This past weekend was just beautiful! The weather was actually hot, so we spent as much time outside as we could. Two local villages (Birstwith and Markington) were having their annual fairs this weekend, so we thought it would be fun to check them out!
We didn't know what to expect of these fairs, or how they would compare to American ones, but as it turns out, they aren't
that different. For the kids, there was face painting, games, races, entertainment, and bouncy castles and slides (and at 1 pound 50 pence a shot =$3, the prices reminded us of American fairs too!). Here are Tim and Maddie on the bouncy slide,
and here is Maddie playing a game where she is trying to "milk" the cow.
The Birstwith Show had competitions similar to a state/county fair; contests for best vegetables, preserves, flowers, scones, bread, photographs, etc. There were also a lot of booths for local businesses, crafts, etc. and plenty of fair food. The food was similar to American fair food...hot dogs and hamburgers. But there was also a tent for afternoon tea, and of course both fairs had their Beer Tents with good ole' English ale.
Ethan was a happy camper.
What interested us most of course, were the things that you wouldn't find at American fairs. For example, for just 50p, you could try out "Crockery Smashing", which basically meant you could spend a buck to throw 3 balls at pieces of broken tea cups and dishes. I didn't really see the point, but when Ethan saw it, he said, "That is AWESOME!"..... boys.
The kids and Ethan also gave a go at "Welly Wanging." Wellies are what they call rain boots around here, and the "wanging" meant seeing how far you could throw them. It was funny watching people try this, because the unbalanced weight of the wellies didn't seem to be what the throwers expected. There were wellies flying everywhere! I think the most successful were those who threw it like a discus. Here's a picture of Ethan wanging his welly. :)
The kids both enjoyed doing a soccer, uh.. excuse me
...a football obstacle course. A volunteer coached them through the course telling them what to do where. Tim completed it in 55 seconds,
and Maddie finished it in 3 minutes 50 seconds.
The volunteer gave Maddie a medal for perseverance! :)
We also enjoyed watching sheepdog demonstrations. Sheepdogs are VERY common around here, for the obvious reason that there are sheep everywhere. Anyway, the dogs were showing how they could control a flock of geese & ducks. The dogs would weave back and forth trying to keep the geese together, but they would also find ways of getting between them to separate them as instructed. It was really neat, and it reminded me of the competitions that you see at the end of the movie "Babe." Here is a picture of the sheepdog keeping those geese in line,
And here you can see that the dog even got these ducks to go through a tunnel.
At the finish line... the geese are being corralled into their pen.
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a lot of fun learning what British fairs are all about!
I can't believe we are actually doing this, but we are heading to Paris next Thursday to celebrate our 10th anniversary! We've booked tickets on a speed train to get there, and have put in a reservation for an apartment not too far from the Eiffel Tower. The one catch is that we are bringing the kids. It's not ideal, but (1)we really want them to see Paris, and (2) we aren't willing to lose any of our new friends here yet by having them watch our kids for the weekend. So, we'll make the best of it.
