Rivers and Spires 2013

When I heard it was going to turn yucky and cold for Friday and Saturday, and then considered my aversion to crowds, it only made sense that we would go to Rivers and Spires Thursday.

With the threat of storms, there very few people there. It was super easy to get around and no lines. GRANTED, there was very little going on in comparison to the line-up on Saturday, but we can always go back if it turns out to be nice.

Love the sass.

Of course we had to have a hot dog after posing with the wienermobile ;)

The Leaf Chronicle photographer found her again. He must have taken 20-30 pictures of Anna Claire while she was eating this hot dog. She's supposed to be in tomorrow's paper.

Loved that they had mural painting for the kiddos. So fun!

They let the kids pic out their own paint colors. Of course AC wanted pinks and purples.

What a stress-free fun time with my favorite three-year-old. LOVED watching Anna Claire enjoy the music. and seeing her reaction to her first "concert." She loved the Kopecky Family Band, and I thought they were pretty solid too. She had fun naming the instruments they were playing and we were both impressed with how many instruments each band member could play.

Oh, if you haven't been yet, you should know you pay for everything with tickets and that tickets have to be purchased with cash. :)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sooo....we went back today! Too nice of a day not to.

Only, we get there, and Anna Claire turns into a total grump-a-saurus.

She was mad at me for making her wear a sweater (temps were in the 50s, 40s in with windchill in the shade).

She refused to try or do anything:
Do you want a hot dog? "No!"
Would you like to jump in the bouncy house? "No!"
Do you want to go hug the Chick-fil-A cow?" "Uhh!"

We were just about to declare the whole outing a total FAIL, when we ran into Anna Claire's little friend Amy and her mom Paige. From that point on, things went great and AC was having fun.

Oh, and you'll notice she's not wearing the sweater in the pics below. She insisted she was really hot and needed it off. And I remembered she's her father's daughter and that they don't get cold like me. ;)

Look who we ran into at Rivers and Spires!

Sweet friends waiting their turn at "the bouncy house."

Wanted nothing to do with bouncy houses until we saw Amy. Our friends help us to be brave!

The girls were able to watch part of the parade from inside the bouncy house.

I love watching little girls hug each other. So sweet.