Today was the day of the Annual Deer Run Yard Sale! If you asked me yesterday morning if we were going to participate in our neighborhood's sale, I would have said, "No way." But in true Amy Zinkhon-style (you know, that last-minute style that makes my dear husband CRAZY!), I decided mid-afternoon Friday to have our things out bright and early Saturday morning. I dropped Elizabeth at school, worked at the Recreation Center for a few hours, and then came home to a house full of kiddos - we were watching a friend's kiddos so they could go out for their anniversary. Now it may sound like we are crazy for having extra kids on the night we are trying to get ready for a yard sale, but it couldn't be further from truth. The girls were both able to play with friends while we got things in some kind of order. I had been putting things into a "yard sale" pile as I unpacked from our big move to Japan (ha!), so we didn't have to search here and there for things. This made it waaaay easier to set-up. A quick run to my friend Jessica's house last night to get another banquet table and we were ready to go.
After a long week, we all headed to bed early on Friday, so it was up at 6am (okay...it was really more like 7am) this morning to get things ready. Our neighbors were out getting ready for their sale, too, so at least we were in good company as we tried to make our "treasures" with missing pieces and big scratches look good enough to buy.
Normally the girls have lemonade and chocolate chips to sell during the Sale, but with our late-entry, I was not about to stay up until midnight baking cookies. Okay...okay...normally I would have done that, but, like I said, it was a long week and I wanted sleep way more than I wanted the girls to have fresh baked cookies to sell to total strangers. Long story shortish, we ended up with a coffee stand in place of the lemonade stand. Now this might not sound like a good idea, but this is not Illinois. We don't have 80 degree weather here in June. This morning, it was closer to 55 degrees and cloudy, so a a coffee stand was a perfect fit.
Grace set up her stand complete with to-go cups, half and half, and sugar. Her best friend, Michael, who lives right next door, had his cupcake stand running bright and early, too! A lot of their customers asked if they planned to have one stand offer drinks and one stand to offer a treat because it seemed like the perfect set-up...a drink and a treat...hard to pass that up when you are out looking to for deals bright and early!
Our things we had put out for the yard sale sold slowly throughout the morning. We got rid of a lamp that we have been dragging around for about 10 years and the bicycle that Elizabeth finally outgrew this Spring. The kids lost interest after their second pot of coffee was emptied. Not because the customers stopped, but because all of the neighborhood kids came out and they wanted to play. (Let me just quickly add in here that our neighborhood is awesome! There are always kids to play with and they all get along so well). They all had fun eating cupcakes and buying/selling things from another.
After hanging around our yard for a while, Grace and Elizabeth took off with another family to check out the other sales on the Loop. An hour later, they came back with some new stuffed animals (because we just don't have enough already) and bellies full of lemonade from a stand they found along the way. Around noon, we were done with the Sale. Elizabeth then zoomed off to a friend's cupcake-themed birthday party while the rest of us quickly cleaned up.
Forward two hours: we picked Elizabeth up and all headed over to the Poulsbo Library to sign the girls up for the Summer Reading Program. For every 15 minutes that they read from today through August, they color in a star on their reading sheet. If they have 10 hours at the end of the Summer, they get a free ticket to the Kitsap County Fair and a book. It may not seem like exciting prizes, but they are both bound and determined to get those free tickets! Grace has lost some interest in reading this year, so we made sure to pick some books off of the "Suggested Books for 4th Graders" list. She was not excited by the titles that we chose, and I do mean not excited at all, but hopefully she will take to at least one of them. Elizabeth, on the other hand, can never get enough books when we go to the Library. We kind of have to cut her off at a certain point - usually when the bag is too heavy to carry.
After the Library, we went to the theatre to see Madagascar 3. We all love this series of movies and had been anxiously waiting for it to be released. It did not disappoint! It was funny, very colorful, and had a great catchy tune that Marty the Zebra sang that no one can seem to get out of their head: Da da da da da da da Afro....da da da da da da da Circus...Afro Circus..Afro Circus...Polka Dot...Polka Dot...Polka Dot Afro! Here's to hoping there is a Madagascar 4!!!!
Tired and full of popcorn, we headed home. It was another long, but fun-filled day at the Zinkhon's.
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