Harvest Festival, part 1

Another lucky weekend for us with beautiful weather and my mom joining us at the Harvest Festival. If you look closely at this picture you'll notice that Jasmine's feet are not touching the ground, a precursor to what turned out to be a seriously bouncy 2 year old.

Getting into the bouncy house took a few tries and finally worked with mama in tow. All it took was the warm up before she was off and running to the races. She had numerous turns all with the same results--fits of giggles and joy.

Here she is enjoying her first bag of potato chips. We all got veggie burgers with a bag of chips. She ate her chips, no burger; mom and I ate burger, no chips. Sigh. So much for the Harvest part of the festival.
Followed by a full bottle of gatorade, a gift from a friend. Yikes.
These events, designed for families, are all new to me. This year we've been venturing out into the new-to-me world of family-oriented fairs and festivals. I can't say that I love these events, but I do love seeing Jasmine enjoying herself and being around other families with small children. I know that this will be part of our ever expanding world and I don' t begrudge any of it. Would I rather be off in the remote wilderness with Jasmine on my back or hiking by my side? Sure, but that's not where we are at right now and to see Jasmine trying new things, being part of this world where families come together to give their children important experiences--I don't mind at all.

I am grateful that, at least for now, Jasmine is equally happy in the forest playing with pine needles and collecting acorns, playing follow the leader and fashioning walking sticks out of handy branches, or asking me to sit next to her on the curb while we collect stones within arms reach.