Hanging in there

Still no baby. We went to the fair last night and even though I am sore this morning I don't know if it has done any good. We took most of the pictures on Ray's camera so I will post some pictures later.

The kids had a lot of fun at the fair. Grandma and Grandpa came with us. The kids rode rides for over 2 hours. I ended up sitting at one of the eating booths for about 40 minutes when my husband and mother-in-law disappeared with the kids. Ray didn't leave me any money so I ended up eating the free popcorn from one of the church's booths. (He did bring me a funnel cake when he did come back.)

Fairs here are a little different than out west. The fair I remember growing up had two huge buildings (or three) of booths from 4-H, other entries, and local businesses. Then there was the animals, horse shows, cattle auctions, tractor displays, rodeos, etc. Rarely did the carnival come to town at the same time. But despite that we had tons of fun at the fair every year. I was involved in 4-H for several years and so it was a big deal.

Here the carnival is the main attraction. There are a few animals, one or two 4-H booths, and then three small rooms of entries from people like me who do crafts at home. One for afghans and quilts, one for other crochet, knit, sewing, and other such crafts, and one for plants. The rest of the building is full of booths, mostly the different Christian churches, namely Baptist in this area. The missionaries use to have a booth out at the fair every year but the last two years have not. The booths lure you in with free ice cold water (because it sure is hot, humid, and muggy even at night here), fresh popped popcorn, fun little books for the kids, etc. The kids got fire hats from the fire department. Sheila has been a pretend firefighter since they visisted her school a week ago.

My father-in-law put in two of his paintings in the fair (he really is good, I have two lighthouse scenes he has painted for me in my house and Ray just picked out another picture for his birthday which he has on display at a hospital and will give to us when he gets it back.) He didn't get a place but he did get honorable mention and a merit reward. It is a lot harder to place in the art department since they only award one of each ribbon (1, 2, and 3 place) for each catergory (paintings, photographs, etc.)

I put in 40 items. Usually they award ribbons for every item in the craft categories. But the last couple of years they have been getting stricter in their judging I guess. I got ribbons on about 30. Of those I got mostly red, one white, and then a handful of blues. I was surprised on a couple of items I did not get a ribbon on. I still will get a nice amount of prize money.

The kids could hardly wait to get outside for the rides. Timmy was just barely tall enough this year. He enjoyed most of the rides but would not go on the helicopters or the ferris wheel. Ray or Grandma went on as many rides as they could go on with them but the rest Sheila and Timmy went on together. Timmy was done after two hours but Sheila still wanted to go so Grandpa took her on a few more. Then right before we headed home we let them each play a game (some of the games for the little kids they get to play until they win.) We paid the couple of bucks extra so they could choose one of the big prizes. They both played a fishing game and Timmy got a big blow up dolphin and Sheila got a stuffed smaller dolphin.

I was hoping all the walking would get things moving along with the baby but other than a few aches and a few contractions last night nothing has happened. Tomorrow is my last doctor's appointment. We will see if I have progressed any and see if they were able to schedule the inducement for Monday. I wanted the baby to come on it's own this time. I prefer that over being induced but I think by Monday I will be just ready to have this baby one way or another.