Our family went to the Iowa State Fair on Thursday.  Besides seeing the famous butter cow, going down the giant yellow slide, riding on the ski lift, eating corn dogs, watching some of the free shows, and upholding other traditions while at the fair, we went to the Cultural Center at the top of the hill to see the sand sculpture and view the arts/crafts entries. 

The entries were divided into different age groups.  While viewing the artwork from the junior category, our 8-year-old son was getting excited about all the different colors and was chattering non-stop.  This drew the attention of the man in charge of this particular room of entries.  He came over to us, asked the boys their ages, explained the displays to them, and tried to encourage them to participate next year.

But, it wasn't too long before we realized what had really gotten our 8-year-old excited.  It wasn't the drawings and sculptures from kids his own age that sparked his interest... it was all the different colored ribbons on them!  He was going on and on about the blues, the reds, the greens, etc. 

Trying to redirect his own train of thought and trying not to lose the enthusiasm of our boys, the curator continued, "Yes, this blue one was given to the first place winner, this light lavender ribbon here says, 'Honorable Mention'..."

"Oh," interrupted our young son and sounding a little surprised.  "I thought it said, 'Horrible'!"

I'm just hoping the winner of this particular ribbon reads it the right way.  Otherwise, there might be one less participant next year.  J

~Connie~