Biz Fair 3.0

It's that time of year again! Time for the Valley Children's Business Fair! (Be sure to check out that site and scroll down to see the video from last year's fair; Callie makes an appearance at about 1:24 and it's adorable if I do say so myself!) (And just because it's fun to look back, here's year one: Callie's Star Cookies!)

Callie and Sam did repeat booths from last year, Callie with mini donuts (this time she named her business Mini Donut Land) and Sam with homemade rootbeer. Cal worked on her donuts for a week before the fair, freezing the batches so they'd stay fresh. The day of the fair was busy with frosting and sprinkling and bagging the donuts, while Sam mixed up his soda. There also was a fun entrepreneurship class offered by the fair organizers held at the library each week for about 6 weeks that Cal participated in and learned all about starting a small business from a local small business owner.

Every year the fair has grown, and this year they were set up on the west side of the Eden Park bowery, stretching all the way across the field to the canal! I heard there were something like 90 booths (or was in 90 kids? whatever it was, it was a lot!). I think those numbers may have brought down the profits, just because there were so many booths to choose from (maybe?). It definitely seemed a little slower sales-wise than in the past. But both kids were happy and satisfied with their results. (I think they both profited ~$20 after all was said and done, thanks a lot to their generous grandparents who donated money and/or bought all the leftovers!)

Classic donut baking.

She's a pro!

The perfect little chocolate covered
chocolate donut!

This is his face as he's sniffing the rootbeer
extract! (HA!)

Selling his first cup!
(The weather was pretty warm when the fair
started so the rootbeer was flowing early!)

I love that they made little advertisements for each other's
stands. Also, I love that Sam made a little rootbeer
cup out of LEGO as a decoration on his table.

They're already coming up with ideas for next year, maybe the same thing, maybe something new. Mark your calendars for mid-May and come check out what they come up with next!

Salt Lake Fieldtrip {State Capitol, Pioneer Museum, Hogle Zoo, Airport, In 'n' Out}

Since Callie is in fourth grade this year and we've been learning about Utah history and geography all year, and also since I had a Salt Lake fieldtrip when I was in fourth grade, we decided to do just that . . . go to Salt Lake and be a tourist for a day. We invited Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard to come along, which made it extra fun. We scheduled our trip for  the day Gregg was coming back from his trip to Savannah (11 May) so we could fieldtrip all day and then wrap up at the airport to pick him up.

Our first stop: The State Capitol. We spent a good while wandering around the building, peeking in at the visitor's center, then perusing all the displays on all the levels. We even saw a real live demonstration (against the inland ports) on the steps of the rotunda!

Grandma loves Minerva Teichert, so she snapped this pic
of the kids by one of her paintings inside the capitol building.

After the Capitol, we walked across the street to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum. We followed the directions of the workers and walked all the way down and through and under and up again into the carriage house where we saw the shiny fire truck and the wagon Brigham Young was riding in when he entered the Salt Lake Valley. As we worked our way back through the museum to the entrance, we looked at some of the other displays, but man, there is a LOT to see there, and we'll have to go back many times to really get a feel for the place.

We came around the corner and I spotted this pic of our
ancestor Richard Ballantyne and his sons.

That fire truck was SO shiny!

Minerva Teichert in the pioneer museum.

And another Teichert in the carriage house at the 
pioneer museum.

Here's an old Yellowstone stagecoach.

A newspaper announcing Abraham Lincoln's
assassination.

We walked back to the Capitol and ate our lunch at a table outside. Then we moved on to our next stop on the fieldtrip: Hogle Zoo! (When I was in fourth grade, I remember visiting the capitol and the zoo, too!) We had a great time watching all the animals and I think the highlights of this trip were the elephants (last time we'll see them before they are moved to a new zoo), the zookeeper talk about the bald eagles, the seal and sea lion training, the wandering red panda, and the swimming polar bear.

Tradition! Gotta take a drink (and a picture)
at the lion drinking fountain.

I was just happy to see blossoms, but the monkeys
were cool, too, I guess.

Farewell Christine and Zuri!

We watched this polar bear swim in circles next
to the windows over and over and over.

Sea lion training was really fun.

Cal was especially happy to watch the red pandas
wandering around their enclosure all for a good long time.

She was also excited to see such a large tortoise.

This orangutan was walking around
(though it's hard to see in the shade of this pic).

The baby gorilla was cute!

After the zoo, it was time to pick up Dad at the airport. The kids really wanted to go inside, so we parked in the garage and went inside to wait for him. We were all ready for dinner after such a long day, so we stopped at In 'n' Out on the way home (yum!) and broke into the treats Gregg brought home for us for dessert (yum, yum!).

My friend Erin used to work here doing their graphic
design!

Such a fun day, celebrating our fourth grader and all we've learned about Utah this year.