I couldn't be more proud of Zoe's selection for a costume this year, and of Jen's amazing talent to make it happen. Zoe has a little known book called The Paper Bag Princess (only one person that I know of recognized her, and knew of the story). It is a story of a dragon that burns down a castle and takes the prince away with it. Well along with the castle the princesses clothes and possessions are burned up too, so she is left with a paper bag and a sad looking crown. She decided to go rescue the prince, and does so by outsmarting the dragon.
When she gets to the prince, he tells her, "Elizabeth, you are a mess! You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess." to which she replies, "Ronald, your clothes are really pretty and your hair is very neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum." and they didn't get married after all. THE END.
I like what she chooses to emulate, I pray it continues.
...and of course, we needed a dragon...
Jen and her mom are quite the seamstresses, don't you think?
15 hours in the car with two dogs and the girls proved worthwhile as we've been enjoying plenty of time with most of our family (my brother and his wife were unable to make the trip). We took the girls to the Museum of American History, went ice skating on the National Mall (my dad broke his ulna, and I dropped Addie on her face...but aside from that it was plenty fun), have cooked eggplant parmesian for the family and showed them what we've learned about making spanish black beans. A few hundred games of 'Bananagrams' to top it off and some visits from old friends have made this a great trip that isn't over yet. I'd like to spend some more time here as an adult as I realize how many opportunities to learn about our nation were squandered in my childhood. Our history is less than 300 years old, yet I know so little about it. Jen and I went on a date to the Natural History Museum and I realized how little I know about science, and Jen was more than happy to point out how much of 'science' we accept as fact...I found it disturbing when little signs refudiated what the big signs said due to 'new discoveries'. We're taught a lot of facts that are just waiting for a small discovery to correct them. Jen says that a whole exhibit on the evolution of horses (from tiny to today's size over a 40 million year time period) has been widely accepted as being disproven, yet the exhibit remains unchanged...she tried to engage the lady behind the information desk in a debate, but she didn't want to fight. Also disturbing is that only one Neanderthal exists, and although it is widely believed that they were hunchbacked, they now say that the specimen was just arthritic like our old people and that they were actually upright. I don't know what a lot of it means, but I'm less impressed by 'science' and the certainty with which we're presented conjectures based on minimal evidence. Hmmm, maybe I'll study American history and leave the sciences to Jen. Well, this has turned into a rambling blog. 
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