Hippie, Hippie Feet

Our yearly trek to the music festival was this past weekend and I've got the feet to prove it.

Just kidding. My feet are already rough and in need of a pedicure most days so I'm not sure this weekend made much of a difference..

We survived a few days of camping and the festival!

Scott and the Little Ones (wouldn't that be a cool band name?) went up Wednesday and Emi and I came up the next day. We got one night of peace and quiet and chilling out at home just me, Emi and Gracie. We dined on Ray's BBQ and watched The Family That Preys. We also did laundry and packed and cleaned house...

When we left Norman Thursday around lunch, it was raining fairly hard and it kept up until late Friday afternoon. I was considering cutting my wrists it was so dark and dreary.

It was brutal with the cold, fat rain drops falling constantly and our tent leaking here and there. When it was time for bed, I took comfort in my Angry Birds pajamas.  [Note: I am not an Angry Birds fan - sorry!- but I will pay $18.47 for adult size footed pajamas in whatever design available to survive a camp trip.] 

The next day was filled with clouds and on again off again rain and I threatened to drive back home if the weather stayed rainy.  The ground was so soggy and the dirt roads turned to mud. It was a good thing we packed our rain boots.  

We didn't get out to the stages much as a family, me and the kids mainly hung out around the camp site, but we did get out to see Mountain Heart play. Actually, I didn't get to see much as I was keeping an eye on the Little Ones and the floppy frisbee they were tossing around... trying not to catch it with the side of my head...



And Saturday night, the Dizzy Pickers came to our camp to play for us.  That was so great to have our own private concert. They are from our home town so we need to get to The Deli to see them sometime.

Click and listen to them and try not to just love Tracy's voice.

Dizzy Pickers at Our Camp!

Enjoying some red wine and the Dizzy Pickers (That's what she said!)

You can listen to some of their musical stylings and watch my cute little man drum the heck out of some towels at the same time below. Isn't technology amazing?




Saturday night I got a chance to get away from the kiddos to check out the music from the surrounding camps. It's so cool that you can just walk into another camp site and join in or just listen to the beautiful music.

Happy Smiley!

I just threw this together...Asian Chicken (for Lettuce Wraps)

These guys went straight from "hobo" mode right into "stowaway" mode when Leta opened up her RV storage area!

We also had a game going on constantly where whenever someone said "That's What She Said!" everyone had to take a drink of their drink. It's gotten pretty bad in our circles because people always say things that can be applied. I was smart enough to take small sips...

The trip did make me think hard about learning to play a musical instrument. Maybe when the weather gets colder and I run out of homework and chores....hah!

I was ready to get home though. It was a long week at work and I could have used some solitude. Hanging out in the tent while the kids slept is not the same thing... Plus I missed my Gracie Girl!

We're hoping to put together another family camp trip this fall and I'm looking forward to that!

Images of Winfield Past

We Survived Another Winfield

I posted pictures and video on my Flickr....including a video capturing a rainy morning in the tent and a flash serenade in front of the Squat & Gobble during breakfast. More stories to come (after the laundry)...

Images of Winfield

Jonathon picking...

Neat old house next to the Cupcake shop

Cool children's consignment shop which also sold a small selection of cupcakes. Aubri got some overalls and a sweater and David got some cute sneakers. The items were in mint condition. We felt compelled to get cupcakes too (so we did).

Broke out (in?) my new poncho sweater.

John picking in the background, Caden learning to play the washboard softly by his granddad...

One Day in Winfield

7:30AM Sitting here camped out (literally) in the middle of an early morning thunderstorm. We're here at the Walnut Valley Festival (music festival) and it's a little unnerving in our family sized tent. On Thursday the light rain was perfect for the late afternoon group nap we took but this morning all I can think about is all of the lightning rods surrounding us...

Otherwise it's quite lovely.

Yesterday we took the kids to Stage 2 to see The Wilders and it was misting the entire time. We sat through several songs and then made our way to Stage 1 (the grandstands) to see Tommy Emmanuel.

