JUNE 21 UPDATE: Another day away

Finn Fest continued today, and as promised, I have some wife carrying contest photos, and a few others as well:



They seemed to have a good time with it. And there seemed to be some strategy to it: The over-the-shoulder hold seemed to be faster, although the women did seem to have more trouble with that (more shrieking and grabbing on to belts for dear life).

They didn't follow the official rules for the wife-carrying contest; it's supposed to have an obstacle course, and I think the real contest even has a water portion. But organizers have already said that next year they're planning some kind of an obstacle course for this.

Next was the boot toss.

This didn't follow the official rules, either -- they are supposed to use a rubber boot, and keep the boot leg straight in the air, but they used old work boots, which were nigh impossible to keep from spinning. The contest this year was a show of brute force, for the most part. But hey, that's fun, too.

I really like this photo, even though the boot is long gone, for the crowd reaction in the background.

So I was standing there, taking quite a few pictures, when I figured I had gotten what I needed, and Sofia and I went to eat lunch. Then Mom tells me after we got home that since there were no other women willing to throw, she stepped up and threw the boot! Hmph. I would have wanted pictures of that! She apparently didn't throw it very far, or even as far as she thought she could. Ah, well, we can all practice for next year.

Then, after lunch, Sofia discovered the inflatables. It took her quite a bit of encouraging to get started on them -- I couldn't go on either one of them with her to show her how it was done -- but my goodness, then we went for a solid hour running from one to the other.




In addition to it being really fun for her, I think it was good for her to do something that required her to venture out where there are other kids she doesn't know, without Mommy next to her. There are benefits to her not having to go to day care, but there are drawbacks, as well -- she doesn't get as much of a chance to try out her social skills. It was really good that she figured out she could handle this. Bigger adventures to come, I say!

... I was right in my prediction that we wouldn't be able to lure Dave away from working today. He got a good deal more of the first floor finished ... and promptly covered it with lumber and tools. Not very good photo potential, I have to say, even if moving all that stuff was necessary so he could work on the rest of the floor. Maybe I'll get a photo of it tomorrow anyway.

One more day of Finn Fest on Sunday, and this day's events are held just a mile and half from the farm, at Savo church and hall. It's a much more sedate day than the first two, more geared at an older crowd. We'll see how it goes.