Colonial times

After a rough post-camp pickup (none of us could really decide what to do about dinner, so we drove back to Leesburg in silence, and Rachel was so afraid she had made us angry -- we weren't angry at her, just exasperated that she was set on making us pizza bagels, which she'd had at camp, and all we wanted was a nice family dinner at a restaurant but we couldn't find a suitable one and so we were all angry -- she wrote, "I hait myself" and "I am a bad little girl" on a piece of camp stationery, which worried Drew no end, and we kept reassuring her over and over that she shouldn't hate herself), we all hopped in the car on Saturday and went to a colonial market fair at a farm located, ironically enough, near the CIA in Langley. It really was an incredibly cool place: An open-air market with stuff to buy that wasn't chintzy; decent colonial food at astonishingly low prices; and demonstrations of weaving; a magic show; and a militia mustering exercise for kids that Rachel took great delight in. The whole atmosphere reminded me of why I'm so glad we live where we do: the constant presence of history, which I felt had been missing from our time in Oregon.

The fair happens three times a year; the next one is in the fall, and then there's a wassail celebration in December. I have made a mental note to take us all there for those events.

When we got home, Rachel made us pizza bagels. We watched "Barbie and the Flying Pegasus," or whatever it's called, and ate the bagels, and you know what? They were FANTASTIC (even though I burned the roof of my mouth eating them). I apologized to Rachel several times for doubting that they'd be absolutely delicious, and she agreed to make them again sometime. I'm actually looking forward to it!

On Sunday we (me, and then Drew took over) began the Mammoth Clean-up Of Rachel's Room, and four hours later we had lots of old workbooks and coloring books to recycle, and old toys she doesn't play with anymore, to make room for all her lovely birthday presents. Her room is now tidy, which means I can walk into it without getting tremendously depressed at the mess. Now, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our latest guest, Rachel Jones, who gets here at the crack of dawn on Wednesday and stays through the weekend. Yay! The Summer of Partying rocks on!!