Junior Picassos

Today  I took the kids to the Salt Lake Arts Festival in downtown Salt Lake http://www.uaf.org/. I was hoping that Ben was going to be able to go, but it just so happened that the only day that we could go was also the day that Ben was going to have to work late. So I packed the kids into the car with extra clothes and a huge water bottle and cruised on downtown.

There are a few things that I wish I would have thought about before making the trip.

#1- