County Fair

I took the kids to the Loudoun County Fair on Wednesday afternoon. We had planned on going Monday night for the demolition derby which we have attended the last two years but it rained so we postponed. It was a hot afternoon but we had a great time. The girls loved the petting zoo and had fun looking at all of the farm animals. We enjoyed lots of lemonade and fried foods (mini donuts AND deep fried oreos). The girls also had fun going on a few rides and watching the Little Bear Show (two real bears dancing, going down a slide, pulling each other in a wagon...you know, regular bear stuff).

Theme Week #1: FARMS

We decided to pick a theme for each week remaining in the summer and do activities centering around that theme all week long. We just finished up our FARM WEEK. We made farm crafts, went to Old Maryland Farm, went to a County Fair, watched farm movies (Babe and Charlotte's Web) and read books about farms. And ate burgers at BGR.

Click here to get the printable farm.

Oyamel

Thanks to some babysitting swaps with friends we were able to go out a few times last week. We saw Harry Potter last Friday. Tuesday night we went to dinner at Oyamel in D.C. and walked around the city a bit. Despite the diversity of restaurants around here, it's hard to find good Mexican food (please don't suggest Cafe Rio). We had fun trying a lot of different dishes and flavors at Oyamel. We ordered grasshopper tacos. Really awful. But we had to try. The waiter said they taste better after you've had a few tequilas. We also tried grilled cactus which was pretty good. Our favorite part of the meal was the fresh guacamole they make right at your table.

Awful pictures but this is the guacamole.

And this is the grilled cactus.

BGR

We went to BGR in Old Town Monday night to use our Groupon and cash in our certificate for a free meal (which we earned when they lost our order last time and we ended up waiting almost an hour for our food). But we were happy to return. And I was happy to wash down my big old burger with an amazing peach pie shake. It turned out to be a beautiful evening so we strolled around by the water for a bit and tried to walk off some of the pains of eating at BGR.

Embracing the heat.

The heat doesn't seem to be going away so I decided to stop avoiding it and get outside this week. We had a play date with Amelia's friend Rhiana on Monday and spent a few hours walking around Huntley Meadows. We saw a lot of wildlife and the girls had fun running around with friends.

We ended up at Huntley Meadows again today. Amelia and Elsa went to a Nature Detectives program there. They talked about how animals keep cool and got to make a fan.

My camera kept fogging up due to the crazy humidity.

Feeling Blue

Summer Reading Program

In an effort to stay air-conditioned on Saturday, we went to the library to turn in the girls' summer reading program certificates so they could collect their coupon books. Amelia has discovered all of the chapter book series at the library and has been going crazy. She is really into the Geronimo Stilton/Thea Stilton books and the Rainbow Magic series right now. After the library we stopped at McDonalds to pick up their free ice cream cones and then had a read-a-thon in the living room. Ben has been reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the girls and they are really enjoying it.

 

How ping pong balls cleaned my house.

We are always looking for ways to make chores more enjoyable (and therefore reduce complaining). We started a ping pong ball chore jar over 6 months ago and the novelty hasn't worn off yet. Every Saturday morning we draw ping pong balls out of a jar (without looking) and there is a chore written on each one. I occasionally add a new chore ball or throw in a silly one (like do 10 jumping jacks) and the girls really look forward to it.

I've actually heard things like:

"I can't wait until Saturday because then we get to do chores!"

"Tomorrow is chore day!!"

"I hope I choose 'clean toilets' from the jar." (Amelia likes to pretend she's a dentist cleaning a mouth.)

We rewarded ourselves yesterday with a mid-morning movie after we finished chores since we were avoiding the heat. We watched one of Amelia's favorite movies, The Secret of Kells (which is streaming on Netflix). Great movie with really cool animation.