"Non-Stop Fun" at the Iowa State Fair

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to the state fair with the youth group I work with.  I love the Iowa State Fair!  I've gone almost every summer for my entire life.  From what I've read, the Iowa and Texas State Fairs are the top 2 in the nation.  I used to get Family Fun magazine when my daughter was younger, and the Iowa State Fair was listed as a top summer family destination in the midwest.  I have to agree!!  But, as the Iowa fair is the only one I've been to, I don't really have anything to compare it to :)

We arrived at the fair grounds at about 1pm and were there until 8pm.  The group I was walking around with included some people who had never been to the fair, so I was excited to show them the sites, from the butter cow to the"World's Smallest Cow" to the Campion SuperBull (and all the non-cow related things as well)! 

We started the day at the Varied Industries building where we got our free bags, pens, temporary tattoos, and whatever else the businesses/schools/organizations were giving away.  Then, it was time for a late lunch.  I went with my usual choice - the Iowa chop dinner from the Pork Producers of Iowa stand.  YUM!!  After eating, we took a quick trip through the Agriculture Building to see the 2010 Butter Cow and the Green Eggs and Ham butter sculptures.  For those unfamiliar with the Iowa State Fair, there is a full sized butter sculpture of a cow every year (the breed changes each year) and then an additional sculpture that changes every year.  After the Ag building, we headed up to Expo Hill where we watched the very entertaining high dive show - "Sinbad and the Search for the Golden Pineapple."  We were seated in the splash zone (which, by the way, we didn't know until the first big dive!), so we got a bit wet during the show.  We dried off as we walked across the grounds to the animal barns where we checked out the champion SuperBull, Buster, who weighed a MASSIVE 3022 lbs!  Yikes!  In the barn next door, we saw the "World's Smallest Cow" as well.  In the horse barn, we saw a lot of draft horses waiting to be prepped for the show later that day and adorable miniature horses also getting ready for their show.  We got supper yummy caramel apples from Applishus and sat for a while at one of the free stages, were we watched part of a christian rock concert before going through the Animal Learning Center.  In the ALC, we got to see baby pigs, cows, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, turkeys, and ostriches.  I love that building.  The part that some people don't like is that they show videos of the births on large screens in the building.  Actually, if you happen to time your visit right, you might see a new little animal enter the world, which grosses some people out, but I think it's cool :)  After the ALC, we headed to the Midway, where my trip on the double ferris wheel about did me in...  It took my stomach about 45 minutes to recover.  I won't be doing that again.  lol!  We ended our day back in the Varied Industries Building one more time.  We had a bit of supper and then I got somen Nitro Ice Cream on the way back to the bus...mmmmmm!

It was a fabulous day!  If you have time, check out my photo album and see some pics of my adventures at the fair!  If you live in Iowa or near us in the midwest, you should definitely consider adding the Iowa State Fair to your summer plans next year.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars! 

The Pittsburgh Project 2010!!

If you have been following my blog, you may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a while. I kind of feel like I've been going nonstop all summer! Maybe some of you feel the same. Another reason I haven't been doing a lot of typing is that my "h" key is sticking and it's really annoying to type very much when an important letter isn't working correctly. But, I'm excited to do a review of this year's Pittsburgh Project trip, so I will tolerate the sticky "h" key in order to get this post up! :P Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to fix it... I have a couple other reviews started, so I'll try to finish them soon also.

For the past 25 years, my church (St. Andrew Presbyterian) has sent a group of high school students to The Pittsburgh Project (TPP). For the past 2 years, I have been lucky enough to be a part of this AMAZING mission trip. Eleven straight days with 28 high school students age 14 to 18 might sound a little overwhelming to some, but it's fabulous!

From TPP website:

"The Pittsburgh Project is a nonprofit community development organization with a 25-year track record of developing leaders and serving the city's most vulnerable residents. Our year-round staff of 51 operates a progessive series of afterschool and summer programs for 450 urban young people, deploys over 2800 people annually to perform free home repairs for Pittsburgh's elderly homeowners, and spearheads economic development and job training efforts in our Pittsburgh neighborhood."

Their vision - "That Pittsburgh will be called a City of Truth, where once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets each with cane in hand because of age, and where the city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there (adapted from Zechariah 8:4-5)."

Their purpose - "We develop servant leaders and uphold the dignity of vulnerable homeowners."

Brief trip overview:

Day one (Saturday) is 13 hours of driving followed by sleeping on air mattresses in a church gym. Day 2 (Sunday) is a long one - church, checking in at The Pittsburgh Project, getting our work assignments, meeting our work group, Club, seeing our worksite, and meeting our homeowner. Days 3 through 7 (Mon - Fri) are pretty similar - breakfast, devotional time, skit and morning announcements, LOTS OF WORK at our worksites, dinner, Club, small group time, evening program, evening prayer, and lights out (one of my favorite times of the day lol!). Day 8 (Saturday) we have a final Club meeting, get our tshirts, leave The Project, go to the mall for a bit, do laundry, have dinner, and sleep on air mattresses on the church floor again. Day 9 (Sunday) is church and a drive to Sandusky, OH where we hang out at another church for a couple of days and nights. Day 10 (Monday) is spent at Cedar Point - America's Roller Coast! - and some group time spent discussing our week at The Project. And finally, Day 11 (Tuesday) is an EARLY start and the rest of the drive back to Iowa, at which point we are all exhausted and ready for a long rest!

During our time at TPP, my workgroup (consisting of myself, another leader from New Jersey, 2 girls from my church, 2 girls from New Jersey, and 2 guys from Virginia) worked in the Northside neighborhood, which is where TPP is located. Our projects for our incredible homeowner, Mr. Art, were re-roofing his house and scraping, priming and painting all the windows and trim on the exterior of his home. Toward the end of the week, our small group leader asked us each to give one word that described our week and mine was BLESSING. We were incredibly blessed in our homeowner and his family who welcomed us into their home and really took time to get to know everyone in our group. They had dinner and worshipped with us on Homeowner's Night, which we all enjoyed! By the end of the week, we all felt truly connected with the family and were sad to say goodbye. The project staff was also a blessing this year. I loved seeing them interact with our kids and the kids from all the other churches at TPP the week we were there. Our worship was truly a blessing as well. The music was great and Wayne's messages every evening were challenging, funny, and engaging. The entire week was a blessing that I am so thankful to have been a part of!

This is a really brief review of this amazing organization and my time spent with them last week. There is so much more I could write about our trip, but this post would be far too long if I went into more detail on everything we did! So, if you want to know more about TPP, check out their website (there should be a link toward the beginning of this post). If you work with a jr. high or high school youth group at your church, you should definitely check out their summer service camps and think about bringing your group for a week next summer!