Monday, March 3, 2008

Science Fair Finale

So the District Science Fair was last Friday night. I Cameron had an awesome project so we were fairly hopeful that he could continue on to the state level. Rumor has it, there's a pizza party when you attend the state science fair, so Cam was all excited about that.

We set up on Thursday night, standing in various lines to be assigned table space and interview times. We had to be back at 5 o'clock on Friday for his interview, then wait around for the judging and viewing of all the projects. It was going to be a long evening and we were told to bring food and stuff to do while we waited in the cafeteria.

And boy-oh-boy, it was all about the waiting. I had a backpack with crackers, water bottles, M&Ms, cheese sticks, paper and pencils, a Nintendo and a book - also Excedrin. There were, I'm guessing, around 1000 people crammed into the school's small cafeteria. The noise was terrific and all the bodies were making it uncomfortably warm. We were sitting crosslegged on the floor for about 2 1/2 hours - my hips still hurt.

Cam was cool and collected - chillin' and listenin' to some Jonas Brothers. Waiting isn't so bad when you've got good music to listen to.




How're those braces feeling? Not bad - especially since it's just the brackets. He won't get the wires until he has some teeth pulled in a couple weeks. Don't the braces make him look grown-up?



Uh oh. Aaron is ticked that Cam has music to listen to and he doesn't. And Cameron isn't about to share with him - 'cause eeeewwwww, sharing ear buds is nasty. (I don't blame him; I've seen the inside of Aaron's ears) See how Cam is pretending that he doesn't notice Aaron on the verge of a music-jealousy meltdown?


He totally notices.



Hey, Aaron. Remember it's your birthday in a couple months. Bet you get an mp3 player. Also, you can empty all of Dad's music off of his ipod and load it up with yours and use that until you get your own. Whew...meltdown prevented.


In the end, we all stayed in a good mood. Around 7:30 they opened up the fair to the public and we could walk around and look at the 309 displays. After an hour or two of that, they started reading off the winners...and Cam wasn't one of them. I think we both felt an equal mix of relief and disappointment. I assured Cam that his project was every bit as good as the 120 projects that did go on to state, and I promised him a pizza. Good enough for him.

He was a little sad, but we were also kind of science-faired out. And every once in a while, a little disappointment is good for the character, don't you think? Good experience, very interesting, loooong night, and a pizza party with just me and m' boys.

Now if only my hips would stop hurting.

8 comments:

i i eee said...

Omigosh! Cameron's got braces now! He's such the little man!

I remember when he was born, and I came over to your house to see him for the first time. I was wearing braces.

Elise said...

Both the boys just look so grown up to me! Cam's project was great whether he went on to state or not! Good Job!

pinklady said...

cam (and you) should be proud! he finished the project and rode the whole science fair thing out to the bitter end! and he gets pizza with his bro and mom...COOL!

Angi said...

All I can say is wait til next year. You have 3 more years left. Then it's on to driver's ed and all that.

This year we are building a real guillitine(SP). Yikes, then you have a rube goldberg project, so rest up now while you can.

Great Job Cam. Nice smile.

Nora Mair said...

Poor hips--the sacrifices of education. What, no popcorn for snacks?

It"s me said...

It is cool that he just got to go.

havingcakeandeatingit2 said...

This is it! I wanted to thank you and Cameron for your science fair saga. my daughter just finished hers with an A thanks to you. We did a different project but my daughter hadn't ever seen a science fair or project before. So to give her an Idea of what one looks like I showed her your blog about Cameron's. It really helped. Then when she forgot the paper with all the little parts to include we were back again. Well needless to say you guys were a lifesaver but your blog had moved on to other things and I felt funny leaving an odd comment about the science fair. Good Job you two and THANK YOU!

dishes and laundry said...

Hi Having Cake! I'm glad Cam's project helped - yay for your daughter's A!

Angi - You scare me, everytime you write about what's coming, LOL!

Everyone else...thanks...it was fun.