Nelson Family Blog: Turner County Fair 2019

One of the busiest, craziest, weeks of this summer is finally over. We started with the busy last weekend. We had our church league softball tournament last Saturday. We ended up tying for 4th place. We did ok. The other teams just outhit us, and outplayed us. Our team went through some changes throughout the year, and we couldn't quite get back to where we started at the beginning of the year.

After the softball games, we had a grill-out at Pastor's house. It was a nice way to relax and say goodbye to another softball season. It was a beautiful evening, and a great end to the day.

On Sunday, we had our new teacher installation at church. So, we had a brunch potluck and some gifts that we gave the teachers. Since I am on the called-worker's care committee, I had spent a lot of time planning the installation with my other committee members, so it was nice to have a good turnout and have the event over.

After the installation, we packed up and headed to Parker. John had some extended family in town, and we were all attending a surprise 70th birthday party for DoRayne at Ron's house. It was a great get-together. We had a bean bag tournament, and since we arrived a little late, John and I were on the same team and we won the entire tournament, which was pretty fun. We also just enjoyed the beautiful day and catching up with all the family that lives so far away. At around 5:30, we left to go to the Turner County Fairgrounds for the free pork sandwiches and SDSU ice cream. It was packed with people. but so delicious.

After supper, we moved into our camper for the week. This year we decided to camp for the week at the fair. Overall, it went pretty well. John drove back a forth quite a bit since he had to work some of the week. I had the week off, so I spent most of the week at the fair. We spent most of our time at the Old McDonald Petting Farm, in which Emma petted all the puppies about 100 times. We also spent a lot of time at the play area with the tractor and the rocks, this was Elliott's favorite place. We also went through all the commercial buildings a few times, watched a Sheep Show, looked at 4-H projects, listened to music in the park, went to the Outdoor Campus program at Heritage Park, did wristband rides, ate lots of fair food, and spent a lot of time with family.

It was a fun week, but it was a crazy one. We weren't in bed until after 11pm most nights, and Elliott still got up early most days, and it made for some crabby kids some days. We had the kids pick up Garbage on Wednesday morning, so they could get free wristbands for later that evening. There were so many kids for the wristband time, it was crazy. The lines were insane, and even though we had wristbands, the kids only went on probably a dozen rides before they were hot and tired and ready to go to the camper for some naps. I think next year we will try tickets for less of a hassle. Emma went on some bigger rides this year, and she absolutely loved it.

John and I went to Bulls, Broncs, and Barrels for the 3rd year in a row. It was really fun. We loved watched the bull riding and the mutton busting. Those two are always our favorite events. It was a little hot and sticky, and we had to wait in line for quite a while, but we had a really good time.

Tuesday night was school registration night. School starts on Wednesday already! Emma is going to be in 2nd grade and she is pretty excited about it. We talked to all the teachers, paid out bills, and Emma got to put all her supplies in her desk. I can't wait for Emma to have another great year of school And she wants to start piano lessons this year!

Thursday was the last day of the fair. I spent the day taking the kids around the fair one last time, and spending a little more time with the extended family. In the afternoon, I headed to town to get supplies for a grill-out we were hosting for the called workers at church. We had the grill out at Jen's house. It was a nice evening of catching up and visiting and supporting our teachers before the school year begins.

On Friday, I went out to pick the kids up from Jim and Barb and cleaned out the camper as the fair was finally over. I took the kids home, cleaned them up, and then did laundry forever. The kids were pretty tired, but overall they enjoyed their week and were doing well. We also got to watch a mini airshow from our driveway. Sioux Falls had an airshow this past weekend, and on Friday afternoon the planes were practicing for the show, and the kids and I got to watch from our driveway. It was really fun to watch the Thunderbirds and other large planes fly around. The kids really enjoyed it. Once John got home, we packed up and headed to Minnesota for Rachel and Carlos' wedding dance. And that is a post I will save for another day.

This was the first part of our crazy, super busy week. I am really tired and not at all ready for work tomorrow. So, I'm going to call it a night.