You Want Whip With That??

All of last week was devoted to the fair. I was pretty excited for this year as Tonya, Weesie, and I would be working together. Unfortunately, I started coming down with another cold on Monday night. I couldn't believe it...third cold of the summer!!! The weather wasn't supposed to be that great either. Last year, the business was non-stop because of the heat wave, but this year the weather was supposed to be cloudy and drizzly. Like last year, I was going to have to juggle the kids around. Dad was working, and mom was at the coffee shop. FiFi was able to help entertain the kids a bunch while they were at the fair, and Don and Alice pitched in too. Adam drove out after work when Dad wasn't available and Mom came out after work as well. Somehow it all worked out.

Tonya came in early with Elise all but one of the 5 mornings...6:30...uck! People wanted their coffee in the morning even though the fair didn't actually open till 9. All the kids and parents who needed to take care of their animals every day had to be there early like us. At around 10:00 we would get the carnie rush. And they ALL loved their 20 oz. white mochas with extra shots. Weesie was an animal on the coffee machine! Because it was a rented machine, she wanted to be the only one liable, so she made ALL the coffee. Tonya and I would prep cups and steam milk. By day 2 we had a pretty good system.

Elise had ordered a bunch of smoothie mix and brain freeze mix because last year we sold SO much and had to frantically order more. This year, she sold a LOT of hot coffee drinks and not so many of the other. We still made our fair share of cold drinks though. Unfortunately, she has a lot of product left over. ANYway, our busiest days were Friday and Saturday. Tonya had planned to go up to Portland on Saturday to do some dress shopping for her wedding next month, but she sooooo nicely went on Sunday instead. Elise was going to shut down the shop in town so that Henry could work if Tonya couldn't be there. It's really hard to run that booth in a rush with only two people.

Because of my cold, I didn't sleep well all week, and by Friday I was starting to really drag my feet. I told Tonya she could sleep in on Saturday and that I would come in at 6:30. So, on Saturday, I woke up at 5:00 and didn't get home till around 10:30. I was beyond exhausted. So exhausted I was wired...so I didn't get to sleep till after midnight. Sunday, I slept in a bit and woke with a headache. Even Soren slept in till 10:00 that morning!! The kids had a very eventful week and had late nights as well. We didn't go to church. I picked up my exhibits at the fairgrounds that afternoon and went to the grocery store. I had entered a couple of photos at the last minute and got a 2nd place ribbon on my picture of Soren with his baby chick (see 2nd photo down from THIS blog). I wasn't expecting to get any ribbons because the photo was a bit blurry...but in Clatsop County there aren't that many folks who know how to take pictures :)

Because I was in the booth all week, I didn't really get a chance to see much of the fair, or take any photos. I brought my little camera to get pictures of us girls and a few of the kids. Dad took the kids on the rides on Thursday after taking the kids and I out to breakfast. They rode the rides ALL day...literally. Dad sent me updates every so often on how many rides they went on. They would take breaks and come to the actual fair for food, but they didn't leave until at least 8:30! The kids stayed the night with Grandpa that night :)

Me, Wessie, and Tonster on the first day. We're wearing our Shanghaied in Astoria pins and our "I 'heart' Mary Kay" pins. I was doing a $50 drawing for MK at the booth....and Weesie and Tonya are my "MK groupies."

The fair sponsored a craft booth and FiFi took the kids there on several occasions. Synnove is a kitty, and Soren is a tiger (I think FiFi drew the glasses and 'stache.) He LOVED his tiger mask and growled at us all of Wednesday afternoon.
Soren wanted to scare mommy when I got home from my night. He did, and then he fell asleep. This is what I found when I went to check on him before finally turning in for the night...

On Thursday, it was warm enough for us to take our sweatshirts off for most of the day. Weesie had pink shirts made for us girls especially for the fair!

At our booth, we tried to play our own music, but the stage was pretty close by. A comedy duo called "Brothers from Different Mothers" played the stage at least twice a day and their music got to be obnoxious. Anyway, we would poke fun at all the acts to pass the time and decided we needed our own act....we called ourselves "Sisters from Different Misters"...I know...you can't contain your laughter.