Awesome weekend!
When I got home on Friday, LT had been retrieved by my excellent husband and children. We had pork chops for dinner, put the kids to bed, and hung out for a bit.
Saturday morning, LT and I slept in a bit and then met sil and the kids at skating lessons. Coach Mick has engineered some kind of complicated skate-swap that results in both kids getting new-to-them skates. Kay's will be white, and Baz's black. O hai, gender segregation. Coach Mick is many fine things, but he is not exactly in the vanguard of gender equality. Oh, well. He's a great coach, very patient and adaptable. There was a great Cleaning of the Car. Also, LT replaced my burned-out headlight, and the other one, too. We took the kids out to lunch at Shari's, and then by cell-phone coordination with my parents, they met us there and we trooped off to the fair, leaving poor sil behind to do homework.
There was an interlude at the mall where we keep the park&ride. I bought discount tickets, and then we found a bathroom and then we went to See's. I had promised the kids a treat from See's for helping clean the car. Kay, in a moment of almost-4 brilliance, decided that rather than get candy, she wanted a ride on the little mall-things. Her bargaining language needs work, but I consider it a parenting win.
LT agrees that the Puyallup Fair is "cute". It's a candle to the sun of the fairs in the midwest, but it does give it a go. My dad took the kids off to the animal barns while mom and LT and I wandered the quilts. Mom had pre-visited and especially noted the good names on quilts. We talked about technique. The tensioning on the colorwork knitting entries was uniformly bad. Mine isn't great, but I'm sort of tempted. More tempted than I am by the quilting, as this year was really full of solid quilts. Then it was time to relieve dad and show LT the rest of the fair. She liked the Krusty Puppies, despite the name. I had a fairburger. We both got scones. The kids got to go on some rides, and everyone but LT went on the Big Slide. I think she may have taken pictures. I got to see a few hucksters. Baz is always fascinated by the sales pitches. I actually petted a Bernina. Baz bought himself a horrific noise-making trumpet, and Kay got a stuffed My Little Pony. No one got cotton candy as I just couldn't face the thought of the kids and the cotton-candy and the bus. I did fail to get Baz signed up for 4-H, but at this point, he already has a LOT of new stuff going on in his life. We headed home and everyone fell asleep but me. That's how you know it was a good time.
In the morning, off to church, leaving sil behind again. The sermon was on forgiveness, and a particularly interesting passage of Matthew. After church, we stopped at the park and the kids ran around happily while LT and I sat and chatted. We went home and I made food and sil fretted. Then LT and I helped him, and after that, I set sweet dough and she and I went out to Radio Shack and Target for supplies for him. After I got home, I got dinner started and went to yet another Radio Shack. Dinner was chicken cacciotore, yum. I made cinnamon rolls and lemon cake, because it's hard to cook for her long-distance. Kay got sent to bed for insubordination and exhaustion, but Baz stayed up and watched 5th Element with the grown-ups. He liked it, yay. I liked it too. I mean, I've seen it many times, but I still enjoy it.
This morning, I took LT to the airport.