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Monday Update: 08/24/09

It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on September already – the summer is winding down, kids are heading back to school…crazy. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks, but full of lots of good times with family and friends.

We celebrated Lissa’s birthday back on the 15th with grilled steaks and all the fixin’s including homemade ice cream. It was a beautiful evening (in between showers) and the weather held off perfectly for us to get our grilling going and enjoy some time out on the deck.

This past week was the Iowa State Fair – an institution around these parts. I decided to take a day off of work and take Matt through the fair just the 2 of us. Normally we go during the afternoon/evening, so it was fun to go during the day and experience it in a different way. We wandered around checking out all the usual stopping points…the horse barn, the big bull, the freebies in the Varied Industries Building. We, of course, managed to sample some of our favorite yummy fair treats…and also tried some new ones. We had a great time just making our way around the fairgrounds – it was a beautiful day, only in the low 80’s…which is VERY unusual fair weather. By the end of the day, however, we were both pretty tuckered. I’m not sure anyone really gets how difficult it is to navigate a wheelchair in a large crowd like that. Kids darting here and there, people in a hurry, people not paying attention. Sometimes it’s hard for me to do anything except watch the path in front of us and cling, bare knuckled, to the handle bars. I have to be prepared at every moment to come to a screeching halt…which is hard, believe me. I think I must have really strong hands these days. They sure do get a workout on days like that!

Saturday I went back to the fair with my friend Gina to volunteer at the Iowa Egg Council Booth. My friend Holly works for the Council part time and asked for volunteers and I thought it’d be another fun way to experience the fair…and I’m so glad I did! We had a great time handing out the free hard boiled eggs on a stick! I had NO idea that so many people would be coming by to get their free eggs – there was a steady line rolling through the entire 3 hours we were there! Incredible!! The time flew by as we chatted with each other and the fair folks as they stopped to sample the eggs. I couldn’t believe it when the next group of volunteers showed up, signaling the end of our shift! Afterwards we spent the rest of the day doing more fair sight-seeing. We went up to look at things that I know Matt wouldn’t have been interested in, like the photography, and arts in the Cultural building. We even rode the giant ferris wheel together – much to Gina’s discomfort! It was another beautiful day at the fair and the place was PACKED – I was happy I wasn’t trying to push Matt around that day!

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