LEAF with Kids

We returned from our trip to Texas for Austin City Limits on Wednesday evening, spent a day of absolute craziness on Thursday (work, 4+ hours of homeschool classes, grocery shopping, library, gymnastics, unpacking, laundry, packing), and headed out again on Friday. While it made for an extremely stressful turnover, it was well worth it.

Friday morning, as early as we could, we headed out with a fully packed car to Black Mountain, NC, for our third LEAF adventure. The girls and I went, without Rob, last fall. We used the old, no longer waterproof, wedding present tent; it managed to snow AND rain while we were camping at LEAF. That lead to me to insisting on the purchase of a new tent in the spring for the Spring 2010 LEAF. Our new tent is larger than a camper, I think. It has a door on a hinge and even a dome light with a switch! For the Spring 2010 LEAF, Rob came up the day after we did (so guess who got to get everything set up — with help from some very sweet friends) and had a great time. This fall was the first time we headed up to LEAF as a family.

Our tent

Rob made wrong turns twice — how does he get anywhere on his own? Finally, we were there, setting up our tent near that of our friends. I decided that the girls had been there twice before and were ready for total freedom during daylight hours. They happily came and went. Camille spent time selling knitted items in the kids’ area; they have a great up for kids’ to sell their own handmade items. Chloe made some new friends and ran around with them for much of the weekend; I’ve since found their family online at House in the Woods. I relaxed. Read, slept, listened to live music (The Indigo Girls!) and zoned out. Rob “adventured”: hiking, canoeing, tree climbing, zip lining, discovering new bands; Chloe joined him on the giant zipline that dumps you right into the chilly lake.

Balloons

I love the kids’ area. It has grown since our first trip into a place where the kids can find so many fun things to do! Bubbles, shaving cream, unicycling lessons, concerts, juggling lessons, balloon animals, face painting, the aforementioned market, a very fun parade and oh so much more! Around the rest of LEAF, kids can learn to trapeze, take a ride on the zipline and participate in most every other activity happening. I love that LEAF isn’t for JUST families, but families are more than welcome. There’s an area dedicated to families, but they are welcome throughout the festival as well.

The first year, I brought lots of food and the camp stove; since them, I’ve brought plenty of snacks, but have been happy to buy all of our food from the vendors there. The prices are reasonable; there are lots of great kid-friendly vegetarian, healthy food options. What can be more fun than to watch the pizza guys tossing the dough and putting a fresh pizza into the pizza over right there in the middle of a field near the lake?? And Chloe LOVED the roasted corn!

The kids are already talking about next spring’s LEAF. To me, that means it was a successful journey!

chloe, waiting

More photos:

• Gwyneth’s Photos
• Rob’s Photos

Face Paint

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