How I spent my summer vacation, by Leah Hamilton

To think, I actually wondered how we were going to fill all those hours before Extended School Year starts in July. I should have realized my daughter would take initiative:

Here is what greeted me Thursday morning (along with a pile of hair on the floor, which I wasn't in the mood to photograph before I made Leah sweep it up -- later I regretted not documenting that particular sight):


(Note that she looks quite pleased with herself.)

I have no desire to relive (or even look at too many pictures of) my 80s mullet days, much less view one on my daughter's head. Not to mention the fact that her technique needs a little work. To wit:


But maybe I suffer from a lack of vision. Maybe one day the mullet will cross with the choppy/uneven styles that were popular sometime during my 20s, and Leah will style the next Jennifer Aniston and be richer than all of us. At the moment, I'm not ready for Leah's aesthetic, and my guess is the rest of the world isn't there either. So off we went to Pigtails and Crewcuts in Annapolis. Fortunately, they seemed quite unfazed by Leah's, ahem, talents.

(It's also worth noting that Leah looks quite diabolical when she says 'cheese.')

This was our first experience with Pigtails and Crewcuts. They had done a fundraiser for our local early childhood intervention parent group, so I thought they might be receptive to our brand of quirkiness. They were great. And since Maddie has rediscovered her obsession with taking pictures, the visit was well documented.

Maddie managed to include herself in a shot of the stylist fixing Leah's hair:

Lauren and Maddie both liked the colorful array of hair ornaments. We invested in a headband to hide some of the bits that need to grow a little.

And once Lauren and Maddie saw the fire engine, police officer, and airplane chairs, and realized "Bolt" was playing on the flat screens, they decided they needed trims too.

I give Pigtails and Crewcuts full credit: They managed to clean up Leah's hair pretty well without hacking it all off, which I was afraid we were going to have to do.

(Note the diabolical 'cheese' face again. America's Most Wanted would have a field day.)


A close inspection of Leah's hair probably still is not a good idea. But the salvage job was impressive overall. In addition to delivering a 'you do not cut hair' lecture, I tried to explain the concept of 'trained professional' to all three.

Like the eggs before them, the scissors have been stashed in a secret location.