Highways and Byways

This week has been a big one for driving.  I made three trips in three days to and from Mt. Vernon--about 45 minutes each way--over the last four days, and I get to drive almost twice that far on Monday.

On Thursday, I got a message from my sister asking if I wanted to meet up for lunch in Mt. Vernon.  She wanted to go look at a bike that the shop had in stock--the bike store in Bellingham didn't have what she was looking for but called around and found one in Burlington (the little town next to Mt. Vernon).  We met at Bob's and had lunch, then drove down to the Lane Bryant outlet store and got some clothes.  I got two pairs of pants (shorts/capris), a few shirts and a dress I found that I like that actually looks good on me.  It came with a little sweater in an odd shade of coral, so I also picked up a shrug in black.  Oh, and a bunch of undies.  Afterwards, I needed to head back to get the kids from school and Tara went on to the bike shop alone.

On Friday, I had made arrangements to meet Sharon at Bob's (it's a landmark and makes a good meeting place) to hand over Cammie for a sleepover with Miss O.  Her birthday is actually the day before Ben's, but the birthday celebration was postponed a week when the pony farm was unavailable for a party.

I had taken Ben out for shoe shopping and a haircut on Saturday morning.  His shoes were falling apart and his hair was looking pretty shaggy!  He picked out a pair of tennis shoes with actual laces on them, which means now that he's in second grade, he actually has to learn how to tie his shoes.  Remember the days when you had to be able to tie your shoes before entering kindergarten?  How times have changed....  We also picked out a pair of cowboy boots for horseback riding.  I didn't want to necessarily get hiking boots (they didn't have any in his size anyway) and the rain boots for boys didn't have a heel of any kind (the girl's boots did), and although the cowboy boots were a whole size too big, they were so darned cute on him, I got them anyway.  He wore them for horseback riding and ran around a bunch, having a great time getting dirty.

We went to one of the Hair Master locations and got a haircut from a young long-haired gentleman.  Ben remarked that he had always gotten haircuts from women before, and I said, "Well, maybe the guy will get it right..."  I explained that most of his haircuts ended up with long hairs that the women had missed around the ears.  He assured me that he had gotten dozens of clipper cuts in his youth and remembered those areas that often were overlooked.  It's actually a very nice, clean cut.  Ben was only upset that his scar on his forehead was visible (not a lightning-shaped scar and apparently never burns or prickles when I'm thinking evil thoughts...).  We met up with Kelly afterwards and after three attempts, finally found a sushi place that was open on Saturday for lunch.  The first place was technically open, but the sushi chef was late for work and not answering his phone.  Never mind then...the second place advertised a lunch special, but apparently not on Saturday.  The third place is *not* a favorite of mine, but it was open.

Miss O had the birthday party on Saturday which meant another drive North to the Pony farm to celebrate her 9th birthday.  These two have been like peanut butter & jelly since she was born--I was her sitter a couple days a week from when she was little and when we did shopping excursions together, many people thought these two were twins.  Aside from the fact that they are 18 months apart and have different color eyes, they do have similar physical characteristics.

Only one other girl joined her on her birthday ride--two other friends were sick and couldn't make it.  I know one of them had chicken pox...she wasn't sure about the other one, but she left school early on Thursday and didn't return Friday, so it must be something not worth sharing.

Ben and I went riding, too.  He, in his new cowboy boots...me in my old tennis shoes.  Woo.  After riding, he spent a lot of time climbing up and rolling down the dirt hills.  Good boy!

He got to ride his favorite pony, Blaze.  The pony was out on a ride with some Girl Scouts when we first arrived, but returned moments before we began mounting horses.  He was SO excited to get a chance to ride him again.  He says, "It's kinda like he's my horse."  Well, kinda.  Lola owns him (she's pictured here, with Ben).

Cammie got to ride a sweet pony named Candy.  She stopped several times to have snacks on the ride...walking through all that greenery is like a kid in a candy store.

I rode a guy named Hobo on our 45 minute trail ride (which really didn't seem like 45 minutes...I should have checked my clock...it seemed like about 20 minutes).  We arrived back at a shelter and had hot dogs and cupcakes.  Mmmm...

Monday I get to drive back North again.  I should probably work on a couple of quilty things before heading up.  Friendship blocks and a quilt for Lauri need to get finished.  Hopefully I can get a little done today for my Mother's Day.