the birds were but the people there said they do 30-40 shows per year so they are used to people. Also making sure everyone stays in front of them helps!

Maddie's favorite, the barred owl

A saw whet owl-so tiny that he is adorable and hard to remember that he is a bird of prey!

Merlin falcon

After that we made our usual trips through the sheep barn and the horses. Maddie was as amazed as we were by the Belgian draft horses! Across the way from the draft horse barn was the giraffe who had a friend with her/him(?) this year! If you want to feed the giraffe that is the time of day to arrive. They were happy to take the carrots from Maddie as quickly as possible. I did feel bad for the animals up front and their caretaker. She was yelling at a group to "STOP DOING THAT" whatever it was it took her a couple of attempts to get them to stop. Its a job I could not do by any means because the general public are not animal savvy and frankly behave like idiots more times than not. The signs around the giraffe prove that!

After that we wandered over to the DEC tent to get some advice on where Maddie could practice archery. The gentleman there suggested that she makes friends with a person who has a lot of land and then show them she is a responsible kid. She had a really fun conversation with him and we could tell he was happy to get her involved. It is unfortunate that although New York State allows kids to target shoot there are not places for them to really practice that. So we will put our thinking caps on and see what we can do. There is a place at the fair to try your hand though! And Maddie did just that!!

We finished up our morning by hitting some of the rides! 

Then a snack shop shift and unfortunately the big storm so we headed for home! Tonight we head back for a bit to pick up projects. Before we know it the State Fair time will be here!