some hands-on fun

last saturday, after davis got his nap and was all rested up, we decided to check out the youth arts festival at ecu that is held by the art school every year, along with a lot of local artists and businesses. again, the weather had the event being held indoors instead of outside on campus, but there was a ton to do. davis and i headed out on our own first and had justin and his dad and stepmom meet us there. i'll admit--it was challenging being there by myself with him. i had brought his stroller and diaper bag and between pushing those in and out of the rooms and carrying him, it was hard! we still had a good time while we waited for everyone else to show up, and one of the first rooms we hit was the "cardboard building" room, where they had turned huge cardboard boxes into towers and little playhouses that the kids were painting. davis headed right in...and was immediately covered with paint. i did my best to clean him, but then picking him up got paint on me and so our outfits were both done for the day (see what i mean about avoiding egg dyeing earlier in the day?)

we did so many other cool things, like playing with stamps and inkpads, making a hammered bottle cap necklace, a pinecone bird feeder, listening to african drums and the instrument petting zoo (it took all my willpower not to ask to try the clarinet, but i knew the germs at those petting zoos are killer!) but with my hands full with him and so many people there, i honestly only took a few pictures. once justin and his family got there, it was a little bit easier, but was still overwhelming at times. maybe next year when he's a little older (and hopefully it's outside and easier to navigate.)

where did we end back up at? the cardboard box room. where he proceeded to pick up a paint brush and go at it. 

this kid was so happy painting. and at that point, i just said, "there goes the outfit. let's have fun!" so we did. and got plenty of cute comments from the fellow parents who loved watching him get into it. 

we had to drag him away kicking and screaming (literally) once he took over one of the boxes and one of the other little boys wanted to go in but not while he was there because he was afraid davis was going to paint him (fair enough.) we walked back to the car and saw the shady green grass outside of my freshman year dorm and decided to soak up one more moment on campus. you can see the paint on the back of my arms and shoulders at that point...

and davis's resulting face and hair...

for whatever reason, he wanted to roll around on the mulch and dirt.

okay, kid. sure thing!

and the full view of our afternoon....

my friend lynn said, "you can always tell how much fun you had by how messy you are."

then we had an AWESOME time!