First of all, thank you to everyone for my overwhelmingly full inbox stuffed with birthday wishes. It was a wonderful treat. And if you're waiting to find out if you're the lucky winner of some fabric, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait just a bit longer. I'll draw the names tomorrow, and announce the winners on Monday. Things have been summertime-busy around here, and I just haven't taken a moment yet to write out all the names and do our official fabric drawing. But thank you again for your lovely birthday wishes and thoughts on my "30"....and I never thought that I might actually be shaving off my tan every time I shave my legs. hmmmm.....hairy and tan or smooth and pasty? something to think about.

This week was the county farm fair here in Maryland. Visiting the fair always brings back lots of wonderful memories for me. My time showing animals and home arts projects was so shaping to me as a child. I used to love being at the fair, feeling in charge of my animals, knowing my way around, being the one in the show ring while others watched, or wearing the crown of fair royalty. It gave me such confidence and courage. Sometimes I walk around and look at the new generation of 4-Hers and I wonder if they feel like I did...that excitement and energy...

Of course the day we went was uncomfortably hot and it zapped my children of all their energy and interest in all things fair-ish--which is quite obvious in this picture:

And I spent more time carrying around a crabby, sweaty two year old than really enjoying the fair, but we still managed to see a few sights of the fair.

And the girls  took full advantage of the wonderful freebies that can be found at different booths around the fair--they came home with a bookbag (also free) filled with cow and milk bottle-shaped erasers, a thermometer, a rubber disc for opening jar lids (for me, of course), pens, pencils, pamphlets, key chains, dog toys, and most importantly tatoos:

Try to control yourself. I'm about to show a few pictures that might raise your blood pressure and cause  involuntary drooling...behold the ribbon outlet....should I make the reservation for a tour bus? I won't even begin to tell you about the prices. You just wouldn't believe me.

And this is how one might look after a trip to the ribbon outlet:

Not exactly a flattering self portrait this week, but I just had to post this one because I love mary's hair in this picture. We went to the beach this morning, trying to take advantage of all the last days of summer. It was incredibly windy, almost enough reason to turn around and go home, but we made the best of it. After trying to swim and getting whipped around by waves we stayed curled up in towels on the beach.
I did my best to stay upwind of emma's sand play. She was busy making soup for all of us. I don't know how many times I ran into the water to rescue her from the grip of the waves. I could tell they just wanted to swallow up a little girl in a pink bathing suit. After several choking, spitting, water-up-the-nose episodes she gave up on wave-jumping and stayed on dry land.
I love mary's hair standing straight up in the wind, and the crusty patches of sand in her hairline. There is sand everywhere. After post-beach baths, there's a  small sandbar forming in the bottom of my tub.  Once I'm done posting here, I will peel off my bathing suit and add to the collection.
Oh, and where did all those wrinkles come from around my nose and eyes?

I've had this blogsite established for over a week now. I keep playing with it...writing here and there, but I never post. So, today I decided it was time to jump right in. I'm hoping this will be a place for me to keep friends and family up-to-date, a place for me to work on my writing-- something that I've been wanting to do for some time now--and a place to learn more about this whole idea of blogging, something that has me intrigued. I've even checked books out of the library on this--Blogging For Dummies, or something like that...I hope that as I spend more time learning about blogging, I'll be able to add to this site. I've already written down some ideas on a piece of paper that I have tucked inside my journal. I've also been spending way too much time reading other peoples blogs to get ideas and inspiration.
So instead of waiting until I've mastered HTML, importing pictures, making links, lists and charts, I decided to jump right in, with my basic skills and go from there.

My pictures are from last night at the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day, followed by a perfect night. It was Emma's idea for dinner and a swim at the beach. I call her the family cruise director.
So, we packed up our organic chicken dogs (highly reccommended!), corn on the cob, potato chips, carrots, nalgene bottles, and Dan's beer (shh...not sure you can drink on the beach?!) and headed out. We put our blanket out on the jetty, a perfect spot. The water was deep blue, the waves were perfect for toddlers, and the air was a bit chilly. I felt like I was on vacation.
The rule was no swimming until after dinner...that didn't happen. Sometimes I make the silliest rules, that I later realize are impossible for a 3 year old to keep. A moment for grace.
So here are our pix from the evening. No pictures of our dinner spread, but all of the post-meal exploring. We headed home afterwards for double baths and early bed. A good day.