8:30AM Just checked the forecast again and it looks like thunderstorms most of the day. Bummer because today was supposed to be the best day of all (low 80's). Its been cold (50's) and damp since we got here and we were looking forward to some warmer weather so our bodies could stop shivering. Emi runs some key lime yogurt and cereal to our tent for us. Our lifeline...

Another thunderstorm is moving through...this must be what Woodstock was like. ;.)

9:30AM It's been 2.5 hrs since the storms started and it seems that Emi was the smartest of our bunch. She retreated to her grandparents' camper where they have food and coffee! She swung by when there was a lull in the rain and tossed some string cheese into the tent for us.

Scott is sleeping and I am trying to explain to David why we can't get up and go outside right now (who would want to?). I think he thinks that I am being mean forcing him to stay in bed when it's light out! See how they are "entertaining" each other?

10:40AM Still storming but we grabbed our toothbrushes and mad dashed it across the camp to Grandma Babe's camper to brush our teeth. It was hard enough to sleep with the thunderstorm going on but it was compounded by David's grumbling. I grabbed our mugs and creamer on the 2nd trip over.

11:00AM 4 hrs of thunderstorms later and the sun has come out. It's a little windy and our stuff is soaked through but I think we'll make it. We got Ultimate Reubens from the festival offerings and we're drying out now...some of us in more ways than one.

12:30PM David and Aubri got to ride the 'charlie' (trolley aka tractor shuttle). Me and Grandma Babe removed tails from shrimp for gumbo tonight and I cleaned the skillet of the queso/quesadilla residue from last night. We sat under the big top tent marveling at the weather and snacked on peanuts and candy corn.

2:30PM We changed into shorts and t-shirts before heading out to see Byron Berline with Sean and Emily. The weather was perfect to be sitting on the hill listening to an outdoor concert.

4:30PM 2 hours later it's a typical Winfield camp experience with lots of wind and heat (finally). Forced to watch kids wind down for nap and end up taking a nap myself.

6:00PM Wake up from late afternoon nap with the kids and it's chilly again due to the sudden cloud cover. Tornado watch until 11PM. {YIPES!!!}

Spend next hour packing up Disco with various camp items and securing the awnings, etc. It starts raining and thundering and we are all under the Big Top eating naan, hummus, salsa, guac and chips....waiting the storm out. Lots of fantastically scary lightning and then a rainbow.

8:00PM If we hadn't taken precautions we'd probably have been directly hit by a tornado. Dinner of beans and gumbo is served. Kids were acting whiny and stir crazy and are now filling their bellies. It's still raining.

9:00PM kids are both singing 'doe, a deer, a female deer' and winding themselves down. The wind is still crazy whipping the sides of our tent and there are random flashes of lightning.

10:00PM Everything is calm, kids have been asleep and I have decided to stay in for the night and listen to music from around the campsite...too muddy to walk to Pecan Grove...

Pig Tails

Sporting pig tails for the remainder of the festival so that I don't have to fuss with it....it being my hair...loving the music at the neighboring camp sites. Haven't checked out any of the stages thusfar...

Over the Rainbow

Emi also sang "Over the Rainbow" again at the festival. She's new at this public singing thing and we are constantly amazed at how fearless she is; how comfortable she is on stage. We are so very proud of our budding musician.

Little Drummer Girl

Emi performed with Jahruba and her drumming class this past Saturday at the 2nd Annual Norman Music Festival. I felt bad that I hadn't tested her new top out for drumming (only singing, doh!).

Never Go With a Hippie to a Second Location...

Just returned from Winfield and will have stories to post later...but for now, here are some pictures from this latest adventure.

Over the Rainbow...

Wish I was....

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

A friend sent me this beautiful video that just made me cry it was so beautiful. Innocent and pure and good. I'd seen it before and just loved it so I thought I'd share it and another version by Tommy Emmanuel (who I've had the pleasure of seeing live at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS.)