And The Winner Is...

Please bear with me while I brag about my darling son. We had quite the excitement Friday night at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Andrew loves the dinosaur park and we go there often during the summer, but this was our first experience at night. The whole park was decorated for Halloween and they had all kinds of fun things going on. As soon as Bubba decided to stop being scared to death by all the strange sounds and creepy decorations, he had a ball trick-or treating around the park, interacting with the characters they had walking around, drinking hot chocolate, toasting smores over the fire and going on a wagon ride. The best part of the evening came when they announced it was time for the costume contest.

Initially, we weren't going to enter because we had arrived late and didn't want to take time in the contest that we could spend doing other fun things in the park. But, I let my curiosity (and maybe a little competitiveness and possibly just a dab of greed) get the best of me and off we went to the playground where the contest was being held.

So, it is pretty packed at the playground. We're talking at least 60 kids and their accompanying adults all squeezed into the bleachers and surrounding area in front of the playground's sandbox. I look around and think to myself, "There's no way Andrew can compete against little baby witch over there or darling little sheep boy over there." But, I didn't have the heart to tell the kid he couldn't cut it, so we stay and the contest begins. The kids are paraded in front of the parents, with the judges giving kids they think look good a number which is their ticket into the finals. Twenty kids got numbers. I was thrilled when Andrew was given one.(Oh I of little faith!) Cool, I think, at least he's in the top 20. I was happy with that. But it gets better!

So, they take the top 20 (yeah, this contest was pretty high tech and detailed considering it was just a little po dunk thing at the dinosaur park), and bring them up five at a time to be judged. They are looking for originality, cuteness, and audience appeal. Andrew was in the last group and the crowd went crazy for him (not just his shrieking mother in the front row, either). They kept yelling,"The cop! The cop!" So, he ends up in the top four.

The judges (who were from Roberts Crafts-the contest sponsor), came up and starting announcing the winners. Fourth place; a skunk, third place; the aforementioned baby witch, (no Bubba the cop yet), second place; belly dancing sisters, and first prize, THE COP!! The crowd goes wild-I think I might have blacked out for a minute and the next thing I know I am being handed a huge bag with what they said was $125 worth of cool stuff from Roberts. I was beyond thrilled and proud! I think I now have a better understanding of women who compulsively enter their children into beauty contests. Seeing your child win something is quite the adrenalin rush let me tell you! I know that my son is the cutest thing ever, but it is nice to have this knowledge publicly validated once in a while. Since the Roberts goodies were mainly for me, (I did buy the costume after all), his reward for strutting his stuff was a plastic mammoth replica from the park gift shop and he hasn't stopped talking about being "the winner," since Friday night. What a sweet victory!

Andrew looking stunned immediately after winning the contest.