Maeve and Lilly

Maeve: Lilly, in 10 years, you’ll be 20. [editorial aside: wait... what?!?!]
Lilly: Nice observation Maeve. (said a bit snarkily)
Maeve: That’s not an observation. That’s MATH!

Lilly began bugging me early about doing a lemonade stand this morning. I really didn’t want to be bothered and kept putting her off. She was very persistent and quickly enlisted her sister as a business partner and nuisance-in-arms. When they made motions to cut open the lemon from the fruit basket, I gave in.

“OK. But you guys are going to have to do it yourselves and put up your own money.” They quickly agreed. I figured this would be a valuable lesson about not thinking a business plan through. (Selling lemonade in a semi-rural area on a road with no sidewalks and a speed limit of 40 mph?!?)

Off we went to Pick’n'Save for cups and lemonade mix (total cost $6). I got them started and helped put signs on either side of the road to entice approaching traffic. Right away they started flagging people down and most of their customers paid double their 50-cent price. An ambulance crew even stopped, turned on their lights and bought three cups for $5.

At the end of the day after backing out their change and their expenses, the little stinkers ended up making a profit of $16.60. The age-old marketing lesson that was reinforced (for me at least) was that cute girls can sell anything. Hopefully the girls learned something more pragmatic and less demeaning. The planning ahead and thinking through details was great but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the $$ in their eyes. How I hope I haven’t just created another generation of capitalists.

I drove to Toledo with the girls and meet Nanny and Grampy at exit 52 off the Ohio Turnpike. The girls then spent three glorious weeks in Canandaigua with their cousins, first Ethan and Aidan, and then Liam. There was lots of boating, swimming, ice cream, amusement parks, shopping, and quality time with Nanny and Grampy. They were a bit homesick, but I think the fun and excitement far outweighed it. Three weeks later I, the Fords, and the girls did the trip in reverse, again driving 850 miles in 14 hours. Whew. It was good to have them home again, just in time for school.

Maeve was wearing a bunch of bracelets this morning and I casually made some reference to Madonna. Who? they asked. I grabbed the first self-titled CD (yes, I have it on vinyl too — call it a guilty pleasure). Of course they wanted to hear it. We’ve all been singing “Lucky Star” at the top of our lungs.

Photos from the train journey to New York and back are now up. Marvel at the beauty of the girls and giggle and the antics with their baby cousin Adrianna.

At left, Maeve in the Rochester station with a freight train hurtling by outside.