Festival 2011: "Festibal!"

The first weekend in June is the glorious weekend known over here in Grand Rapids as Festival weekend!  (But Baylor, rather adorably, calls it "festibal".) I look forward to it every year, and this year was no different.  I mean yes, I had a lot more packing to do to get the four of us ready to go (especially since we headed up to my father-in-law's man cabin afterwards), but it was still very fun.  And, as an added bonus, we had incredible weather this year!  Ah woo hoo!

Mollie got all dolled up in her super-cool shades.




Baylor got to help Daddy at the screen printing station.  Both kids got t-shirts courtesy of my mother-in-law, an awesome souvenir they'll have for years to come.

It was super hot and pretty uncomfortable when the wind wasn't blowing, so we made sure to keep the kids well-hydrated.  Here they are waiting while Bryson got the pierogis.

Once Bryson set them down, Baylor went straight for the fork and speared one!  Quite a bold move for the little man, I must say.

Of course, having just come off the grill, it was still way too hot to eat, so he put it in Daddy's basket to cool down.

After we finished the delicious pierogis, we went through the art tents, then my husband spotted a food booth he wanted to try out.  Unfortunately, they weren't quite ready, so Bryson helped me get the kids situated to listen to music being performed at the Calder Stage and he went back to wait for the food.  We got to hear an accordion band play, which was pretty awesome and, luckily, not too loud.

After Bryson got a little Somalian food, we went looking for something for me.  I ended up getting some chicken on a stick ... very flavorful.  While I ate, the kids rehydrated and traded water bottles for some added fun.

Mollie decided to be a little silly and flung her legs over the front bar of her stroller.  She got a few looks, but it was adorable.  You can only get away with that kind of stuff when you're little, right?

And then there were the clocks.  Oh, the clocks!  Baylor noticed a clock on the side of a building and watched it move a bit.  Then I told him it would make noise at the hour, so we listened but didn't hear anything.  It was about then that I realized the clock that chimes every fifteen minutes was down by city hall, so when we went back down there to feed the kids lunch he got to hear it.  He has been talking about it nonstop ever since and loves to ask me to "sing" the song it chimes at 11 o'clock.

Mollie, of course, is interested in everything her brother is interested in, at least to a small degree.

As usual, Festival was a lot of fun.  The weather was hot, but at least it wasn't raining!  We already can't wait for next year!