Arts Fest.

We finally made it to central PA for Arts Fest. The last time that I went was three years ago and I carried Maria around in a backpack. (See hiking pictures below... I'm too lazy to link it.)

This year I had the girls in the double stroller. It was an entirely different experience trying to see things with the girls. We arrived later than I had hoped. Then we stopped for five minutes or so watching a real balloon animal maker person (those of you who were at Jim's party know what I mean), while putting sunscreen on the girls. Ya, poor planning. I should have done that on the bus from the parking lot.

It was hard to get Maria past the kid fountains. But a promise to come back to them made her quiet down. Then we got in line for lunch...and after a minute in line, back out to find a restroom for Maria. After 15 minutes, back in line for lunch. Then 15 minutes or so of eating, after a minute of whining about having chicken fingers (that she'd asked for) instead of the hot dog (that she'd said she didn't want).

We just made it to the library, where they were doing kids art and got the third to last piece of paper, which Maria and Amelia had to share. After some fun painting, the girls played with the Brio trains for about 30 minutes. Finally I bribed them to leave with promises of seeing "sand castles." A poor choice of words, since this is what was really going on:

So finally we got to see the artists' booths. But it was more of a buzz by and I didn't buy anything. I'd really wanted to bit up some more interesting pottery, but a nearly incessant whining prevented me from looking at anything for more than a few seconds.

By the time we'd made it to the sand sculptures, the girls had each had a cupcake, each had gotten a free balloon and Maria had released all the helium from her balloon, nearly throwing herself into the street in despair (at least the streets were closed). At the sculptures, Maria tried to be happy just looking at the sand (she really wanted to play in it) and Amelia ran in circles screeching at anyone who came near. It was way past naptime at this point.

Finally we headed back to the fountains, and I let Maria go through the "mister."

Swamp Thing? No, just Maria.

Then we walked across campus so that I could see some of the new buildings. We were getting pretty hot and tired, so when we came upon the new creamery, we had to stop for a treat. Maria enjoyed her giant ice cream and I shared mine with Amelia. (I had strawberry cheesecake, and Maria had vanilla.)

Kiddie Size? I think not.

A nice end to a long day.