Down on the farm

We have been hitting the farm circuit lately -- strawberry picking, blueberry picking, flower picking, even some cow milking. A highlight was visiting Spiral Path Farm in Pennsylvania, where our weekly farm share food comes from.

 

Like Little Sal with her bucket of blueberries

 Picking flowers for Mommy

Old-fashioned tree swing at Spiral Path

Sacred ground

Hershey was a pretty easy sell for the kids. Gettysburg? A bit harder. But Daddy's an historian, and that means most vacations involve a national park or historical site of some kind. Gettyburg involves some tough subjects -- slavery, war, death -- but it also teaches about courage, hope, and freedom. The girls have been reading a lot about Abraham Lincoln (we went to Ford's Theater last week and of course he runs in the President's Race at the Nationals games), and they appreciate that he was an important person whom we should respect and study, even though they obviously don't understand the full context of what he did or why.

 Explaining the tactics

With Abe (and the sun!)

One more chocolate picture

This was too funny to resist -- Robin worshiping at the holy grail of chocolate.

Chocolate overload

After three days of camp food, we splurged on chocolate in Hershey, PA. Yes, it's a tourist trap. Yes, it's junk food. But Milton Hershey was an incredible man who left a tremendous legacy in the Hershey School and, of course, the girls (and Daddy!) love chocolate.  The highlight was getting to design and make our very own chocolate bars.

 Hey, who's downing my frozen cocoa?!

Team Asch ready for chocolate innovation

 Cutest factory workers ever?

 Waiting for her master creation...

Camp Harlam

Mommy got a gig doing rabbinical work at Camp Harlam for a few days, so we packed up the minivan and took off for Kunkletown, PA. The girls had a blast at "Camp K'ton," where there were about two teenage counselors for every kid under six. They even got to swim in the lake!

 Robin & Mommy enjoy services in the woods

The girls read with Daddy before bedtime 

(Why is Miri wearing PJs on her head? If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand...)

Fireworks

We love the 4th of July! This year was Robin's first time getting to stay up for fireworks, so she was excited all day. By 9:30pm, it had cooled to 93 degrees, and we joined about 10,000 of our Takoma Park neighbors for the hottest, loudest, brightest, longest fireworks display ever (though not quite as crazy as what Cousin Chase and Cousin Brynn had in San Diego). Robin thought it was a bit much...