Well team, we hit the woods this past weekend as we made our annual trek to Floyd Fest. Asher was a champ (a camp champ, one might even say?) sleeping mostly through the night, and reveling in all that there was to see and do. His two big statements for the weekend were, “touch it?” and “try it?”. To be clear, the first statement applied to mostly everything but most specifically to the large balloons that were tied everywhere, and much to his father’s delight, the second of the phrases was said over and over about the climbing wall that was set up. I explained that he would be able to try to the climbing wall next time (next year) and he cried and said, “trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry eeeet!! nexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxt” and we laughed because we’re good parents like that.
One of the many balloons that captured our eye...Asher because he can't get enough of these mystical things, and me because it was like a little poem against the grey sky.
The Kuhn Family, Leigh Anne, Devin, and Joe
We camped with 5 other families with a grand total of 10 children under the age of 12 (and most under the age of 3) and it went extraordinarily well. We got to take in the likes of Taj Mahal, Grace Potter, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Brand but I have to say that going to a music festival with little ones is a lot more about what they’re into than what we are into, which is really fine. Floyd Fest is organized extremely well with an entire section dedicated to the children that includes a play structure, its own private stage, free balloon animals, a dress up area, a sand box, and a bunch of other kiddie goodies. It’s actually kind of like taking your young’ns to a tiny, grassy theme park. Except it’s a theme park where you can hear great music in the distance and have a beer. Good stuff.
Austin rocking a yogurt mustache. He'll thank me for this when he's older, I'm sure.
Asher did this all on his own. I laugh every time I look at it. I can still hear my mother's voice as she said, "ANDREW!!!" as she attempted to take pictures of my brother and me in which no fingers were in noses etc. Let the games begin.
Asher and his little buddy Austin beat the sun up all three mornings, so out of respect to the folks that were able to sleep in a little later, we would go up to the main festival area every morning and let the boys run free, which they loved. This is also the time of day that the various service trucks were out and about doing their thing so the boys got to point to every single truck and day dream about one day driving the “potty truck”. I’ll let your imagination work that one out.
Sunrise by the main stage. The sun is peeking up above the edge of the world over there on the left...Floyd Fest is on a gorgeous spot at the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway
The early morning light cast gorgeous shadows, I couldn't get enough of them.
Amazing what the world looks like when you're 3 feet tall
Our little buddy Austin is such a dear soul and he often asks Asher for hugs and kisses
We love this festival because it’s a chance to completely escape from reality with no need for phones, because it’s fun to get outside and be good and dirty and be around great music for a couple of days, and because we have such a good time with the group that we’ve been going with for the last 5 years. Although we’re now waking up with the kiddos round about the time that we would have been hitting the pillow in the old days, like so many things, we’ve found that we enjoy ourselves just as much now as we did then, and I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever seen Asher so carefree and happy. Win-win.
The boys were running (spped walking in Asher's case?) down this path and shrieking at 6am like they owned the world. Nothing makes you feel true joy quite like kids squealing with carefree happiness!
This is without a doubt the most entertaining way to get the air out of the an air mattress. All you need is about 4 enthusiastic children and one obliging father.
So that’s the goods, I’m off to compose a letter to Asher about all of the other trucks that he might aspire to drive one day and take yet another hot shower!
Flux Capacitating 