Arts Festival

The kids' caterpillar sculpture in the background. Emline could have worked on decorating this thing for hours.

This weekend wrapped up Arts Festival and we had great weather all week (it only rained about 1 hour on Wednesday). Emilne and Reid made it through all the activities for kids, and I think we saw most of the artists. The highlight for me was during the last hour when they sold the hanging baskets of flowers that were used during the week. We were sitting with a snack of sweet potato french fries when they came on the mic and offered them 1 for $15 or 3 for $40. Well let me tell you, the pickings went quick. I didn't want to fight for flowers so I got 3 decent ones and got outta there! Then we packed up my dad's art (he sold 16 pieces!) and went home.

Are you dizzy yet?

Painting raku pottery. Always a favorite.

My grandma is home from the hospital, and still resting a bit. My aunt Margo is coming to visit Wednesday, which we are looking forward to.

Also this weekend we trimmed our trees and got rid of plants we hate. Thanks to Gigi and Leo and their firepit we are ready for one heck of a bonfire!

This weekend proved itself to be the kickoff for the Henderson kids and their rockets. We don't know if any of this activity is legal within city limits, but when we had a calm sunny day we assumed that all systems were GO. Robin prefaced the whole thing with warnings about each kids' rocket blowing up or being lost in unattainable territory, but luckily none of that happened. After maxing out our budget (you have no idea how all these cardboard tubes add up) we made our own launch pad out of a pizza box, plaster of paris, and a coat hanger. I'm proud to say the engineering on this contraption performed to perfection. Emiline's Eliminator went 1st and had a calm parachute landing in a tree about 10 feet from the lake. Reid's went 2nd and when his nose cone didn't deploy it took a dive back down and imbedded itself in the dirt. Robin's separated into 2 pieces in the sky and we recovered the main section. It's hard to find a piece to a gold cardboard rocket when the grass is still brown. Next time we might invite some other people to experience the launch. When everything was over we went home and watched October Sky which our kids could hardly relate to. To them a rocket is something your dad buys you at Hobby Lobby.

The rockets and launch pad 'pre launch'

Trying to find them in the sky

Blast off!

Reid's rocket eats dirt

Redbud Classic 2008

The Redbud Classic is an annual rite of spring. This year Emiline ran the kids one mile fun run for the second time. If you ask her how she did she will tell you she beat all the boys and even some 4th graders. I'm just happy she ran the entire way without one complaint. However, when she woke up the next morning she said her legs hurt in a strange way. That night we went to Pasta on the Pond where we did more crazy stunts in the inflatables than carb loading. We shut down the event and when they pulled the plug on the inflatable slide Reid cried. The next day we cheered for Gigi, Leo, & Jeremy in the 5k and Laura in the 10k. Eli brought up the rear in the 2 mile stroller derby. I'm just glad we were able to spot them in the crowd of runners. Robin missed a lot of fun, but I'll be sure he's in town for it next year so I can run too. Cheering is not my forte.

On your mark, set, go!


Emiline and I during the first quarter mile of the 1 mile run. Smiles all around!


Still smiling afterward!


The kids are waiting for the runners to arrive.


Gigi and Leo after the race