Stone's Trace

Today we all went to Stone's Trace for the afternoon. This is an annual festival celebrating pioneers/early settlers. Basically people dress up in period costumes, shoot off rifles, make authentic crafts, and cook greasy food over open fires. Our MOPS group makes money by taking care of the trash pick-up. Each mom takes a two hour time slot, and if she is lucky (as I am), her husband does the trash part and the whole family gets in free.Enjoying ice cream (not sure the early pioneers had sugar cones and ice cream in plastic buckets, but it was sold out of an old building by people in period costumes, so it made the cut)
Ada hung out the whole afternoon in her stroller attempting, mainly unsuccessfully, to take a nap.
The man of the hour--our free ticket to Stone's Trace, a great trash picker-upper, a great dad, and one good looking guy. 
Checking out the goats.
The hay maze...

Watching a puppet show, which Cambel and the rest of the kids found highly entertaining. 

Kevin and Cambel perusing the knives-- which incidentally are the real reason that Kevin is so helpful with the whole trash thing. Apparently it is a requirement of masculinity to like large knives and to want to acquire one for yourself, whether or not you really need one. Last year Kevin bought a large knife encased in a leather holder. While discussing with me his desire to buy the knife, he said it was a great price (he shops for knives enough to know when he sees a good deal?). I asked what on earth he needed it for, and he confidently replied "to cut things with." (How could I have been so ignorant?) On a side note, the knife purchase has been helpful, although not for defense purposes or for building shelters or for skinning animals, as I am sure they were used by the pioneer people, but for cutting carpet remnants into car mats (and to explain this would really be getting away from the whole Stone's Trace topic). 
Cambel examining the wooden swords. I had the idea when Cambel was younger that we should not give him weapons as toys. Stone's Trace put an end to that peaceful idea. Kevin bought him a wooden sword last year and this year Cambel came home with a wooden pistol. Due to a minor attitude issue over whether we should buy the plain pistol or the one that shot rubberbands, which was more expensive, Cambel almost came home with nothing. But some serious talking, a subsequent attitude adjustment on the part of our young son, and a general feeling that every young boy should own a replica of a weapon that is used only for harm won Cambel a small wooden pistol that I am sure will be the topic of many a conversation on the importance of not pretending to shoot living beings.