En Garde!

In my never-ending quest to open the world of possibilities to my little chickies, I enrolled them all in a week long session of fencing. We go all this week for an hour every afternoon. Today I embarrassed them by pulling out my camera to take some pictures. I didn't make anyone pose and didn't use a flash though, so I got some points for that. They are all enjoying it but Frances claims she HATES it, for the pubescent effect, I think. Lewis had 2 timeouts yesterday for not listening and today the teacher threatened to kick him out when he whacked his sister with his foil. What the heck is 1st grade going to be like for the boy?

They're suited up and ready!


Frances, Ana & Lewis were "paired" up for the first exercise.


Elly was partnered with a little boy who just stood there, doing NOTHING!


Frances, listening intently, as usual.


Frances and Lew were paired up another time. Frances spent most of the session telling him to behave himself.


The little angel himself.

TeeHeeHee

A frightening day in the country

Sure, there was an Art festival and concerts that were possibilities for entertainment this weekend, but the Lawyer and I were craving some higher culture..... and maybe some fodder for the blog.....
We chose the Sauerkraut Festival in Phelps (creepy boonies), NY.
A cloud of stink greeted us from the NYS Thruway

After arriving at the fairgrounds and parking, we were greeted with our first option for throwing our money away - cabbage bowling! Couldn't all that cabbage have been used to make several pounds of kraut??

The Lawyer then challenged me to get a picture of this old coot's tshirt. The Lawyer forgets that I have learned many tricks from my sister Suzie, like taking a picture of someone with an absolute poker face so they don't even think anything of it.

There was a lot of crap for sale - who doesn't want a pair of handknit slippers?

We went into a building to see more "arts and crafts" when we were greeted by a horrific stench. Frances slapped her hand over her mouth and nose and ran out. I said "Holy crap, what is that smell??" As we walked farther in, I thought there must have been some bathroom "problem." Then I came to 2 tables of food - it was the sauerkraut cooking contest!! I love sauerkraut but this smell was B*A*D N*A*S*T*Y. We exited quickly, hence no photo evidence.
Then came the highlight of the "festival!" SAUERKRAUT IDOL!! I kid you not. Contestants from the ages of 4 ("You are my sunshine") to adults got on the stage to perform horrid renditions of Hendrix, Elvis, and various country people who I do not know. I believe this was the Elvis girl:

The Lawyer was LOVING IT! Me and Lew kept asking if it was time to go yet.

Frances asked me why so many of the Carnie people didn't have teeth.......I had no good answer.

Grasshead Love

For the past 7 years, at least one of the kids has made a "grasshead" at their daycare. Lewis and Elizabeth each did one last month and I set them on the kitchen windowsill to grow. We have noticed that Elizabeth's girl seems to be giving Lewie's guy/monster some looks of love. He seems clueless to the power of his attractive head. We'll see where this leads.

Day at the Beach

Even though we live close to Lake Ontario, we rarely go to the water because the beaches are so nasty and there are often advisories to stay out of the water. Yesterday we ventured to Sodus Point, about 40 miles to the East of us. I hadn't been there in more than 20 years. It was beautiful! The sand was clean and soft and the water looked and smelled ok! We stayed for a few hours. The kids waded, dug in the sand, and found tons of interesting rocks - I never saw so many perfectly round and flat rocks.
Elizabeth was the first to go down to the water. She LOVES looking for shells and rocks.

Lewis loves waves and spent a lot of time jumping over the waves and laughing hysterically.

I started taking the rocks and building little sculptures, which encouraged everyone to find me more material!

I couldn't believe how many times Lewis ran back and forth from the water to our blanket, bringing me "another cool one."


We walked out to the lighthouse, which didn't impress anyone! The pier was covered with gull poo and there was no railing. Frances said it made her feel like a wave was "going to come up, knock me into the water, carry me away and kill me." Think the girl has a little anxiety???

On the way back from the pier, Elly found some shells and foraged for a "good one."

She sat on the blanket sorting her shells and rocks while everyone else did some wave jumping.

There were 2 people sitting near us who were taking photos the whole time we were there. They were having so much fun posing for each other and did some pictures together. I couldn't resist taking photos of them taking photos





When we got home, it was almost time for dinner. Everyone was asleep by 8:30 and I probably only lasted an hour more! The kids are already asking me when we can go again.