Riverfest, Etc.

So sorry for the lack of posting lately! Because I'm cheap and refuse to pay for ANY app on my iPhone, I'm using the free version of BlogBooster, which seems to have some kind of psychological problem. One day I can do exactly what I want, the next day my text disappears with the addition of pictures, while sometimes the whole app just freezes up for DAYS at a time (it's still frozen today from a post I tried to make last Thursday) and I can't use it. So... my apologies.

This weekend was the annual Best Festival of the Year--Riverfest! What a fun, family-friendly day this is! Complete with a lot of unattractive pictures of ME! I played music by myself for the first time in a looooooong time, and of course, I was so bad it was painful. And then, when I had time left for one last song, Kim showed up and saved the whole thing by playing "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and leaving everyone with a good memory of the Annie Hatke performance. Thanks, Kim! And thanks, Greta, for being so sad while I played that I had to hold you for that last song, which resulted in this very cute picture. And thanks, TusaRebecca, for those pants I'm wearing!

Um, can you say CUTE OVERLOAD?!? My adorable niece and nephew!!!!

And as if that weren't enough cuteness, here we have these four cousins who had the best time ever watching the first of the canoe races from this big log, and playing in the sand.

So cute!

And what could make a festival completely fabulous better than FREE pony rides?!

Not sure where Anja is in this picture, but we look like a cute family, don't we? And check out poor Greta's rather uncomfortable looking wedgie. Youch. (Also notice that she's covering her ears, and then look down a few pictures to find out why. And note that this picture here is taken in a location that was REALLY REALLY far away from the ponies.)

This year instead of being a substitute paddler, Martin was a steersman in the blue canoe. He was on the water ALL DAY LONG, and ended up with a nice sunburn across his thighs. When Anja saw his legs, she said, "Daddy! I really like your legs! Pink is my favorite color!"

Greta was less than thrilled about the ponies. One of them was neighing. (For the record, nobody was actually neighing when this picture was taken. But a pony waaaaaay over by the trailer HAD been neighing about twenty or thirty minutes before and the memory lingered.)

It was a great day! For everyone!

The post I was trying to make last Thursday when BlogBooster so rudely let me down was about being homeless and how sometimes I feel like I am a homeless person, or that maybe other people think I am. I used to wonder about this when I was single and had nothing to do with myself and would walk around downtown all day. But now it's worse. Now I look like one because when we drive to Logansport for the evening and eat dinner at an outside ice cream and tenderloin place, afterward we pull our car up against the fence at the far end of the parking lot, strip down our sticky kids, give them baby wipe baths, may or may not let them pee in the gravel between the car and the fence and put them in jammies (which I carried along with me in my ginormous tote bag that holds more possessions than you can possibly imagine) then head on our way, trying not to make eye contact with any of the employees as we exit the parking lot as fast as legally possible.

And then the next morning I had to walk down to the river from my house with both of my kids, my aforementioned Magic Tote Bag (which always LOOKS full, even though you can still fit much more into it), two bags of vegetables, a half loaf of bread and two danishes all in a wagon that has a terrible clacking problem and is covered in ribbons. And of course the food came from the end of the Farmers Market that is closest to my house, so I had to clack-clack-clack aaaaallll the way through the crowds and STILL on down Main Street and across the bridge. Then I had to look for somewhere to put all of my groceries and possessions for the day once I got there, and I had dropped my kids off with my sister, who tried to tell me where her booth was (so I could stash my stuff there) but she didn't do a very good job of it, so I ended up having to see and talk to A LOT of people and try to explain my situation and why I had SO MUCH STUFF with me. And I'm not sure they knew about the parade either, so the decorated wagon probably looked pretty weird too.

And so I just sometimes wonder what people must think of me.

But overall, we've been having great times! And there are more to come, of course, because when you're a stay-at-home mom, summer lasts right up till the pumpkin harvest!! (And our pumpkins are doing GREAT this year! Way better than any of the other dead stuff in my garden! They are doing so well in fact, that we had to relocate our trash receptacles and should probably warn the neighbor about the creeping habit of the vines....)

Happy midsummer to you all!