Keeping Up With the Hendricks: Granny's Visit and the Bergton Fair

So, as mentioned in the last post, Granny came to visit us for a couple of days. The stated purpose of her trip was to go on the annual yard crawl mega-yardsale with Charles on Saturday. This is a humongous string of yard sales stretching along Rt. 11 from New Market to Winchester. Last year they made it from Timberville to just past Woodstock. This year they had a rainy morning and were able to progress farther, making it all the way to Strasburg by mid-afternoon. Charles came home with a shelf for the basement (he bought one on last year's yard crawl too), some tools, and superhero action figures for the girls to play with. Lately they've been into watching Justice League and enjoying the various superheroes, so they've been playing with these new toys in the last few days.

While they were yard crawling, the girls and I went blackberry picking at the mountain with Grandma and Grandpa. We waited for the rain to pass before going. When we first arrived it was still drizzling and cloudy, which was perfect picking weather. Within an hour the sun had come out and made it incredibly humid and uncomfortable, especially given that we were wearing jeans and warmer clothes. When we returned home, a dip in the pool felt good for cooling and cleaning off. We picked about 3 gallons worth of good blackberries. I froze two gallons, and Grandma kept the rest. These will be good for enjoying throughout the fall and winter, in yogurt or in pies. Yum!

On Friday we took Granny on some local shopping trips. We needed groceries from Food Lion, but also stopped by the local peach stand, went to an apple orchard for apples, and acquainted her with the local Family Dollar. I spent the rest of that day processing food that Charles had harvested from the garden while we were in North Carolina.

And that night, we went to the Bergton Fair... the event we look forward to all year long. Rides were not yet open when we first arrived, so Charles and Sophie had their fried chicken plates with fries and white bread. (Hannah and I had eaten at home before leaving, as had Granny.) We sat under the shelter and played BINGO for 25 cents a card or 50 cents for three cards. We didn't win. Granny and the girls got some popcorn, and by then it was time to purchase arm bands and start riding rides. We noticed that the girls have outgrown some of the rides here, as they were wanting to do bigger and faster ones this year. For the most part, they were tall enough to do this on their own. They could even do the Scrambler, which Sophie was up for (but Hannah was not, so they didn't do that one). And as always, we finished up with ice cream.

Unfortunately, Sophie got sick on the way home... most likely a factor of greasy food, fast rides, and reading her Smoky the Bear comic while driving. We were all piled in Chris' truck that we're trying to sell, but we were able to contain most of the mess and wash it well once we got home. No lingering vomit smell, yay!

Here are the photos from the fair: