The Dayz fun

Around here we have our weekend festival that the locals just call "The Dayz". There are all sorts of things that go on. There was a kiddy car cruise for the power wheels crowd, a classic car cruise, a drive-in movie (Alvin and the Chipmunks), a version of American Idol, and a street dance. Of course, I didn't get to go to any of the above-mentioned things. I did, however, get to go to the pedal tractor pull, the bouncy toys, the pony rides, the grand parade, and the quarter hunt. It was a very busy day. Alex competed in his first-ever pedal tractor pull. I didn't realize until today that it is big stuff around here. In fact, the winner of each age group qualifies for the state competition. Our friend Reice (pronounced Reese) won the 4 and under group by completing a full pull, which I believe is 35 feet. By contrast, Alex pulled 11'11" which, if they were keeping track, put him at about 20th out of 24 kids. But he didn't care. Every kid that participated got a free can of Dr. Pepper (sponsor) and a ribbon. He was so proud that he carried them around all day.

Later in the day we had a quarter hunt. The committee uses snow fence to block three maybe 6' x 8' areas, then dumps $100 worth of quarters into each area, and covers them with sawdust. The kids are divided into three age groups (Alex was 5 and under), so each group gets a section, and when they say go, it's every kid for themselves. I didn't get to watch, but James said it was utter chaos. Alex found 1 quarter, but then somehow lost it, so James snuck a quarter into his cup. He didn't even notice. He was as proud of his 1 quarter as some of the kids were with their $10 worth of quarters. :) The shot below shows just a sample of the confusion. Can you find Alex? Hint: He's wearing a red sticker on his back.

It's frustrating for me to be at events like that, because the parents are more competitive than most of the kids at this age. There were parents standing on the outside pointing out all the quarters, and one parent even standing on a few near the fence until their kid could get to them. James and I tried our hardest to make sure that Alex had fun at everything this year, and that he felt proud with what he did accomplish, not disappointed that he didn't do good enough. Our friends were wonderful in that respect, also. They cheered just as loud for Alex as they did for Reice and the other kids at the tractor pull, so each one felt special.