Artscape weekend!

Baltimore has a fabulous free art festival every year called Artscape. Since having children, I have yet to get to go.

So this year, I was determined we were going as a family! And maybe we could even buy some art!

You know what they say about the best laid plans??

It rained on Friday and poured like nobody's business on Saturday. So we skipped the festival and decided we'd go on Sunday (the last day) instead. And apparently everyone in all of Maryland had the same idea, because it was packed!!!

Trying to push a single stroller and a double stroller through the wall of people was slow-going to say the least. And once it stopped raining, it was muggy and moist, which made Lester not a very happy camper.
There was no way to see any of the art, because of the crowds, nor could we really stop and listen to any musical acts.

So...all we did was eat. We stopped and got the boys (and me) hot dogs and French fries. That held them till we got to the end of the festival, where they had a kids' tent. Once there, we got them soft serve -- with sprinkles!

When one ice cream scoop costs $4.50 (!!!!) and the sprinkles cost $1(!!!), you buy one bowl and split it between the two boys. This is why I always carry two snack bowls and two sporks.

They loved playing on easels, and in a fountain of water, but they refused to play at the giant Lego table or at any of the crafts tables. The face-painting station was closing by the time we got to it; same for the balloon-making station. Cary found a crayon lying on the grass and inexplicably turned to a woman sitting on a low bench and WROTE ON HER WHITE DRESS!!!! (Yeah, I don't even know what to say about that...)

Markers!!! Sweeeeeeet!

We tried to find our friends Antwyne and Mari (Antony's parents) who were somewhere in the crowd, but no luck. A man was taking artistic, black-n-white Polaroids of festival-goers and I wanted a family shot, but Lester (cranky and tired by this point) vetoed the idea.

Like I said, best laid plans.

Actually, I'm making it sound worse than it was. It was a beautiful day, and good just to be out of the house, among the people, eating junk, people-watching and living life. The boys weren't at all cranky and Clair was as content as could be in her stroller. She even fell asleep (which is new for me. Cary and Dean would NEVER do that)! We had rock star parking, and when I got home, I didn't have to fix dinner or clean up dinner dishes. YES!


And, even though I didn't get to buy any of the beautiful art, I ended up winning the mother-of-the-day award by stopping and buying $1 light-up rings from two homeless guys selling junk out of a stolen shopping cart on the street. Cary and Dean LOVE their rings so much, Dean cried crocodile tears when we told him he couldn't bathe with it or sleep with it, and when he woke up this morning, the first thing out of his mouth was, "I want my ring!!!"

So, all's well that ends well, eh?

And...I took my own damn black-n-white photo of the kids. So there.

It only took 5 months to get 1 successful iPhone photo of all 3 Davis children! Now, to get one of them all smiling at the same time!!