And the winner of the Berry Eating Contest is...

the amazing, incredible, eating machine...KEVIN BRANDVOLD (or as the announcer called him, "Mr. Utah")

Saturday was filled with busyness for us but the highlight of the day was Kevin's big win at the Berry Festival in Lancaster County. He entered the berry eating competition and took first place!!! His competition was fierce but he managed to pull it off with ease. The task was to finish every last strawberry in the bowl- the catch though was that the berries were buried beneath a gargantuous mound of whipping cream and the contestants were unable to use their hands. It was highly entertaining and one of Kevins proudest moments.Picture 1: Here Kevin mentally prepares by laughing it up with his competition- nice guys but I bet you would have expected that middle biker guy to beat Kevin--its ok, admit it. It just makes his win all that more exceptional!
Picture 2: This is mid contest- the other contestants foolishly try to eat through the whip cream while Kevin cleverly uses his nose to push it out of the way. Then, while his opponents chewed and swallowed the berries, Kevin simply inhaled them.
Picture 3: Unfortunately my camera battery was low so the camera shut off just at the great moment when Kevin rose from his seat and raised his hands high in the air declaring his win. This shot was just a few seconds after- as he revels in the praise of the crowd and cleans his face off.

So here are a few other pictures from our berry festival which took place in a little square of shops, right there in the heart of amish country. We enjoyed shopping amid the shops and spent all of Kevins prize money (yes he won a 25 dollar gift certificate) on an array of jams and a smidge of fudge.

Here the kids are dipping strawberries and marshmallows in the chocolate fountain.Here the kids are eating the delicious flavored licorises we bought- who knew the amish made such good licorise- bet you didnt.

I'm not sure of the name of this character but here the kids are with him- Makenna is thrilled as you can tell.And here with his prize in hand is the winner of the berry eating contest!!!