If you pass my child this week and he emits a slight campfire odor, blame it all on LEAF. The Lake Eden Arts Festival was held this past weekend near Black Mountain and we happily recorded it as our third time to successfully attend. We braved the chilly weather and gusty winds Friday night and were awarded with great fall weather the rest of the weekend. If you haven’t attended, and do like to camp, (AND are not appalled by using a porta-potty which is cleaned out daily), you must go!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…and again, and again. Anything that gets my boys off devices and outside playing is my kind of happiness.
The best part of attending LEAF is watching your children morph from a hunchbacked, eye-strained, device-obsessed zombie to a child or teen who is commenting on the clouds, looking for the Big Dipper and playing with things that don’t plug in like, gasp, a hula hoop! It’s wonderful.
Even my woolly mammoth of a teenage son who crawled out of the tent Saturday morning with a grimace and a determination not to have fun was climbing and laughing 30 minutes later. All I could think was, “I won!” Parenting win for sure.
So sit back and enjoy the photos. Amazing food, amazing place, amazing friends. What more could you want?
This is how the festival started Friday afternoon…
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Roasting marshmallows
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Our little home for the weekend
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That time Mike thought the kids should make bamboo flutes with a blowtorch, box cutters and saws (or “why you always take a mom with you camping”)
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First stop inside the festival…lounging in the swings
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And onto the jelly dome and juggling tent
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Covering the outside of a pickup truck
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Another demo area…trying out the hoops at the aerial arts booth
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Tibetan monks wandering the festival after their performance, love the contrast in clothing
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Hula-hooping while big brother medieval sword fights
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LEAF fashion, always interesting
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Setting the distance record yet again at the paper rocket station (he set it at the last LEAF)
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Scenes around the festival
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Back to the jelly dome
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Duct tape dragon boat…why not?!
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Dancing to the bands
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Trying out the slack line station
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And wiped out Sunday as we pack it up
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