Shakori Grassroots Festival

We decided again to take Arden to the Shakori Grassroots Festival this year. It was her second (and our only) festival last year but the first time camping. This year we figured would be a bit different since she's walking, only taking one nap and is much more into her surroundings. But as always, worse case scenario, it's only 45 minutes from home we can always pack up and head back. She did great! She napped a bit on the way there and then was excited to help us set up our campsite. It's funny because now we look to park and camp near families so that maybe there's a chance the people directly around us won't be up all night- we used to be the people that were up all night! Once we got camp set up we headed down to the stages to listen to some music. Arden loves to wiggle and dance, so she was right at home! We grabbed some yummy festival food for dinner and headed back to camp. It's not even fully dark out at Arden's usual bed time at 8 pm so she stayed up until 9 pm. The main thing we're always worried about camping is how she's going to sleep, but after some book reading and singing she was ready to crawl into her sleeping bag in the pack n' play and call it a night. She slept great! Even better then we did considering there was a drum circle that went on seemingly all night long, so Dave and I weren't that well rested the next morning but Arden was and still got up at 7 am of course. Saturday morning we went to a Jammin' Baby toddler music class which was similar to the Music Together classes Arden had taken, complete with drums, instruments and scarves. She loved it. Then I stumbled upon an African dance workshop that looked like fun while Dave and Arden laughed and watched. Arden zonked out in her stroller during live drumming, taking power naps when she needed them. Later Dave and Arden took a turn at dancing during a square dancing workshop.

Saturday's weather was perfect and and we all were able to sleep great that night as well. Sunday morning I went to a yoga class. Normally I've taught yoga at this festival in the past but was too late to get on the schedule this year. The we watched the Paperhand Puppet Invention lead a children's parade (see video below). We took in a little more music and ate some more food, then it was time to get on the road back home before it rained. It was a great weekend!

Last Birthday of my Twenties!

I turned 29 today. Didn't really feel that different from 28 or 25 for that matter. It still blows my mind that I'm going to have 2 kids before I'm 30 is all I could think about all day. Who would have thought?! I know most girls have ideas about what age they what to at least start having kids and mine was 30, but I never thought I'd have 2 before I even turned 30! But I keep telling myself that I won't even be 50 before they're both grown and off to college (if that's what they choose to do).

The day was not super eventful. Mom and Dad were still here from coming back from Maryland so watched Arden in the morning while I went to teach my usual Monday YMCA classes. I found that teaching a "You & Tot" class without a tot was a lot easier because I could focus on just being the teacher and not teacher & mom!

Then I met Mom, Dad & Arden for lunch and then we went to Ben & Jerry's afterward. I was craving cupcakes but the Cupcake Shoppe downtown (and other dessert places for that matter) are closed on Mondays, so Ben & Jerry's had to do. Then once Dave got home and Mom & Dad left, the three of us, Dave, Arden & I went out to the Olive Garden for dinner.

Trip to MD

I took a short weekend trip up to Maryland to celebrate my good friend, Krista's engagement to an awesome guy, Doug. And also to be with my family for Easter and celebrate my brother's baptism, communion and confirmation into the Catholic church. I really miss my high school girls up in Maryland, especially now that I don't have a core group of girlfriends in Raleigh anymore, so it was fun to see everyone. It was too short a visit however, so I'm looking forward to more trips to MD for wedding stuff in the coming months, since 3 of my girlfriends are getting married this year.

And yup, you read that right- Brian at age 32 is getting baptized Catholic. My sister in law was raised Catholic, so when they started a family and wanted to begin raising Kelsey in a church Brian chose to learn about the Catholic faith. He then chose to convert (however we were never really raised in a church so he wasn't really convert from anything). I learned a bunch about the Catholic faith by quizzing my brother over dinner out of sheer curiosity. And then on Saturday night got the pleasure of sitting through a lengthy Catholic Easter Eve Mass ;-) Congrats Bri! It was fun though to be able to spend some time with my neice without the distraction of my own baby. Kelsey's really starting to form her own personality!

Easter Sunday we went out to a nice brunch and then Mom, Dad and I got back on the road.

Easter Egg Hunt

Arden has been fascinated with collecting things around the house and particularly the rocks in the driveway lately, so I figured this was probably the best year to go to an Easter Egg hunt. Raleigh Parks & Rec holds them all over the Raleigh area so we chose the closest to our house. I even succumbed to being the girlie mom that I thought I'd never be and bought her a pretty flowery spring dress for the occasion. Mom (Noani) got her a Easter "bucket"- we figured that would be better since that's what she used to collecting things in and all the baskets looked too shallow to hold anything. We got to Shelley Lake early and went down to visit with the ducks first. Then back up to the community center for the hunt. The areas were sectioned off by age, Arden falling into the 0-3 year old group, which seemed to be the largest group. Apparently this was not an original idea. The only thing that was missing was the horn at the start of the hunt and all the kids went toddling into the roped off area with the not so hidden eggs. Arden was so mesmerized by all the kids running by that it took her a few beats (and some not so subtle help from Mom & Dad) to remember that we were hunting for eggs. And within less then two minutes all the eggs were gone. She got a whopping 2 eggs and then another one that one of the volunteers gave her. Of course she's one so she didn't know any different, which was great. Too many kids, too little eggs, but still a happy outing for Arden. Now I see why families do hunts in their own backyards ;-)