And finally, there's Tristan!! This is he and Grant's 5th year in 4-H. They are starting to really get the hang of it, and the complaining about doing the not so fun stuff seems to be lessening! This was his first year in shotguns, as part of the shooting sports program. His first year, he took archery, but we really didn't pursue it much as we tried to learn the ropes! We don't have a very strong shooting sports program here, so most of his learning was independent. He took a hunter safety course last summer and learned alot. The guys love to shoot skeet and prairie dogs. They also hunt for deer and dove. He also had to make a poster if he wanted to do something related to shooting sports for the fair. The ideas were all his, and I thought that he did a nice job putting it together. The judge gave him a blue ribbon. Tristan wanted to continue with the geology project this year. We started with that 4 years ago because we liked to go to an old sand pit that's close to our house. We enjoyed sifting through it looking for different rocks just for fun. We have come to realize that geology is HARD!!! There are tons of funky named things, and we knew NOTHING!! The field trips are fun, though--and the longer we hang around this overwhelmingly different world, the more we learn. We also talk to lots of people who got addicted to rock hunting when their 4-Hers were little. They learned by seeing and doing--which is how we are learning. We don't have a leader, or anyone who really knows anything about rocks--so we learn what we can one weekend a year, and build on it the next year. This year (and from now on) he is limited to 2 boxes of 60 total specimens. They have to have 15 new specimen each year (in the box). So this year, he had to weed out some specimens to make the new ones fit. That was a challenging process. .and now we have a good start to the "garage collection" AKA the shoe box that later turns into buckets of old specimens, that you don't want to throw away, because you may just need them someday!! Most people keep these collections in their garages or basements!! I swore it would not be me. . IT IS!! The rest of the of the unused specimens go into the rock bed in between the decks. . I figure that it will keep my future grandkids occupied for DAYS, looking for all those cool fossils! Tristan took home Grand Champion this year!! The judge offered lots of nit-picky advice about little things that need changed. .so I think that we will be doing something different with the labels--they want you to be able to get really long words and lots of info on an address label. . but they want it big enough to read well, and small enough to fit exactly on the bottom of a card not large enough to handle the whole label? Hoping to get it re-done by September for the State Fair. Here he is working on Grandma Vickie's lemon bar recipe. He thought that they ROCKED!! So I have a feeling that I may get to enjoy these more often! They aren't something that I make routinely, but I love 'em!! The judge loved 'em too, and gave him a purple ribbon! Tristan shares my love of anything lemon!! Our favorite pie is lemon meringue, hands down!! He also made a buttermilk cocoa cake and blueberry tea bread. The cocoa cake also got a purple, and so he must decide between the two on which to take--he has been back and forth numerous times already! He was better about reading through all the instructions before he poured stuff together, after what happened when he made the marble brownies a few months ago (when he poured everything in together. .including the marbling!!) He did get to make the lemon squares twice. Seems he thought that 1/8 tsp salt meant you take 1/4 plus 1/4 to make that! OOPS!! The second time was much better! His last project included a second year in photography. He wasn't as creative minded as Grant was when searching for photo op's. But he was more careful about holding still. I had the opportunity to help him a little more when we went to Big Brutus for the state geology trip. My favorite picture was the black and white picture of the train car wheels. That one and the one of the variagated plant got purple ribbons. We had a hard time deciding between some of the pictures that he had taken. .and the variegated plant wasn't even in the prelims. .I put their pictures on my computer the night before we went to make prints to see "up close and personal" what they looked like to make sure we didn't miss a good one, or choose a slightly fuzzy one. I loved this contrast--and so did he when he really looked at it! The yellow orchid got a red ribbon and the sillouette got a blue. Tristan was very pleased with his efforts and his placings. He's a lot more laid back in that regard--so it is nice to see some excitement! There you have it!! 2010 county fair is history. . .We had a great time, learned a lot, and practiced a lot of virtures. . like patience and humility!! Let the summer start!!