Wendy Almeida, her husband Fino and two daughters, G. and L., spend a lot of time outdoors. There's never a dull moment when the Almeida crew heads out for an adventure. Follow the antics in the Kidtracks blog.
Early morning parade float prep
The Cumberland Fair's parade around the racetrack was this morning. The wake-up call for the girls was 4:30 a.m. to get to the fairgrounds early to help put together the float their club had planned for the parade.
This is the second year the kids have been involved in the parade and they love having a float in the parade but not the early morning float work so much.
The girls took the camera to the fairgrounds while I was working so they could take some shots of the final float construction.
Fino took along the hot cocoa supplies for the crew
Apparently my kids were driving their daddy a little crazy because they were spending more time jumping around rather than helping put the float together.
Nice role-modeling the use of scissors daddy
L. told me she was distracted with the moon she could see in the daytime sky and had to take a picture of it instead of doing her float job. I downloaded more than a couple of moon shots from the camera so maybe daddy was justified with his horror movie scare tactic.
The kids chose three activities that they enjoyed this past year with their club to include as part of their float for the parade's "Family Fun" theme. I thought the apple headband was a nice touch on the archery section.
The float included cross country skiing, geology and archery activities
Photos of all the participants in the parade
L. the family 'daredevil' and big pocketbook type
My kids have very limited experience with amusements parks. When they were 3 and 4 years old we went to Disneyland in California while visiting their cousins. We also went on a 3-day camping trip in Big Sur during that same visit and when we got home there was nary a mention about Disneyland. It was all about the camping trip and the seals and 'mermaids' (which were seals but they were convinced they were mermaids) and the waterfall we saw on a hiking trail.
And our one trip to Storyland was too much for our little G. when she was 5 and we ended up in the playground area of the park for almost the entire visit.
So raising a child who is overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of moving people, no interest in rides and a husband who also doesn't care for crowds either and doesn't like spending the kind of money amusement parks cost, we haven't made a return trip to one.
The girls will generally do one or two rides at each county fair we visit during the summer, which is usually the merry-go-round and some sort of kiddie ride that goes in a circle. They are intimidated by the big rides and haven't considered even trying them until this summer.
In July they tried the bumper cars at the Ossipee Fair for the first time and that was big news at our house.
In contrast, by the time I was 10 I was begging my dad to take me to Canobie Lake Park to ride the big coasters (which he first introduced me to a couple of years before that).
So when L. asked to ride the 'big kid rides' at the Cumberland Fair on Wednesday I was happy she wanted to give them a whirl.
G. still doesn't want anything to do with the rides so I purchased a ride bracelet with L. while G. and grandma (who trekked up to Maine for the day to see the girls' exhibits at the fairgrounds) walked around to sample all the food instead.
One of the rides on L.'s list was the ferris wheel (which she tried for the very first time at OOB last month with her friend) so we took some shots from the top.
We had to take a picture of the 4-H hall.
We spotted G. in her pink skirt with grandma walking around.
After the ride we made our third visit the Maple Sugar house (we've spent 4 days at the fairgrounds so far with one more day to go for the float their club made for the parade tomorrow). We all LOVE maple cotton candy and can't seem to get enough of it.
And what a surprise that L. brought a Webkinz with her on every ride. She is definitely going to be a big pocketbook type when she's older. She has a lot of 'necessities' to carry around all the time.
Do your kids have a favorite amusement park ride? We'd love ride and park suggestions for next year. L. and I might take an amusement park trip and leave G. and daddy at home.
Memorable moments working at the fair
The girls enjoyed their volunteer work at the 4-H food booth at the Cumberland Fair yesterday but there were a couple of memorable moments -- as there always are when dealing with the general public.
Take for instance the man who put his dirty dog bowl (w/kibble still in it) through the order window and into one of the girl's hands and asked her to wash it. It was either take the bowl or let it drop. Fino intervened on G.'s behalf and sent it right back out with a suggestion to wash it in the bathroom. (I have a feeling he would have offered a more colorful suggestion if the kids weren't around.)
Or the guy who ordered several sodas and kept asking L. for refills. The first was because his son had spilled it. Then it was because he drank it all. He was demanding and L. wasn't sure what to do about his request until one of the adults stepped in and asked him to pay for the refills. He didn't come back.
Then there was the woman who was hovering over the counter where the grill guys were (i.e., half her body was over the counter and into Fino and Josh's work space) offering pointers on how they could manage the orders better. As you can imagine, the guys didn't care for that so much but they showed amazing self-control in refraining from making any comments back.
There was a guy who ordered 3 hot dogs, 2 burgers and a sausage, paid for them then took off and never came back to collect his order. After calling the order number out for 30 minutes, I finally gave up. Someone in the crowd thought maybe the person just didn't hear me. That produced a chuckle from Fino. Quiet is not usually a word used to describe me.
