My Kindle Scout Diary Day 11 and The State Fair

Today is Labor Day and tomorrow will be the first day of my sixteenth year teaching high school English. Oh, and it's day 11 of my Kindle Scout campaign.

Lately when I wake up in the middle of the night my mind is racing. Have I done my seating charts? Will my lesson plans work? How will I drive people to my Kindle Scout page? What am I going to have for breakfast tomorrow?

Some answers are easier than others. I'm glad to be a third of the way through my campaign, though I can't say I've found any sure-fire techniques for getting nominations, other than asking people on Facebook. That's been the most effective thing so far, especially when other people post for me. On Friday my husband, Rich, posted. It was his first time Facebook in months and the response was awesome! It's amazing how many people genuinely want to encourage other people's success.

Anyway, I needed a break, so yesterday I took Eli to the Minnesota State Fair and we had a really good time.

We started the day at the Miracle of Birth center, where we got to pet a baby pig.

After that we went to the pickle stand. "Ah, sweet pickle flesh!" (Those were Eli's words, not mine.) I've never liked pickles but Eli LOVES them!

It rained for a while, but that didn't stop us from trying out the paddle board simulator. Now I want to paddle board for real!

When we were looking for lunch options, Eli was horrified by the elephant ear stand. "But they're endangered!" Always the animal lover, he was relieved to find out that elephant ears are actually cookies. With all the exotic food choices, like alligator, I don't blame him for jumping to conclusions.

Once the sun came out we went on the river raft ride, and we got much wetter than we did from the rain.

We couldn't skip the giant slide. (The lone slider in the pic is Eli.)

Then it was time for my yearly state fair tradition. I love to eat mini-donuts while sitting directly underneath the bungee ride. You couldn't pay me to go on the thing. Nope. I get my thrills vicariously, while eating donuts, of course.

But Eli was inspired by the bungee ride, so our last stop of the day was the for him to do the kid's version. I kind of wish that they have this tame-downed version for adults!

So that's it. Wish me luck teaching ninth graders tomorrow, and if you haven't already, please click here right now and nominate The Standout on Kindle Scout.

Thank you!