HubBub!

We just spent an amazing day at the HubBub in Boston.  It was the first (and we hope not last!) Boston Book Festival for Children!  Our main motivator was that we wanted to see one of our very favorite authors, Mo Willems!

And we did! He started out his reading (to a packed house!) by telling everyone that they should take their photos, and he posed in appropriate ways:

And then he insisted that EVERYONE put away cameras and have their hands free. It was awesome.  He said we were all there to experience the event, not document it.  It was delightful!  He read from Pigeon Needs a Bath, answers questions from the audience, read from I will Take a Nap (the latest in the Elephant & Piggie series) and was entirely delightful and wonderful the whole time.

And then, he ran to the back of the room and signed books!!!!

Here we are, having Mo Willems sign our copy of Hooray for Amanda her Alligator.

And yes, by the way, we DID dig deep into the Mo Willems catalog to get that one.  While all the other kids had their Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie books, I believe we impressed as being very committed Willems fans. He was lovely and excellent.  And now we have his signature and a doodle in our copy!

BUT WAIT -- that's not all!  The day continued with an all-day fest at Copley Place, featuring various literary characters, children's book publishers, workshops, puppet presentations, musical acts, storytelling, and just all around awesome-ness.  There were crafts, including those inspired by Willems:

We even found out the answer to life's age-old question: Where's Waldo?

Answer: OMG, he's RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!

We did the treasure hunt, which included getting stamps from various tents/groups that had exhibits and activities. So Lucy made a lightsaber at Einstein's Workshop, and even more exciting, she participated in the Build-a-Lair workshop at 826 Boston. Yes, she built a lair. 

Lucy took part in a photography contest (we'll keep you posted on the results!), made a parachute that she tested in a wind tunnel, and got to listen to the School of Rock band.  It was all incredibly awesome, and we can't wait to do it again next year!

Lowell Folk Festival Rocks!

Carter loved his day at the Lowell Folk Festival.  He really got into the spirit of it with his lei and all, especially since we got to see & hear Hula Halau 'o Keikiali'i at Boardinghouse Park:

We also caught a great set by Denis Pepin & Susie Lemay, who both play accordions and perform French Canadian music.  It was all wonderful.


Just like last year, we picked up our bag of compost from the previous year.

We went down to the Lowell Folk Festival on both Saturday and Sunday.  Both days were amazing.  We were especially into the food.  Our favorites: The Jamaican meat pies. Oh, and pretty much everything we shoved in our mouths.  Thanks, Lowell Folk Festival!  We'll see you next year!

WINTERFEST

It's WINTERFEST here in Lowell!  We love Winterfest.  We went down to partake of the festivities tonight and it was downright balmy out there!

We watched the first round of Human Dogsled Races:

There were also fire-dancers and fire-eaters (sorry, no photos of that, but it was pretty impressive).  Lucy had the best seat in the house (and a glowstick):

And then we had a special treat: the largest marshmallows we've ever seen:

They had a whole toast-your-own thing happening.  Lucy opted to keep hers in their raw state, though she did taste my toasted one (hence the string o' mallow-sticky-goodness on her face there).
We're in for more fun tomorrow, with more sled races, kid-friendly fun (free cupcakes, balloon animals, a magician!), and also a visit from actual sled-dogs (Lucy is particularly excited about this part).  We'll hopefully have more to post after the events.

Festival Fun

We've had a wonderful day of festival-ing, despite the rainy weather. First stop this morning was UML's Family day, which was relocated to the Rec Center. All the student clubs set up booths around the "Wild West" theme. The marching band played (they were great!) and there were crafts and activities and games. Lucy's favorite type of games are the ones where she wins. Luckily, they had a lot of those. She "won" a lot of things, including silly inflatable things, some various UML-themed items, a Biology Club T-shirt featuring a platypus (awesome! Jake got one, too!), a bandana that she decorated (at the Lit Society table) and an incredible amount of candy. We knew it was going to be a crazy day when, at 10:40 am (after just a couple minutes inside) Lucy was offered "fresh" ice cream. This was created by the geniuses at the Chemistry Club table, who mixed liquid nitrogen into their sugary-creamy-awesomeness to make instant ice cream. It was AMAZING. So basically, she was walking around eating ice cream in the morning, which, as she informed us, is totally breaking the rules. She loves it when we break the rules.

Here she is with Rowdy the Riverhawk mascot:


Oh, and one of the "activities" was a decorate-a-cookie table, where she was given icing and sprinkles to put on a cookie. Wow. What's not to love? She had an amazing time.

In the afternoon, we headed over to Open Studios at Western Ave Studios, one of our favorite places. I managed to get Lucy to pose here:

For comparison, you might want to look at this older post, from the same spot back in May.


She really liked these decorated brooms and actually asked to have her picture taken with one:
(She also has a tasty treat from one of the artists in her hand here.)

We purchased a few lovely things, and Lucy ate a lot of candy and cookies. Oh, and a bit of fruit. We met a lot of dogs that we enjoyed petting, and Lucy saw at least one of her classmates from school. And we ran into tons of people we know, which is extra nice. Open Studios continues tomorrow, all over Lowell. Go! It's awesome.

All this art had Lucy wanting to do some of her own (not unusual):

Someone kindly left paper and colored pencils out a table in one of the hallways. She was delighted to show her art to the artists in their studios.

Tomorrow she and I will likely tackle some art projects. It's supposed to be rainy and cold, so thought we'd love to watch Jake race, it doesn't seem like it would be too pleasant. Sigh. So we'll hang here while Jake's off racing 'round the Grand Prix.

Weekend Events

This coming weekend is jam-packed with October-y Goodness (TM). Here's where you will likely find us -- if you're in the area, please join us!:

This Saturday, October 1st:

UMass Lowell's Fall Festival Family Day 10:30 - 2 on the Tsongas Back Lawn (rain location: Rec Center). All the student clubs will be there to provide activities and food. The marching band and other music groups will perform. It's sure to be fun.
http://www.uml.edu/fallfestival/Family_Day.html

Pollard Memorial Library's Fall Festival, 10 - 2, food, an art raffle, and general bookish goodness, all in that gorgeous library. If you haven't been in already, GO! It's beautiful. More info here:
http://pollardmlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/09/2011-pml-fall-festival-save-date.html

Lowell Open Studios 11am - 5 pm. (Both Saturday AND Sunday!) Over 140 artists in various studios in downtown Lowell, including fiber artists, painters, multi-media artists, sculptors, potters, jewelers, filmmakers, photographers, and more. It's amazing. I'm particularly a fan of the Western Ave Studios; it's amazing to see so many artists in those old buildings.
http://www.lowellopenstudios.org/



Sunday October 2nd:

Lowell Humane Society's Steps For Pets Fund Raiser and Festival: Noon-3 @ the UMass Field beside the Humane Society (South Campus). Bring your dog, or just stalk other people's dogs. Various pet-related vendors and raffles will be there. Dog costume contests and that sort of thing; what's not to love?
http://www.lowellhumanesociety.org/index.php/2011/09/29/steps-for-pets-this-sunday/

Lowell Open Studios 11am - 5 pm. (Both Saturday AND Sunday!) Over 140 artists in various studios in downtown Lowell, including fiber artists, painters, multi-media artists, sculptors, potters, jewelers, filmmakers, photographers, and more. It's amazing. I'm particularly a fan of the Western Ave Studios; it's amazing to see so many artists in those old buildings.
http://www.lowellopenstudios.org/



Actually, on Sunday, we will likely be in Gloucester for the Gran Prix of Gloucester, a great big giant cyclocross event that Jake's racing in. It promises to be awesome.