Art Festival

Ah, the Decatur Art Festival. It attracts some wonderful artists, but for the past couple years we've seen almost nothing of them, because the children own this festival now. Saturday we headed to the Decatur farmers market because I heard there were peaches. I heard correctly and am happy to report they are fresh as of today and I will be eating a lot of peaches this week. From there, we hit the festival, just in time to join our friends Kim & Jerry and their oldest, Alexia, who is Sarah's friend from school, and their adorable baby, Simone, who doesn't care if we're around or not, for the drum circle.

I love to watch my kids watch live music. Kate cannot resist drums, and even though she's mildly inhibited, I could see her little booty start to shake on it's on, in perfect time. If she doesn't know you're watching, you can sometimes get an adorable show. Sarah, who never hesitates to dance, was struck motionless. At first I thought maybe it was too loud for her, or she just didn't like the drums. When we tried to leave before they'd played their last song, though, she cried and begged me to stay with her.

We walked through a very small part of the artists' tents, spotting some art I'd love to own, on our way to the kids' set up of "bouncy things" and excitingly flavored popcorn. Kate had gone with Alexia, while Sarah and I hung back for more drumming. Jeremiah and Monkey met us, and we walked the plaza together. On the way, a guy sat solo, playing his trumpet for change. He played Mary Had a Little Lamb, for Sarah, who'd stopped short to hear him, too. Then he played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Or maybe Bah, Bah Blacksheep. Possibly the ABC song, I don't know. Then, after we gave him a dollar, she requested Dream a Little Dream. After her private concert, Sarah was ready to bounce.

We left that afternoon, thinking the skies were about to rip open, saying we'd return on Sunday, but of course, the day got away from us. We did make this year's first trip to the McKoy Park Pool to swim in the freezing water while it rained on us. The girls were so elated to be there that the rain and cold didn't matter. Kate is on the precipice of being a full-on swimmer. It's so fun to see, despite what the chlorinated water does to that poor child's eczema. Sarah will be ready for real swimming next summer, or maybe even by the end of this one. So close...