Then there was a guy who came up to the booth asking questions for several minutes about the donuts we were selling. He asked multiple times what flavors we had (there were 4), who made them and confirming twice they were not from Dunkin Donuts. He walked away without making a purchase.
But there were lots of wonderful people who purchased items at the booth yesterday that were patient with the kids and clearly supportive of their effort to learn how to manage everything.
Like the woman L. gave a soda cup filled mostly with foam. It took L. several minutes to fill up the cup with actual soda and learn the nuances of dispensing carbonated drinks.
Or the slow moving line because it took a while for G. to tally an order and give back change. She did get the hang of things with Sarah, her 4-H leader, helping her out.
So I write this entry with humble respect. My hat goes off to those brave - and very patient - people who work with the public every day.
The food booth team that took orders, managed the cash drawer and dispensed the drinks.
Fino and our leader's husband Josh manned the grill.
4-H hall set up and Cumberland Fair preview
Yesterday after the 4-H exhibit judging my family, along with several others, set up the 4-H hall with all the projects done by Cumberland County 4-Hers this past year.
The goal of the hall set up is to feature all the projects to their best advantage. I was designated as one of the climbers to hang stuff above the display steps.
The girls' 4-H leader put up a couple of the girls' projects. Dulce was the subject of several projects the girls have in the exhibit hall this year (L.'s projection art pic is on the right). They love that little rascal.
Once all the projects were placed, the fencing needed to be put up to protect them from being touched and damaged during the fair. I wasn't involved with that but it didn't exactly look like the easiest of tasks.
G. helped string the rope to protect the club exhibits. That darn dairy club always takes home the big 1st place rosette. Of course those 4-Hers do *awesome* projects and displays every year. The horse club display (in background) got a big thumbs up from the girls because they really liked braiding the yarn manes on the wooden horse heads. According to the girls, it was really a "fun and cool display."
The girls also spent some time walking around the fairgrounds yesterday to see how everything was set up and to show their visiting Flat Stanley (Maria) from Brazil what a Maine county fair is like.
The girls also did some chitchatting with their 4-H friend C. who was grooming her sheep to get ready for the 4-H sheep events this week.
Apparently the discussion when I took this pic was about the sheep being relaxed and the fact that it didn't care about moving around during this grooming session.
Today we're off to flip burgers in the 4-H snack shack. It's the cheapest - and tastiest - grub on the fairgrounds this week. Plus, it's for a good cause. All the proceeds go to the county's 4-H programs throughout the year.
Happy fair week!
Driving, jumping and duck head feathers
The Ossipee Valley Fair opened yesterday (it runs through Sunday) and we went to check out the girls' 4-H exhibits, take Seen Team pictures and have some fun.
I had extra Seen Team helpers last night with the girls' visiting cousins from California.
See our Seen Team photos from the fair (if you go, be sure to share your pictures too!)
We stopped by an animals for sale exhibit where we've purchased our ducks in past and had a moment of realization about our own Victorian lady.
We thought our duck may have had a parent that was a cross-bred from this one.
The stray head feathers for our duck make a little more sense to us now.
We loved this one's fro.
We also had to look at the bunnies and L. took yet another opportunity to argue her case for getting her own (something she has done for several years now). She wants to incorporate it into her yearly 4-H projects but Fino keeps turning down the idea. He thinks we've got enough going on in our yard with the chickens and ducks.
L. is working on new negotiation tactics.
The kids tried out the bumper cars for the first time this year and I was a little frightened with L.'s driving.
After seeing this devilish look I started counting how many years I had to learn deep breathing techniques in anticipation of her getting her license (6 1/2 and counting now).
The kids also really enjoyed the bungee jump with their cousins.
They had a big thank you for their tio and tia for buying them tickets to try it!
Bungee Jumping at Ossipee Valley Fair
The kids' first parade
Yesterday the kids' 4-H club made a float for the Cumberland County Fair's parade. It's a very, very small affair on the race track but it was the first one the girls had been in so they were pretty excited. They did a lot of laughing and waving with their 4-H friends.
The float's theme was "Outdoor Education."
Kids are teachers too
Yesterday the kids and I spent the afternoon and evening at the Cumberland Fair. The kids' 4-H club sponsored a geocaching booth and we introduced a few new families to the game. I had several little-helpers at the fairgrounds and I have a few new "learnings/re-learnings" to report.
Make all the kids in your group wear matching bright orange shirts to keep track of everyone (thanks for the tip - and the shirts - Meg!)
Using someone else's GPS units doesn't always work as planned, especially when the unit's settings aren't the same as yours and it interprets your waypoints differently (i.e., end up a totally wrong location).
