Rainy day

We had a car show today. It's one we go to every year, so we have a pretty good routine down for getting it done.

We have to drive two cars because the Barracuda isn't equipped for a car seat. But I'm sort of glad it works that way. Jeff goes early and gets registered and gets situated in his parking spot. Then Biscuit and I take my car.

We put chairs, our new canopy and a rain cover for the car in the back of the Barracuda. 

Then in my car, I pack a lunch and a small cooler with water. Quart-size zip-top bags are the perfect size for mine and Jeff's sunscreen, Biscuit's sunscreen and wet wipes. The cool camera bag Jeff got me for my birthday is made to be a camera bag and pocketbook. That's been a big help because it eliminates one of the bags I routinely have to carry. I pack hats and sunglasses for everyone, and today, I packed an umbrella.

Biscuit was wearing his firefighter boots carrying an ambulance and a firetruck, and I was carrying all the rest of our stuff. I closed the front door and was about to lock it when I turned to look at Biscuit. Just as my eyes came around, I saw one of the scariest things I've ever seen in my life!

Biscuit was tumbling feet over head down the front door steps. Tumbling might even be the wrong word for it because he was straight as a board as he cartwheeled down the steps. His head landed on the bottom step and bent backwards as his body slammed onto the sidewalk.

I dropped everything in my arms (thank goodness my camera bag is padded), and ran down the steps. Biscuit wasn't moving. And as much as I wanted to scoop him up, I waited a few second to see if he was going to move on his own. It would not have surprised me if he had just lain there. I was already reaching for my cellphone to call 911 when he propped his arms up and started to push himself off the sidewalk. He started screaming.

I grabbed him up and went running back into the house. I went straight to the kitchen because the first thing I saw was his bloody mouth. I grabbed a paper towel and wet it with cold water and started to dab at Biscuit's lips. I told him to hold the paper towel on his lips then I got his little Elmo cold pack out of the freezer. He complained about the cold, but it must've felt good because he held it there.

These things are great! You keep them in the freezer to ease
the burn of booboos (or in our case, to reduce swollen lips).

I gave him a good looking-over and couldn't find any other evidence of his fall.

"Let's me and you just stay home today," I said. "Would that be okay?"

"Noooooo, Mom," Biscuit said, still crying. "It's gone. See, Mom? It's all better and gone now."

It was in no way gone, but I could tell Biscuit really wanted to go to the car show.

We finally got the bleeding stopped. It wasn't until then that I realized that my keys were hanging in the front door and my camera bag/pocketbook was sitting on the front porch. Good thing we have good neighbors!

I called Jeff on the way to tell him the drama of the morning and to find out where his parking spot was at the car show. 

After I got off the phone, Biscuit said to me, "Mom, when I flipped, that was the coolest part. Was that a cool trick?"

"Um, no," I said. "That was not a cool trick. It scared Mama half to death!"

"No, Mom," Biscuit said. "Don't be scared. It was a cool flip."

My boy is definitely a boy!

Biscuit and I got to the show, parked and got our lunch and stuff loaded onto his stroller. He hopped in, and we started walking.

Biscuit spotted a red truck and asked if I would let him look closer at it. I pushed him over that way, and as we got closer, I realized the truck was firefighter themed. Biscuit immediately spotted the badges on the wheels' center caps. The truck's owner came over and told Biscuit and me that most people didn't even notice those. He and Biscuit struck up a conversation about firefighters and firetrucks. The man had been a volunteer firefighter in his community until he hurt his back.

The man went around to the back of his truck and opened the tool box. He handed a round piece of metal to Biscuit, but I couldn't tell what it was. Biscuit looked at it, then tried to hand it back, but the man told him it was his to keep. Biscuit said thank you without being prompted, and that made me really proud.

Turns out the piece of metal is a trailer hitch cover. The man said he got that one then found one he liked better. Even if the man didn't like it, Biscuit loved it.

We met up with Jeff and found him with my friend's husband. They were talking cars, so Biscuit and I went in search of the Barracuda. We found the car and set up our chairs and had some lunch. Then not long after lunch, the rains came.

And they came. And they came. And they came.

It was a good thing the judges came around early because at the first sign of rain, Jeff and I whipped out the car cover and got the Barracuda covered up as fast as a pit crew.

We were lucky enough to be parked right in front of this little ticket booth-type building. It wasn't being used, so I pushed Biscuit's stroller under the shelter, then dragged in our chairs. We sat there while the storm blew over and watched people running around like chickens with their heads chopped off.

Our safe place in the storm.

Wet feet! Water was running from the road down through our shelter. It was about an inch deep.

At least we had some scenery. The ducks and geese didn't seem to mind the rain.

The rain slacked off a bit, and the announcer called for the show participants to come to the stage for the awards ceremony. I handed Jeff the umbrella and said, "Biscuit and I will be right here when you get back."

I hated not to be supportive, but Biscuit and I were cozy and dry, and I wanted to keep it that way.

There goes Jeff to the awards ceremony.

Jeff won first place in his category. Thankfully, the rain had stopped, and Biscuit and I were there when they announced his name.

Today wasn't the ideal car show situation, but the three of us spent the day together, and that was a really nice thing.

Here are a couple of photos I took of Biscuit while we were under our little shelter.

Look at those eyes. So pretty! So mischievious!

That's the smile I was waiting for. Biscuit was laughing because I was holding the
camera around the side of his stroller and snapping pictures. He couldn't see my
face, just my hands. For some reason, he thought that was pretty funny.

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"Jeff! You've just won first place at the car show. What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to get some ice cream!"

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With all the excitement of the car show and the rain, Biscuit never got his afternoon nap.

He tried to catch up on his sleep at the dinner table.

Needless to say, Biscuit called it a night earlier than usual.