This post's name is "Catch-up." And now that I'm finally done with it all and at the last step in the process, writing the introduction, I'm ready to quit. Just thought I should quick warn you that you are in for a lot of photos.

Did my duty, now I'm leaving. Have fun.

The Denver Fair

The most exciting win in our family this year (and any other year) was Candace's cake that got first place in the Hershey's Cocoa contest.

What that means is that she, along with the winners of the other major baking contests, is eligible to enter in the PA Farm Show.

While the others pick up their exhibits, I find something just down my alley.

This shelf was basically full earlier, and it was full of Einwechter, Phero, and Martin canning. There was a grand total of one jar that didn't have a familiar name on it.

The Smell of Victory

The Sight of Victory

The Feel of Victory? :-)

Finally... the Taste of Victory.

The lady at the fair warned us not to eat a cake that had been sitting around a whole week. Enough said. ;-)

One Fair Right After the Other

We go to check how our stuff fared at the Ephrata Fair. First we had to find it though.

Come on, how many ribbons can one cake win??

The same cake - rather the same recipe - won Candace best-of-show in the Youth Baked Goods.

The first(born) shall be last, and the last shall be first(prize).

Enlarge to see names on tags. ;-)

My prize-winning friend made this prize-winning bread.

I wonder if it's just coincidence that people take their fairest flowers to the fair.

Family Fun Night at the Fair

First things first.

Two siblings in a sack.

The annual Martin vs. Krauter showdown in the sack race.

This year there even had to be an extra re-run. They were running neck-to-neck, literally.

And I forget what happened, but... somehow we won. This year anyway. :-)

Only time in the whole year children want to pick up potatoes.

Meet one very balanced individual. She walked across the field and back with that apple on her head, and more than that, she did it faster than anyone else in Ephrata... well, sort of.

Another Annual Event: Pear Butter Day

The evening before, Mom's whole family (which is over 100 people) gets together to peel the pears.

And the best part is, the men help.

Next day, all one hundred and more are back.

Dad makes an appearance to do his share of the work. Why? Maybe so that he gets his share of the results? But since he deosn't like the results, that doesn't quite figure. He does always show up at lunch time - maybe that's it...

Classic Newswanger Transportation...

...transports us to classic Newswanger sport.

1 - 2 - 3 Fire!

"Any of you girls want to shoot?"

The girls wouldn't miss this chance - not by a long shot.

They go through the ammunition too.

I get a kick out of this picture (looks like Candace is too :).

I have to admit, we girls do look a little top-heavy holding these shotguns.

We made a deal with my cousin Curvin: If you let us drive your truck around today...

...we'll wash it for you when we're finished.

It didn't take long. Getting the group photos took longer.

You're thinking I'm in my element right? It was camera overload even for me. (They had to refresh me on how to use the film cameras.)

Pappy checks out the Food/Lifestyle section of the world. Bet he won't find that cooking pears or shooting claybirds or having thirteen children is the norm. We have a great heritage. I wish I could share it with you; as it is, I'm doing my best.

The Martin's Go to the Mountains

Faith waxes eloquent on our "easy access" to the bike trail. That was the joke of the week.

The Object

And... the Objective.

Conrad leads us in a verse of "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" (His hot dog had just fallen in the fire you see.)

Candace keeps a close eye on her dog after that.

Any doubt who's behind the name?

Didn't have much choice, did I?

Raines, we remembered you when we were at the cabin; we just forgot the s on the end of your name.

Glo (for once I'll use your nickname ;-), you're glowing.

And that's the end of the fiery hand-writing in the dark. Now the rest of you faithful viewers that didn't get your names featured, don't feel left out - we did think of you. One of two things happened. Either your name was too long to squeeze into one frame in 15 seconds (e.g. Einwechter, Stoltzfus, Bohannon, Zwolinski) or our stick burned too short before we got to you.

I make a complimentary appearance on my own blog doing what I'm always doing on here, documenting life.

Candace tries as well, but with limited success.

Mervin: You wrote that!?

Conrad tells me I'm not allowed to caption this "art."