Maker's Faire

The Maker's faire has been pained of Funfest for at least three years now and we love going each year. This event is actually held all over the country at different times so check and see if you have a maker's or mini maker's faire near you!

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 This year L-bug held a bee and learned a few things about bees from a local beekeeper.

One group had Lego machines that t

rotated. You got to tape a paper pmate on and draw as it spun. This was one of Ro-bear's favorite booths. 

There was a coscosplay booth this year. L-bug was intrigued by some of their masks, but Boo and Ro-bear loved the wings.  Ro-bear,  however, did not appreciate the one girl dressed up as a zombie.  Ro-bear does NOT do zombies.

Bell helicopter had these awesome helicopter kits for the kids to build.  

They also brought a real helicopter for people to look into. 

and of course take pictures with...

There were several other awesome booths not pictured above, for example a lady who designs coloring books, a high school robotics team, a booth on electricity, HAM radio operators and many more. We already can't wait for next year!

Mardi Gras

Every year there's a summer festival called Funfest here in Kingsport and every year it starts out on a Friday wuth Mardi Gras... don't ask why fat Tuesday is on a Friday in July I don't know.  What I do know is that the kids love collecting Mardi Gras beads, playing at the inflatables downtown and watching the funfest parade. L-bug was in the parade this year so she was doubly excited.

 We decided we needed masks for Mardi Gras. Sadly the weather was in the upper 90s so the masks got dropped pretty quickly.

Around the city are beautifully decorated pianos, so of course the girls wanted to stop at each one to take pictures. I won't include all the pictures, but just image seven or eight more pictures similar to this one.

Every year the girls stop at this old empty phone booth for a picture.  L-bug is getting too fall to be in a picture with the other two and had to duck down for me.

Random pictures while stopping on a bench for drinks.  We don't drink pop very often so it was a special treat. As were the snocones we had later.

This is Festus, he's the mascot of Funfest. Ro-bear, however, was not very impressed and refused to get close enough for a picture.

The girls with Sparky the fire dog.

L-bug and her friend D went a few rounds on this inflatable.  I believe they came out even in the end on who knocked who over the most. They had a blast hitting each other off a little platform.

Here's L-bug on her gym's float.  She's the one with her arms up in the air.  We didn't realize how big her gym's float was, it was roughly four cars long plus walkers... so here comes the first car, hm, anyone see L-bug. Second car, maybe she's is on the other side... Third, we must have missed her. Then we here, MOM I'm on this one. Look and there's a fourth car full of kids and L-bug's got her arms up in the air so we can find her.  She had such a blast. Two girls from her ballet class are on there as well, but honestly I can't pick them out from this picture.

Daddy went to pick up L-bug from the drop off site and brought her back to watch the end of the parade with us.  There was probably another hour after she got back... over two hour long parade. By the time it was over I was beat and ready for bed. We were going strong from 10-10 pretty much.  It was fun though and we all had a blast.

Summer is flying to an end

Around here we've been wrapping up summer vacation.  The library summer program has come to an end and school supplies have been purchased. 

Boo and Ro-bear practicing gymnastics at the splash pad.

Bringing our friend a baby shower gift because we missed her shower.

We found Hello Kitty cookies at the store and the girls wanted to have a tea party with the cookies.

Library end of the year party, everyone's a super hero.

Boo snuggling her favorite kitty Tammy.

Ro-bear and Boo playing Monopoly.  Boo wanted to buy every space.  Lands on Chance card: I buys it get more monies. me: You can't buy that. Boo: I gets more monies?

Ro-bear decided to do a modeling show at the mall, which surprised everyone because Ro-bear is the shyest child we know.  She didn't win, but loved it so much she wants to do it again next year.

We went to the Maker's Faire as part of Funfest this year.   We look forward to it all year because we love going to the faire and seeing what new booths are available and what new things the old vendors bring each year.  This year we got to build mini metal helicopters from Bell helicopter and draw using Lego robots.  L-bug got to hold a bee. Boo thought she wanted to hold a bee, but changed her mind at the last second.

Since the Maker's Faire and other activities are very picture heavy I'm going to be doing a separate blog post on each of our fun summer experiences. Tune in soon for more details. I hope you're having a wonderful and cool summer and stop in soon to the Blue Rabbit Academy or check out the Blue Rabbit Cottage to see what we've been into in the world of crafts. 

Happy Summer

Happy July. We took some time this summer to get into a nice routine.
Monday is our free were we catch up on chores and play with friends.
Tuesday we go to the library for the preschool reading and then go to the bookstore for the day.

Wednesday we walk to the farmer's market, go to gymnastics,  pick up L-bug's friend and go to the elementary program at the library then we hit the grocery for the week. Wednesday is our busy day.

Thursday is another slow day where L-bug spends most of the day playing with friends and i spend most of the day cleaning.

Friday is splash pad day. We have a standing date with a handful of friends to meet every friday afternoon to play.

Let's see, other things we've done this summer. We planted a garden. It has really taken off.

Garden in May.

Garden in June

Boo had a birthday. She is three now.

L-bug and I have been reading about cosplay and costuming. We tried making a leather mask molded to the shape of her face. It needs work.

And finally for today, Ro-bear is addicted to reading. She's so cute.

We're also working on the blue rabbit cottage. www.bluerabbitcottage.blogspot.com and also bluerabbitcottage.etsy.com. Come check us out if you haven't already.