Akiva takes out ‘ye ol’ pogo stick. In order to prevent the exposed spring from tearing up his shorts and shirt, as it did two years ago, (damage not pictured in link) and possibly preventing him from having children later in life, I taped some water pipe insulation over the offending part.

SPRINK-SPRANK-SPRINK-SPRANK

SPRINK-SPRANK-SPRINK-SPRANK!

SPRINK-SPRANK-SPRINK-SPRANK

SPRINK-SPRANK-SPRINK-SPRANK!

Akiva is naturally trop cool.

When we arrive home, Gramps is pulling weeds. My impression of his weed pulling technique is that he really liked it when he was young and strong and dug up the big root balls left by adult trees cut down in the yard. He left giant craters reminiscent of meteorite impacts, which was to be expected from the size of the root. In theory, weed-pulling should not leave meteorite-sized craters. In actuality, when Dad pulls weeds, the yard appears to have been bombarded with debris from outer space.

Mom brought us to the Sterling Renaissance Faire & rented costumes for the children. When I worked there in the mid-1990s, all the workers were required to speak in funny accents and stay in Elizabethan-esque character the entire time. It was good fun! No anachronistic acts were allowed.

That is not how it is now. I asked some people who said they were old-time Ren-Fans, & they said the fair had always been this way— but that’s impossible! I asked if they knew anyone who’d been working here for over 30 years, & they pointed me to and old man slouched over a gaming table. I told him what I remembered and asked when it changed. “When it stopped being important to the owners,” he said. “Sometime in the 90s.”

“The original owners sold it?” I asked, & he nodded. He had nothing else to say.

My children, putting on some nice faces—

My children. Still nice faces. Expressions are a bit silly, tho.