goldfish you can't eat

i'm not sure who was more excited for the bean's wheel-a-thon fundraiser for her school, her or me.  i had to miss it last year, but i made sure to calendar it this time around and even volunteered to help count laps. so with the hub on gardening duty at home, the teen and i loaded her bike into the back of the tahoe and headed out to have a little fun.

when we got there, the fun was in full swing.  her class, the oldest of the preschoolers, went last.  we checked her in and got her number - kind of like her very own racing bib.

she was pretty stoked to be able to ride her own this time, instead of riding one of the preschool's tricycles.

i took my place in the center and hoped i'd be able to keep up with the dozen or so racers.

after listening to the rules (which basically told them to look straight ahead and not to bump into each other), they took off.

she did a great job, considering she really hasn't logged in a whole lot of time on that bike.

ten minutes and about eighteen laps later, they were done.

"hey! let's go play some games!" and she was off.

of course, this was the first booth that caught her eye.  with a little help from her sister, she aimed, missed the targets by a mile, and picked a prize out of the treasure chest.

she didn't care.  she moved right on to the next game, where she won another prize.

my kid totally throws like a girl.  happily, she scored a prize of some sort at every booth she tried.

she went "fishing" and hooked a yummy snack.

at this one, she got to dig in the sand for more treasure.

another toy story-themed shooting game resulted in her first "real" prize, which she loved.

and then her sister spotted this one - very similar to one she played when she was in kindergarten.  uh-oh.

the last time, she ended up with a bowl of thirteen goldfish, which she promptly named george.  all 13 of them.  i couldn't help but groan when they both scored prizes here.  oy.

we used our last tickets at the grab bag booth, where we hoped for movie tickets, museum admissions, or maybe legoland passes.  alas, it was not to be.

the final tally:  seven goldfish, three stuffed animals, a plastic snow white doll, a coupon for a free art class, and a few handfuls of candy.

as of today, the fishbowl has had only one casualty.  freaking goldfish, man.  ugh.