Fun at the Ag Show

The last weekend in April, the Oregon Agriculture Festival came to the state fairgrounds. It had two of Mateo's current favorite things: Animals and heavy farm and construction equipment. He's particularly been on a tear lately over TRACTORS. Finding Nemo and Cars are his favorite movies, and his most super especial favorite scene is the one in Cars where the racecar Lightning McQueen is taken by his country pal Tow Mater out for a rousing night of "Tractor Tipping". Mateo gets a half hour of video or TV per day, and sometimes he'll spend his entire allotment on just that scene! The last picture above shows him reenacting the end of the tractor-tipping prank, when the two cars are chased out of the field by "Frank", the combine!

This was one of those great opportunities to see him growing. We went to the show last year, and he got some firsts. He loved looking at the farm animals, the first he saw close up or touched, and even had a word or two for them. And he sat in an audience at a performance for the first time, clapping along with everyone (finally understanding the source of the "applause" sound he 'd heard at the end of some of the songs on his kids' albums). But at this fair, you could really see a year of development in a nutshell. Now when we saw animals, he'd name them, make the sound they make (and actually hear the animal making it!) and we could talk about them (what the animals were doing, refer to books we read that have the same animals, etc). Plus he's so much better, a year on, at petting animals gently!

We also got to actually participate in the activities in the exhibition hall. Above he's digging for potatoes in an effort to earn a potato sticker(at the Oregon Potato Council booth or somesuch). Note the balloon pirate hat (yes, that's a pirate hat. Couldn't you tell?) He also planted plants, collected lots more stickers, milked a simulated cow, and saw wool being spun into yarn.

Back home now, we're all incredibly busy. Sarah just hosted (to rave reviews) a regional event of her professional organization, the Project Management Institute. Speaking of hosting, this weekend Sarah's dad and her sister's family will come to visit to celebrate Mother's day. The weather should cooperate enough for Mateo and his cousins to have a good time outside. Matt is working to complete the kids' bathroom before we head off on our vacation (and get enough done to be usable for when our guests come), and Sarah's just been headhunted into a new job in state government. More details to follow in the next posting.....