The Fair Weekend

Whew! We have had a crazy couple of weeks! Two weeks ago yesterday we left for Charleston with Drew's side of the family. On the way back Drew and Winston stayed overnight in Columbia so they could fly out to Seattle last Monday for a week long business trip. The kids and I settled in for a week without Drew. Last Thursday after lunch we headed back down to Cola town to "do the Fair" as we do every year.

Mary Fran, of course was a little leery of any ride but the Merry-Go-Round, Evie was fearless, and Ward wanted to be fearless but was just one small inch off of being tall enough for most rides. He did get to ride the slides with me and had quite a time!

Friday we went and picked up our good friends, Estella (9) and Ava (4). Their momma and I go way back and we get to see them once a year. After some lunch, we headed out to the Midway. Let me tell you, I got a lot of strange looks with six kids in tow!

Cade was mesmerized!

Here was a ride Ward could ride with someone and he was all over it! He wanted the green car. :)

Ava and Evie were riding partners quite often!

Once the Midway got too crowded, we headed into the buildings for some fun. After getting some free milk we got to climb on some tractors. What fun!

Wardy at the wheel!

Mary Fran even wanted in on this one!

Drew got in about midnight Friday night and Dad graciously offered to pick him up on his way home. It was so very good to be with my husband again!

Unfortunately, Saturday was not exactly as we thought it'd be. Thursday night Ward was up 3-4 times with breathing troubles so I increased his maintenance inhaler Friday and gave him Albuterol every 4 hours which seems to do the trick. Everything that was blooming up here 3 weeds ago was out in full force down there. Saturday morning it was clear that the Albuterol wasn't holding him as long as it should so a good friend of mine living in town told me which pediatrician's offices were open on Saturdays. We got an appointment with the practice that I went to as a child (my pediatrician is actually still practicing!) and headed out. What was even more ironic was that the pediatrician we saw was a girl (now woman) who I grew up with at church! We got us a neb treatment and started back on the liquid steroids for 5 days. We didn't have to go to the ER or hospital, so I count that as a victory! :)

After picking up Drew and the other little ones and having lunch with mom, Drew and I took the boys back for a nap and mom took the girls for a "date." We then met back up at the Fair for a couple of hours so we could see everyone one last time.

Wardy got to ride this one and, boy, did we spin!

Evie also got to go on a big fun house! Pumped, she was pumped.

After eating and saying goodbye to Estella and Ava we headed back to dad's for a good night's sleep.
Sunday we got to go to the baptism of my cousin's baby son and see some of that family which was really nice. We were glad for the weekend but very glad to get back home! Thankfully, Ward improved markedly and we were very glad when the run of steroids was over on Wednesday. Steroids hype him up but that was not as bad as the emotions this time (another potential side effect). Anything and everything seemed to just set him off!

The SC State Fair was a treat as always and I'll leave you with this beautiful rendition of the State Capitol building as Columbia is celebrating it's 225th anniversary this year!