OCF

After we left the Rainbow Gathering, we drove the 4 hours back to Bend, picked up the van, returned the rental car, did a load of laundry, restocked the cooler and drove another 4 hours to Eugene.  We were headed to spend the weekend at the Oregon Country Fair.  By the time our tent was set up in the Fair campground and we finally collapsed on our sleeping mats, it was midnight.

The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) did not disappoint!

So much art, music, food.  We tried to walk and see everything on the first day and found that to be pretty impossible!  The next two days were spent at a slower pace exploring more nooks and crannies of the property and meeting up with friends to see music.

 Blossom loved all of it!  She was pulled around in the wagon since the crowds could get pretty intense at times, and I wanted to keep her close.  This saved all her energy for climbing tree houses, dancing and finding special treats like a live action video game!

We really loved this festival and can't wait to come back another year!

Party Time! (aka Magnaball Trip Part 4)

Van is packed up with freshly laundered clothes, plenty of food and well rested family.  We head southeast through the Finger Lakes to the town of Watkin's Glen and check in to Phish's 10th Festival, Magnaball!
First order of business is setting up camp ... but oh it's so rainy and windy and dreary!

We were in Family Camping, and there was plenty of camaraderie as parents helped each other stake things against the wind and set up the essentials.  Once the basics were out, everyone pretty much hid out in their cars.  ZB played Cinderella as we waiting for the bad weather to blow over.

And by the next morning, it was dry and sunny and stayed that way the whole weekend!  It was so fun to see how the Phish festivals have evolved with the crowd.  I have been seeing this band for 20 years now.  I have been to one other festival, 17 years ago in Maine.  It was NOT kid-friendly.  It was a huge crowd of 20-ish-year olds having a blast, for sure.  But now, so many of us have grown up and started families, and LOTS of folks are bringing their kids to shows, so there are lots of community-made activities and support for the youngins.

On Friday morning, we trekked to another campground where a fairy-wing vendor was hosting a Fairy Tea Party for the kids.  So sweet!

We met lots of other little girls, who all became fast friends, sipped on pink lemonade and had animal crackers together.

We met up with some of our best friends from Asheville and their 12yo son.  The boys were immediately in search of, and found, a Phish-themed Rubik's cube that kept them occupied a good part of the weekend.

And the music, oh the music!  There were two sets on Friday night, one set on Saturday afternoon, two that night, and a "secret set" late night, then another 2 sets on Sunday night, followed by an amazing fireworks show!  ZB slept through a lot of the music, as she generally goes to bed when it gets dark, and that was fine.  It's certainly easier for me to not have to constantly look out for a wandering a 4 year old.  She did have a blast at the Saturday afternoon set where she could dance and play for the whole thing.

The Secret Set was not formally announced, but was heavily rumored among fans.  There was a big screen on one side of the field that had spacey images on it, and around 1:00 am, the band hid behind the screen and played a fully improvised hour of music.

The fun kid stuff lasted the whole weekend.  There was a promotion from a guy who makes Phish and Grateful Dead band members from Lego minifigures.  He was giving away some of them to kids that made lego signs and walked to the vendor tent where we was set up. 

Phish not only delivered with fantastic music all weekend, they made a genuinely fun festival field.  There was a science laboratory, a marching band that would make sporadic appearance, stilt walkers, a mirror maze, lots of creative art installations, and of course the ferris wheel that goes to all their festivals.

We had SO much fun!  ZB and I shed a few tears when it was time to leave.  I still don't have the heart to take off my wristband!  As Phish sings, "This has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way..."

to be continued ...

B-Boyz

My kids rock! They've both been working so hard at the breakdance classes at the YMCA each week. Here they are showing off their moves at the YMCA Healthy Kids Day festival in downtown Asheville this weekend.

Fall LEAF'in

BRRRR!!! I now remember why we stopped camping at the Fall LEAF. It's COLD! At least I remembered to bring enough warm clothes... we also snuggled under down comforters, so it wasn't too miserable...
And ZB in all those layers looked pretty darn cute!
Tents covered in frost, in the morning...
With nights like those, we were happy to crowd around the fire in the morning with the other campers in our group. Could we *be* any closer to the fire??


I didn't sleep well at all the first night, the rest of the family slept fine; I just kept worrying someone would wake up too cold! So, we actually slept at home on the second night and returned Sunday warm and rested :)

The line-up this Fall was great! Usually LEAF draws lots of great bands and entertainers from all over the world, and usually I have only heard of one, maybe 2 of them. This year, I actually did know quite a few of the bands! We were excited to see and hear The Mighty Diamonds, Galactic, Toubab Krewe, 7 Walkers, Leo Kottke and Sweet Honey In The Rock!!

