We had a lovely, summery weekend. Aunt Darrah and Uncle Jason were here, which was a nice treat. Yesterday, D & J came with us for swimming lessons, and in the afternoon, everyone minus Mommy went to get Daddy's hair cut and then out to Alexandria to try out a custard place that the Obamas visited a few weeks ago. Last night we had a nice dinner outside on the deck and D & J read books to the girls.

Today, Daddy made a pancake feast in the morning, and then we went swimming with our friend Catherine and her daughter Julia out in Bethesda. It was a beautiful, sunny, dry day. M & A were wiped out this afternoon, and sat and watched The Sound of Music for a few hours before dinner.

M & A had so much fun with D & J and were very sad to see them go (as were Daddy and me).

Tomorrow kicks off the last week of camp, and our last week in town before we leave for our European adventure next Sunday. Daddy leaves for Pakistan/Afghanistan early tomorrow morning, and we are wishing him a very safe trip. He will return to DC the morning that we leave for Paris, assuming all the connections go smoothly!

One funny story: M has been saying for a while that she wants to spend the $10 she got from the Tooth Fairy for a tie-dye kit just like the one I bought for her friend Sydney's birthday this weekend. She asked me yesterday if we could go buy the tie-dye kit today. So on the way home from the pool, we stopped at the toy store. Two problems: 1) we didn't have the $10 with us that she received from the Tooth Fairy; and 2) the store was out of the tie-dye kit. M did find a peel-and-stick jewelry box that looked very tempting. So I said she had two options – either we could buy the jewelry box for Sydney and M could keep the tie-dye kit, or we could buy the jewelry box for M and give the tie-dye kit to Sydney as planned. Either way, M would give me the $10 when we got home, to (mostly) cover whatever we bought today.

M thought hard about it and decided she wanted to keep the jewelry box and give the tie-dye kit to Sydney as promised. She also overheard the person at the toy store tell me that the tie-dye kit will be back in stock soon, and that I can call to ask when to expect it. Then we got home and she immediately opened and started working on the jewelry box.

Before bed, I found the $10 and told M that I was going to take it, hoping that this would complete the lesson about spending your money on something you want. M was like, "What? Why are you taking this money? I want to use it for a tie-dye kit, and you're supposed to call and find out when it's coming in." I tried to explain that she had substituted the jewelry box for the tie-dye kit, and that Mommy had paid for it already, but she was just not getting the concept of owing money to someone other than the store.

So… Mommy loses out on another $10.