MO State Fair

It's been a family tradition the past few years to attend the Missouri State Fair.  Why travel all the way down to Sedalia, MO when Iowa has the BEST State Fair in the nation, you say?  Well, we started going in order to support family during the Draft Horse Pull that is held there every year.  The summer of 2005 my dad, cousin Cody, and I traveled all over the place pulling ponies (Cody the driver, Dad the "coach", and me the Hooker:)) and one of our stops was the Missouri State Fair as well.  It has a lot of events that are more tailored toward our interests and lifestyle, such as Mule Jumping and our favorite the Missouri Team Penning!

This year Nick and Josh were both unable to go because of conflicts at work/home so it was just my Mom, Dad, and me.  I was definitely looking forward to spending some time with the just the two of them because it's not something I get to do very often and I know once the baby comes these moments will be few and far between.  We left early on Wednesday, August 17th so we were able to watch the Horse Pull later on that evening at 5pm.  Dad was able to catch up with some old friends (horse pullers) and also a couple family friends from NE Missouri.  Dad would tell everyone that I was having twins and that the baby is going to be "Little Willard".  I would immediately have to correct him to let them know that I was carrying only one child and that we hope that he is not as ornery as his Grandpa! :) 

Cody at the Horse Pull

 

24 weeks 6 days

 The next day, Thursday August 18th, we bunkered up and watched Team Penning most of the day.  We could sit and watch that all day long!  It is where there are 27 head of cattle (3 head of cattle numbered 1-9) are in the arena and 3 people are on horseback.  Once the one horse has crossed the plane the announcer lets the team know what number they have to sort out, and from there the team has under 1 minute to get all the same numbered 3 head of cattle in the pen on the opposite side of the arena.  One of our favorite places to eat is at Cattleman's where we all got Ribeye Sandwiches and ate with one of dad's friends from the area.  We also managed to do a little shopping.  I got a new picture frame for the nursery and also a t-shirt that says "Daddy's Little Buddy" for the baby.  Josh was pretty excited that I found that shirt:).  My dad also found a shirt that he couldn't resist for the little one which read, "Daddy knows alot, but Grandpa knows everything".  After telling Josh about it he chuckled a little and jokingly said that our little man wouldn't be wearing that!

Watching MO Team Penning

My Family is the BEST!

Later on that evening we got a devastating phone call from Nick saying that the biggest storm he has ever witnessed was coming through Villisca with 100 mph winds and baseball/golfball sized hail.  Between Mom and Dad being on the phone for about an hour we were able to keep up with damage that they had at their house and also some family members.  There was no one injured, which was a relief, and all in all I think my parents were pretty lucky considering some of the damage that was done with my Uncle's home.  Everything on the North Side of homes, cars, and buildings was damaged along with crops around the area.  Much of the crops looked like they had already been harvested!  So needless to say it added a little more stress to the vacation and we shortened up our trip and came home Friday morning in order to start the clean up. 

Mom and Dad's backyard

Cornfield between Maryville, MO and Clarinda