Lexington 300
On Saturday we headed up to Lexington for our second fair in as many weekends, this one a special event to celebrate the town of our birth's 300th anniversary. Well, sort of: the town was actually incorporated in 1713 (after being first settled in 1642), but folks want to celebrate so much that they're planning to drag the thing out from now until May of next year. And more power to em, I say! They had a big tent.
kind of a "medieval encampment" feel...
Despite the gray morning the fair, part of a day of "opening events", was very well attended.
bustling
It wasn't quite as interesting as Bedford Day as far as exhibitors, unfortunately. Bedford Day is awesome, sure, but for an event that presumably occurs only once every 100 years you expect a little more oomph. Nevertheless, we were entertained well enough. At noon the organizers did their best to get the entirety of the Lexington population out onto the high school football field for a photo, which meant that the tent crowd cleared out a little bit, and we took the opportunity to peruse the crafts.
I want to make ducks like those
The lines also died down a little for the food vendors, and we picked up a few items. Harvey chose a giant M&M cookie and Leah a sandwich; Zion was satisfied with a pancake from home, which he ate with a fork.
fair food
His favorite part of the whole experience was trying to ride Mama's bicycle.
trying to skip some steps in the progression of bicycling skills
He was less enthusiastic about watching dancing and musical performances inside a hot (the sun had come out by then) and crowded tent, so after a bit of entertainment we dragged ourselves away and headed home. Good times; where is next week's fair going to be?
colorful antagonists
more on healthy snacks and too much about my armpits
I thought I'd write a follow-up to answer some of the questions raised by my hippy odds-and-ends post from yesterday.
Alexis asked how my children reacted to the switch away of Cheerios. To tell you the truth, they didn't really notice. Our food options vary a lot from week to week, so there are no food items that we ALWAYS have in the house. Consequently my kids are used to accepting an alternative if there happens to be no milk or bananas for a day or two. It also helps that we make an effort to eat locally, so they're used to seeing fruits go in and out of season. Of course there are exceptions to this - I buy bananas even though they're never in season here and apples year round. And we do try our hardest to keep apple juice in the house because its absence is likely to spark a tantrum. But no, they didn't ask for more Cheerios after the last box was gone.
Anyway, my kids tend to like apples and carrots, so they're very happy eating them in the stroller. If anyone wants to know how to get their kids to like fresh fruits and vegetables the answer is, I don't know. Mine just do. They have other problems, of course. They can't play inside without CONSTANT ADULT INTERVENTION OR ENTERTAINMENT, but they're good eaters.
Also, Dan says I left out writing about our homemade deodorant. How could I forget! I started making my own deodorant sticks from a recipe in this book and I just love the result. The deodorant has a pleasant odor without being overpowering, which puts it over Toms of Maine which I found to have an unpleasant chemical smell. Also, Toms of Maine seems to "turn" before the stick is used up, whereas the homemade deodorant stays good to the end, perhaps because it's softer so it goes faster. Other pros: it costs almost nothing to make, just a little olive oil, beeswax, and essential oils. Cons: it's a natural deodorant and therefore is not as effective as chemical deodorants you buy in the store. If I get really hot and sweaty then I smell like BO. If I check my armpits (and come on, who doesn't) they start smelling like BO as the deodorant wears off sometime late in the afternoon.
Sometimes I read hippy tutorials on the internet and they're like: This deodorant is so natural! Better than what you buy in the store for every reason possible! And I'm thinking: Hey, I've met you in person... you SMELL BAD. I don't want to be like that. I don't want you to get all these false hopes about homemade deodorant if a body's natural odor is really offensive to you. There's a reason there are chemicals in store-bought deodorants and the reason is that it makes them more deodorizing. I don't think that makes it worth putting on your body, but I don't want you to meet me in person and think that I smell bad and then on top of that THINK that I'M AN IDIOT WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT BO SMELLS LIKE.
I think becoming a hippy is a journey down a road, and maybe that road is a little bit sloped and sometimes slippery. What I mean to say is, you start to eat whole foods, you start to cut down on waste or chemical exposure, you start to get more used to how things look and feel "naturally" and suddenly the smell of your own BO is not quite as offensive to you. Even though you started this whole process thinking, "I'm okay with being a little bit hippy, but I don't want to be one of those SMELLY hippies" suddenly you are.
Because the scary truth is that worrying about what you smell like is stupid. Society makes you do it. And if you say, "Screw what society things about [fill in the blank: homebirth, homeschooling, wearing makeup, whatever]" then you may just start questioning what society things about your natural odor. And then before you know it you're only washing your hair once a week and you DON'T CARE and you even LIKE THE WAY YOU SMELL and friends of your parents are stopping you on the street saying, "Seriously Leah? Seriously?" But I digress. You're probably not named Leah.
This book has lots of ideas if you want to stop shopping at CVS altogether.