What a perfect way to spend my birthday...headed to Bluegrass. Although it was a long and tiring day getting all of this stuff packed up...
We were racing daylight. So we didn't have to set up camp in the dark.
We had a slight delay when the lid to Dave's smoker went flying off on the interstate. So we turned around to go find it. Dave was pretty sure he saw right where it landed. And of all spots, it was the PERFECT place...we didn't even have to park alongside the interstate, it landed right on an overpass so he just climped up and leaned over.
We finally made it and had a hard time finding a spot to set up camp. We noticed it was MUCH more crowded than other years. Usually we can go on Thursday and find a spot with no problem with enough room for us. But we drove around for a little bit before we decided on a spot.
We were pretty much setting up the tent in the dark.
And the kids were eating dinner at 8:00 I think. But we were SOO glad to finally be there.
We had planned to try camping with the kids for one night. We had a back-up plan to stay at a friend's house in Winfield if the kids didn't do well in the tent (even if we had to show up at 1:00 in the morning). Our kiddos SHOCKED us!!! They went to sleep SOO easily and stayed asleep all night.
This was the kids' set up inside our tent. Taylor LOVED getting to sleep in her tent and it fit perfectly inside ours.
They continued to shock us as they both even took NAPS....
Mason slept for about an hour and a half like this and Taylor almost 2 hours...while we sat at Stage 5 listening to music in the shade.
Taylor had a blast...I can't even begin to explain how much fun she had the entire time...we could just tell she was LOVING it!!!
This is one of our favorite spots...Stage 5...during the day it's so relaxing to sit in the shade and listen to performer after performer (a new one every 30 minutes)...and many times we'll find ourselves nodding off for a little nap. At night it's a fun, lively spot with a GREAT crowd and some GREAT music!
Mason had fun playing at Stage 5 - mostly playing with sticks.
We decided to try not to go completely broke on all the food inside the main gates....I'm pretty sure we both had 4 ears of corn each, an order of gator taters (although they did not call them this), philly chesse steack sandwich, smoked sausage, funnel cake for my bday, fried okra, multiple cherry limades, dutch apple cobbler, cinnamon roasted pecans...okay I'll stop. Needless to say, we decided to cook a meal back at camp a few times. On Friday night we made chili! YUM!!!
Dave's parents were suppossed to come on Friday to experience the festival for the first time, and take the kids back home Friday night (since we were originally planning for camping with them to be pretty difficult)...but his mom wasn't feeling well, so they didn't make it. They offered to come get them Friday night but they did SO well the night before we wanted to keep them for a 2nd night!
Taylor enjoying some Stage 1 music....Tom Chapin!
Roasting marshmallows for the first time
our happy happy kids enjoying the beautiful, chilly, fall morning...
We brought some things along in case they got bored at camp. They played like this for almost an hour on Saturday morning before we met Papa and Nana at the turnpike for them to go back home. We were actually sad to see them go but we were looking forward to a day and night on our own, and with friends.
They had so much fun watching people and cars on this road
But they were especially excited when these guys came rolling by...selling donuts and coffee!
Of course it wasn't the coffee they were excited about
Okay...so I don't mind camping, in fact I really enjoy it. But one thing I can't stand is not having a shower. If you saw my previous post, you obviously know there were shower options (although those were private)....there are also public showers you can stand in line for...a big trailer full of individual showers. We have YET to experience this part of Bluegrass. Most years I've always just been able to go back to my parent's house. Obviously I can't do that anymore. Dave just chooses NOT to shower (gross, huh?) And I choose to take advantage of friends who open their house if we need anything at all...like a shower.
Now doesn't THIS look much better to you than waiting in an hour long line or more and using a public shower??? She even laid out a robe! I know, I know...that's cheating when it comes to camping.
On Saturday, we had some great friends join us for their 2nd taste of Bluegrass, and Dave smoked ribs....oh my, they were delicious!!
Oh yeah, I forgot to include this photo with my previous post of things you'll only see in Winfield...like couches! This was our neighbor's camp.
And I'll leave you with this...
So who's coming with us next year??? You'll be hooked, I promise!
5 comments:
That looks so fun! Glad your adorable kids enjoyed themselves too (my daughter had those same exact pajamas your sweet girl wore!). That's hilarious about the smoker lid...I cracked up!
those are some GREAT pictures! looks fun! :)
Found your blog through the Macs.
cute pictures!! looks like the kids had a great time!! ;) i'm from the bluegrass state and i've never been camping....looks like fun though!
i love how your pictures are bigger than normal on your blog. how did you do that?
Looks like a fun time! You are brave for camping with 2 little ones! (What's up with Dave's hair in the donuts/coffee picture, though?) :)
Okay, okay. We'll come for a day! :-) Looks like fun, and I can't BELIEVE how well your kids did!!!!
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