Here's a pic of Leo Kottke performing - he's such a great entertainer, I love that dry humor and story-telling intro to his songs

Sweet Honey in the Rock was also amazing!! I've never seen them live, and we LOVED them! They played very last on Sunday - what a great performance to leave for home with :)
The wonderful thing about LEAF is that it isn't just about the bands! For kids, there's a huge Kid's Village and plenty of room to run. For the whole family, there's classes going on all day, impromtu performances, a parade, a dance hall and so much more... can you tell I LOVE this festival?
On Saturday, I went to a hula-hooping class led by the Asheville Hoops... pretty fun! And ZB had a good time crawling around until she wore herself right out and slept under the hoopers...

At one point on Sunday, music started randomly blaring, and these teenagers did a coreo-graphed dance right in the pathway...

I could go on and on, but you've really got to check this festival out in person, if you are in the area. It happens every Spring and Fall (though I think I'll stick to day passes in the Fall from now on, and keep camping to the warm Spring!) Their website is http://www.theleaf.org

See you there!

Firefly

This weekend we went on our first camping trip as a family! Blossom's first ever :) There is a primitive skills gathering out in the woods near Hendersonville, NC each Summer called Firefly Gathering. There were tons of classes offered and so many each of us wanted to take. As it turned out, we went to some we wanted and helped the boys in some of theirs and decided next year to go for a longer time (it's offered for 4 days) so we can get more class time in.

Blossom at the campsite, with the neighbor campers' kitten coming for a visit:
Slingshot and other Projectiles class:
Swimming time!
Clay and his buddy on their way to Snakes class:
He knows how to make the girl smile :)

Reed and his pal making tulip poplar whistles:
Soaking the poplar:
Blossom had a great time on her first camp-out! Not surprisingly, lots of friendly folks wanted to hold her during classes so I could get more involved - which was great - we also went to classes on critter processing, mead-making, bamboo cup making and home orchards. We had a great time with the drummers and dancers at night around the campfire as well!

Thank you Firefly folks! We'll be happy to see you again next Summer!

Spring LEAF 2010

Another LEAF has come and gone. This one was definitely my least productive yet :) This is the Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, NC. We filled our days blowing bubbles, drinking homebrew, catching up with friends and enjoying the scenery...
My lovely friend Deb and I bought new earrings from Sonja's booth:
Got good and sunburned hanging with the youngins while they sold their handmade crafties in the Kids Village "Kids Market" area:
The bazaar style Kids Market:
Kids Village this year was moved to a different spot of the festival grounds, which was a longer walk, but did provide for the tennis courts, which is where Clay (here showing pogo sticks tricks with a new friend) preferred to spend most of his LEAF time:
We camp right above this jam tent, which is wonderful to stroll down the hill from camp and hang out at:
Reed and I did the zip-line one day, which was a first for both of us, but SO fun! You have to jump off the side of a mountain, sail over a main walking path, and land in the lake :)
LEAF parade on Saturday:

Rock-climbing wall has been opened up this year - it's Sweet! Reed is on the left:
Clay getting geared up:
Probably my favorite thing about LEAF is that there is so much to see and do, this is just on the side of the path:
and the Zumba class we could see from our camp site (which I really had wanted to go to, but at this point had too much food and drink in me to be motivated)
Our friend Leah with Reed running by some vendors to get to a fire show:
LED hula hoops - I *need* one!!
Fire spinners, shot with the "fireworks" setting on my camera:
You can volunteer, as I do every year and get in for free (I usually do set-up, but this year did clean-up for a day, you can also do shifts during the festival). There will be another LEAF in October - hope to see you there!

All Go West

Saturday started out pretty sunny, got some nearly-too-pretty-to-crack-open eggs from a friend

and admired the random selection of sprouts soaking up sun (peanuts and baby corn, anyone?)

We headed to West Asheville for the All Go West Fest, that ended up getting rained out and relocated to neighborhood indoor venues. But the kids had some fun in the rain!
Extreme Hopskotch:
Walked through one of the coolest public gardens in Asheville




Even rainy weather is fun to play in... I did feel bad for this band. It's Brushfire Stankgrass, they were pretty rockin. Unfortunately, most people left from the rain.
Can't wait for more festivals and trips that warm weather will bring. LEAF is in only a couple weeks!!! Hope everyone's enjoying Spring...
Love ~ Julie