Curious?

Are you wondering why on earth the kids were recently playing in straw and gazing at little Nessie monsters? If not, I don't think you were paying much attention...

Heather and I decided to take the kiddos to a Celtic Festival in the nearby town of Saline on Saturday. We drove down after nap time and then took a shuttle from the parking lot to the Festival. It seemed rather empty, but given that it was 90 degrees and full blow sun, I wasn't too surprised*. Our first order of business? We set the kids loose in a playground while Heather went to forage for cold, fizzy beverages.

Sadly, Heather returned with bad news. No cold, fizzy beverages to be found. At that point, Abby looked up at me and said "Mommy, sit in shade." I gladly agreed, as I wiped a few sweat drips out of my eyes. We found a comfortable patch of grass under a tree and Heather brought us each a strawberry smoothie. Pretty good substitute for cold, fizzy beverages.

We were refreshed enough after that to wander over toward the bagpipe music. I officially saw the most bagpipers I have ever seen together. I really didn't think that many people even played the bagpipe. The kids were fascinated.

The bagpipes invigorated us, and the kids spent the next little bit playing on the bales of straw randomly scattered around.

By then it was time for the sheep-dog demonstration. After a quick stop at the porto-potties, which were for some reason extremely attractive to Rowan, we headed over.

On the way over we noticed Piper's Pub! Aha! I knew Celts weren't sober. And it helped explain the people I could have sworn weren't quite walking straight. Clearly it wasn't because they had ridden their horses over. So Piper's Pub was the next stop after the sheepdogs. It was conveniently located next to the Celtic games, where there were giant men tossing logs and bales of straw over tall bars.

While we watched the games, Heather and I chatted with an older gentleman who was shocked that Heather and I 1) knew what an IPA was, 2) knew about Bell's brewery, and 3) LIKED IPAs! He spent the next 20 minutes in friendly conversation, trying to find a beer that we hadn't tried. I hate to say it, but it was a sad effort. Blue Moon? Sam Adams? I mean, granted, he was talking about the home-brew competition winners, but still. Anyhow, by the time Heather and I had finished our beer we were dripping in sweat again and headed toward the river for some shade, which is where we saw Nessie.

When we (I) finally decided we were probably going to keel over from heat stroke, we headed out. 10 feet from the entrance to the festival we hit the jackpot. A pile of ice.

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful outing. Well, that and the air-conditioned shuttle bus.

* Right before we left we discovered that the GIANT tent to the right of the entrance was actually a beer garden, which fully explained the lack of people wandering around the rest of the festival. Not only was it shaded in the tent, but there was music and half-gallon jugs of beer for sale! But by the time we discovered it, we were pretty tired of saying "Rowan, Abby stop that! Come back here! Get down! Don't touch that! Turn around this second!" etc., etc. Next time, next time.