5-year-olds get tired a lot faster than 8-year-olds so snack breaks are all-important.
Do one thing at a time. Realize that you can't manage to take photos with 4 kids walking the fairgrounds while 2 of them, in addition to you, have GPS units and are trying to find geocaches (even though it's a bummer you don't have any pics of the fun you had).
Kids love glitter pens (thanks MaineToday) and pins (thanks County Extension Office).
Plan to visit the bunny barn at least twice - and plan to deflect the multiple requests for one because daddy said no.
Kids love stickers (especially bright orange ones)
Let the kids be silly, you might think it's funny too
Kids love to dance (btw, the band never said who they were last night but my crew liked them alot).
Don't be surprised when the kids linger to chat with the vendors in the Exhibition Hall.
You never know who you'll meet at the fair (her photos from Iraq were great)
No matter what you say about what you will - or will not - buy at the fairgrounds, Grandma will always get the kids what they want anyway. Thanks Grandma!
View all our photos from the fairgrounds yesterday in Seen.
Good times on Day 1 of the fair
We were at the fairgrounds to volunteer in the 4-H Food Booth yesterday. The kids and Fino were wiped out by the end of the day (I arrived late from work and was a bit of a slacker) but we all agree it was for a good cause. The proceeds from the booth go to the county's 4-H programs and they offer some great stuff throughout the year. And here's an insider's tip: the booth has some of the cheapest grub on the fairgrounds.
The girls did work hard but in classic L. and G. style, they also had plenty of breaks.
Fino and Josh worked the grill and made some really tasty burgers according to L.
As a reward for a job well-done, we treated ourselves to a big bowl of fries.
The kids love the vinegar spray bottle. Good thing we like lots and lots of it on our fries.
And per usual, the kids took charge of the camera and I had the pleasure of sifting through the 100+ photos this morning. About 25 photos were from poultry house of various chickens. Apparently we don't have enough chicken photos at home. Another few dozen were taken inside the 4-H Hall. There were some really great entries this year -- the rat maze and living history costumes were a few of our favorites.
But these photos by G. cracked me up. Sometimes she really captures more than just an animal.
Fairy leaping, fried Oreos and hopes for the Dogs
We have some friends visiting from out of town and since they read my blog, they had a few requests, including a trip to Mackworth Island to build fairy houses. So yesterday we visited the island and thoroughly enjoyed the picture perfect hiking weather.
The comment of the day was, "Wow, this fairy village is much bigger than I realized." Yeah, my camera has never really caught the size or many interesting details of the village. And in case you were wondering if the kids enjoyed themselves, I think this picture says it all.
Today we headed to the Topsham Fair since it was one-ticket ride day. The kids also wanted to see their projects in the exhibit hall. They were pleased with their ribbon placements but much more eager to go on the rides and get some fried dough and french fries. And the adults in our group were just as eager to eat our way through the fair.
Our usual treats were tasty but we felt the need to expand our horizons and try our first deep fried Twinkee and Oreos. You know, we don't like enough greasy, heart-clogging food already.
The Oreos were the hands-down favorite. The Twinkees' cream melted into the cake and the chocolate and whipped cream was just over the top for us.
The fried Twinkees were served with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. They really know how to add caloric intake with these.
We decided to play our Seen Team role and took lots of photos around the fairgrounds.
Tomorrow we're headed to the Sea Dogs game and we're really hoping they break
their losing streak.
An impromtu dad game
Yesterday we drove to Topsham to drop off some projects the kids made for the exhibit hall at the Topsham Fair (the fair opens tomorrow and runs through next Saturday).
Realizing it was going to take a while for the tags to be printed by the hall officials for their exhibits, I asked Fino to take the girls outside to grab a snack from the car. I knew they'd get antsy waiting around with me.
Everything for the exhibit hall was settled about 20 minutes later so I went in search of Fino and the kids and found them running around and laughing under one of the tents.
Bless those dads, they come up with things moms would never think to do.
Case in point -- flip-flop frisbee.
"Daddy's flip-flop flies wicked good mom. Look!"
Opening day at the fair
My family spent yesterday afternoon and early evening at the Cumberland County fair.
Highlights include the carousel action shot, our nutritional dinner, the rabbit and poultry barns as well as our volunteer time in the 4-H Snack Bar.
Check out the photos of our visit.
Cumberland Fair opens Sunday
The Cumblerland Fair opens Sunday and my kids' 4-H Club has spent the last few weeks putting the finishing touches on their projects for the 4-H Exhibit Hall.
The Fair has a ton of great activities happening everyday so it takes a few minutes to sift through the complete schedule. If you're looking for a few "highlights," here's what my family has taken note of this year:
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