Loving the Fairs & Everything WI

I can't believe I've been back in WI for a month now. The time has flown by but I've been really busy. I spent several days unpacking and sorting stuff to store for long term, to use over the next couple months, to take to Africa, and to toss or donate. My mom and I took Lucy to Noah's Ark waterpark which was lots of fun like always. I also took a day trip to Madison to visit folks at the 4-H office and spend time with my friend Lou. I had so many errands I also wanted to run but some will have to wait until a future trip.

My parents have talked about getting a new puppy for probably two years now. My dog Snowball is now 13 years old and is getting really old. Once my parents decided to move, they wanted to wait to get a dog until they were settled and than my mom wanted to wait until they had new grass. It seemed like it was never going to happen! There had been a news report about the humane society buying out a puppy mill though and that there were over 1000 puppies looking for homes so we went to just look after church. Of course you can't just look! It was the first day the dogs were available and we had to wait over 2 hours until we could work with an adoption counselor so we had picked out lots that we liked by that time. We eventually settled on a 2 month old female silky terrior/yorky terrior mix. My parents have named her Maggie and she is lots of fun. She is getting along well with Snowball most of the time except for when she likes to chew on his ears!

It was then time for the Washington County Fair. This was the 150th year of the fair, the 35th year for the Fairest of the Fair, and the 10th year at the new Fair Park. I can't believe its already been a decade; I was on the 4-H Leaders Assocation when it was being built so helped make many important decisions and got to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremonies! This year I enjoyed the fair in a different way than usual since I was selling tickets at the booth every night. I still saw a lot of people I knew from 4-H and ended early one night so I could see part of the Collective Soul concert and hang out with my friends Tricia and Elise. I worked until Sunday night at the county fair and had to be in Milwaukee by noon on Monday for my next job.

I've spent the last two weeks at the WI State Fair working as a Sound and Stage Manager for Youth Exhibits. Sounds official huh? I was even called agriculture staff though I of course know nothing about cows or horses. Basically what I did was work with all the 4-H and FFA music and drama groups that performed on the two stages at the fair. I had a lot of fun, got to work with a great group of people, and saw lots of folks I've known over the years participating and working with 4-H. We worked really long days without many breaks and lived in the dorms in a room with 7 other people and 1 bathroom so its nice to be home again! On the final Saturday night we had Midnight at the Oasis (one of our stages is the "Ag Oasis") which I guess is an annual tradition. Our group and several other ag staff came out to the stage after all the youth went to bed and enjoyed karaoke and dancing on the stage. Our boss brought us lots of fried fair food and we had a blast. I didn't get to bed until 3 am which was very late for the fair. The next night we had to start tearing down all the exhibits starting at 9 pm when the fair closed. I was pretty tired by the time I got home! I felt like I really got to enjoy both fairs to the most since I was there every single day. Hopefully that will make up for missing the fairs at least the next two years!

Tailgating at the Brewers-Cubs game the night before fair started.

All the Youth Exhibits Staff on the Ag Oasis Stage.

When I got back to my parents' on Monday afternoon, our guest had already arrived the night before. My family is hosting one of the chaperones from the 4-H/Japanese exchange for 2 weeks. Megumi is the same age as me and is a Labo staff member so we have a lot in common. Tuesday was the midpoint meeting my mom planned at a nearby park so several host families came with their exchange students and Peter, Kay, and Erin came from the state office. These events really make me realize how much I miss working with 4-H International. They also brough Noriko who is the chaperone to Iowa this summer and who my mom stayed with during her two trips to Japan. She is staying at our house until Saturday. We're definetly busy with two visitors but its fun to show off many local sites and traditions. We're headed to Chicago this weekend to see my grandma and do some more sightseeing.

I've been enjoying sharing my Peace Corps plans with everyone I see but feel like I haven't had any time to work on my own preparations. I'm down to less than 2 months until I leave now!