Once Upon a Time...

...a loving and well-meaning mother, pulled an old bike out of storage for her youngest son. She took the bike to get it's tires replaced, cleaned up and refitted in general. In an effort to save 20 dollars, she elected to add training wheels herself later. After waiting a week, the bike was ready. She and her young son picked it up. He was very excited. After asking if he could ride it now, he was met with the unsatifactory answer of, "No, not yet, I still need to get the training wheels." He was disappointed but willing to wait. The unsuspecting mother then went to Walmart and bought the only pair of training wheels they had. Later, after struggling mightily with the nuts which were screwed on VERY TIGHT, she managed to attach the wheels only to find out that they were too big for the bike. Frustrated, she realized that not only did this mean her son still didn't have a bike to ride, but she had to return the wheels. To Walmart. The service center. A pit of darkness she'd like to avoid for all eternity. Eventually she made it to Toys R Us. The only wheels they had were the previously mentioned pair purchased and one other choice. Having paid attention this time to the size, she knew these should fit. She took them home. These were remarkably easy to attach. Too easy, in fact. When finished, she sent her son to finally ride his new bike. He hopped on and immediately started leaning left, and leaning. Mom checked to see if she had tightened them enough but could find nothing wrong. Just in case she made a mistake or was simply inept in the area of training wheels, she had her husband check them out when he got home. He agreed. They were terribly made training wheels. She had done everything right and they were as tight as possable. So, back to Toys R Us. Finally, in another visit to Walmart, she decided on a whim to see if they might have another choice available (having already checked Target, to no avail). Low and behold, they did, and they were the right size. Returning home, she whipped out her pliers and went to work. Finally, she prepared to send her 4 yr old (very patient and understanding) son on his way with a loving pat on the bottom. At this point her older son, previous owner to said bike, said, "Mom, look, the chain fell off!" Sure enough, he was correct, and the chain was covered by a chain guard, making it unreachable. She took out the screwdriver to remove it only to find out the screw was stripped. I would love to leave you with a happily ever after, however, this story apparantly will not end. Ever. Moral of the story? Pay the man his 20 bucks.

As Promised...

My Prize Winners! Alyssa won a first place ribbon and $10 dollars at the South Carolina State Fair with this entry:

And Kai won a second place ribbon and $8 with this entry:

The South Carolina State Fair (etc., etc.)

So, I'm back. I'm ashamed to see it's been nearly a month. Yikes. We've been on a roller coaster ride of busyness. Kai just got back from a 3 day field trip to Camp Cooper. He had a wonderful time. Alyssa is getting ready to go on a 3 day field trip in November to Earthshine. Last year she went on a 3 day trip to Barrier Island and I think at the end of this school year she'll be going on another trip, the traditional 5th grade graduation trip to Charleston. Funny, I don't remember all these wonderful overnight field trips when I was in school! Also, she has had two big projects due this month, a mobile on President Lyndon B. Johnson, and a 3D model of a plant and animal cell. She did great, but it was a lot of work and I'm glad it's over.

Dean just ran the Governor’s Cup ½ marathon. Since this race is in Columbia, the kids and I got to meet him at the finish line. The kids get such a big kick out of it. They cheer everyone on with a lot of enthusiasm. Dean did great, too. He met his goal by finishing in 1.29.55 hrs. with a pace of 6.52/mile. Out of 526 runners he finished 7th in his age group, 26th overall. Awesome! (I should also mention that a few weeks ago he ran the Dam Run 10K race and won first place for his age group!) He's training hard for the Kiawah Marathon in December. He's trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Go, Dean!

This afternoon we went to the South Carolina State Fair! It's been about 4 years since the last time we went, so the kids were very excited. Alyssa and Kai even entered a scrapbook page. Alyssa won a blue ribbon and 10 dollars, and Kai won a red ribbon and 8 dollars! Way to go, guys! I took pictures, of course, but they didn't turn out very good due to the display conditions. But I will post their works of art here as soon as we get them back and I can get decent pics! We had a great time on the rides. We are all very tired and at 9:30 this Friday evening, I'm the only one still awake. So, I blog.