The fair - part two

First, let me say that is was a banner week for Carter at school last week. He has finally discovered that he actually likes to read. I think it helps to have a teacher also understand that he prefers reference books and encourages him to choose those over others. He has made two paths so far in AR (a type of reading system based on points/level of the book.) And with that comes buddy lunch. During buddy lunch, the student gets to pick another student to eat with them at the special round table in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, during one of his buddy lunch times, they had to be quiet the whole time since it was the teacher's duty free lunch and a substitute was eating with them. Usually, and new this year to school, they have to be quiet for the first ten minutes of lunch... which I don't really agree with since lunch is only twenty minutes long anyway. I think they need this time to be able to socialize so they can sit still during lessons. Just my two cents~
So last night we went to the fair AGAIN. They were having a mud bog, which one of Davis's co-workers is in. We didn't stay the whole time to see him though. It lasted forever! We let the boys play two games each - darts and fishing and they both rode the bumper cars and ferris wheel. Carter drove himself on the bumper cars and said it was awesome. I am glad he tried them because he was hesitant to do so. JM, on the other hand, was all for it and wanted to ride all the rides. Laurel enjoyed the lights but clung to us during the mud bog since it was so loud. Eventually she relaxed and was saying mud bog, go!
We had an interesting conversation with one of the game operators who told us about how the business worked. Apparently there are several owners of the different games and rides and they hire out the workers who in turn pay them for food/lodging/travel expenses. He told us how long it takes to break down each ride (about 9 hours) and how he makes a commission off the games but is paid hourly for the set up and break down. What a hard life! It makes me really wonder what kind of life they left to go to that one. He was very young - I would say only 18 or 19 at most and very kind. I just can not imagine.
I also read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown this weekend. It was very interesting and basically boiled down to saying that God is within all of us. I enjoyed the fast paced setting of it. I know a lot of critics pan him for juvenile writing, but the enormous amount of research that went into this book astonishes me! It also makes me want to tour D.C. and learn more about the Freemasons.
I also lost my phone! I went to the mall on Friday to let Laurel play in the little play area they have there and can not find it now. I combed the whole mall and parking lot Friday afternoon to no luck. I guess I am going to have to get a new one today. Davis is using this as a good reason to now get a blackberry so he can access his work email from his phone. So yesterday we shopped around and today we will probably go get a new one. He seems so much more excited about it than me though!