Festivities

September is the month of ALL THE THINGS.  Seriously, this city is making sure that the summer festival season goes out with a bang.  We've got at least two festivals on the calendar each weekend all month, most of them long-standing favorites that we don't want to miss...
This weekend was certainly no exception, with no less than three festivals, celebrating everything from chalk to old-time craftmanship to cultural diversity.  Add to that a 5K race yesterday and an overnight for the kids at Grandma's last night, and we are all wishing we had another day this weekend-- to rest up!

Here is an exhausting number of pictures for you.

Wednesday-- a mom-and-kids trip to the Museum.  We had the place to ourselves, which was pretty magical.  This neat exhibit is full of hideaways and secret nooks and the sounds of a marsh.

Friday night-- pizza, video games and lots of dolls with some new friends and their four little girls.
It was neat to see Ivy's room in full, girly use.  And she and Evelyn had quite the drama going with all of the Polly Pocket dolls-- thus excusing the unholy mess they made of the playroom.

 Saturday-- a cloudy day turned glorious.  A morning run with friend Chaya, who was running her first -ever 5K.  It was rewarding to run with her and help her pace her way to a time 4 minutes below her goal.

Then, off with the family to the Chalk Festival.  It was a lot like the Kite festival, only with chalk.  Laid back, scenic as can be, and no one trying to sell us anything. A perfect way to enjoy the warming weather for a few hours.

We bought  square to decorate as a family, for the first time. It was fun to participate in the festivities as more than just an onlooker.

 Saturday night-- out with the girls!  I've been having a great time getting to know this tremendous set of fellow mamas, who all work hard to get together as a group, and commit to trying new things and making events happen.  This time, we tried our hand at glass blowing.  Not my thing, it turns out, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.  And those nerve wracking moments holding thousand-degree metal objects were all worth it for the feast we had at Siam Cafe afterwards.

Sunday-- Village Peddler Festival at Lake Farmpark.  Man, people really love them some crafts.   You wouldn't believe the line to park at this thing...
We did look at a number of booths and even purchased a few handcrafted items-- but the highlights for our group were the things that had nothing to do with this particular festival: piglets and the corn maze.

On the way home-- once more with feeling!  We stopped at the Cultural Gardens to check out the One World Festival.  Which was huge and full of booths of ethnic food that smelled incredible. It was both convenient and tragic that we'd already spent all of  our cash.  Best part of this one?  Kids scooting in the street, and the sunny-perfect day filtering down the hill.  And the gobs of people who really did look all multi-cultural, ethnic garb and all, wandering the usually deserted garden paths.

Currently slogging through another week and looking forward to another chock-full weekend to come.  Until then...