Village of Peddlers

We spent most of yesterday at Peddler's Village in Lahaska (though Athennia, Riley, and I got some swim time in beforehand). We met Kelly, Steve, and Olivia at their house and we drove up in separate cars but together.

Obviously, we browsed the shops for the most part—which isn't exactly riveting to write about; so, I'll just stick to some choice highlights...

Riley tried a sample of Carolina Reaper hot sauce (1.6 million Scovilles) at Inferno and barely reacted to it. (So, now I know she's been a robot all along.)

We pigged out on soft pretzels and blueberry fritters, fudge from Skip's Candy Corner, and gourmet popcorn from Clusters.

This pond was a thing...

Riley had a blast in Journeys (what I called the "witchcraft store") and the Cloak and Wand fantasy shop... (Luckily, she's beyond mature enough to understand that Athennia and I couldn't buy her every single thing from both stores, and she was thrilled with the few things she was able to get!)

We saw some beautiful honeybee paintings at Creative Corners. I did some fishing to see whether any of them were an ideal candidate as a gift for Athennia's birthday (coming up in the fall); but, she was reluctant to commit without knowing what our decor scheme might look like when we get a place together. So, I settled on a couple of bee-themed coaster-dish-thingies instead: one for her kitchen sink for when she takes her ring off to wash dishes, and one for her nightstand in my bedroom when she takes her ring off to sleep :)

And finally... small world! We ran into Kelly's third-grade teacher Mr. Karamis (the first male teacher she'd ever had, for the school year immediately following our father's death).

He said he remembered that year because it had been his first year teaching—which of course means that it was his "first day on the job" (in a sense) when our mom pulled him aside to explain that her daughter had recently lost her dad, and was apprehensive about having a man for a teacher, but at the same time might need some tender loving care, and could he please do his best to look out for her.

It was sort of surreal in my late 30s to imagine hitting an early-20-something with a request like that on the first real day of his career. But, it was nice to chat with him as a peer instead of as the 11-year-old kid I was the last time I'd seen him, and I was glad to be able to thank him for his (obviously substantial) part in helping our family through that year.

Getting back to the Village, we had all got some decent sunburn by the time we were ready to leave; so, after sundown, we swam for a bit at my parents' and grabbed a pizza and some zeppoli from Schiano's just down the street.

Apparently, Athennia and Riley both got some pretty decent food poisoning later that night when they got back to Athennia's apartment... which is weird, since I ate all the same things they did throughout the entire day, and I was fine.

They're okay today. But, apparently, I'm marrying a family of lightweights!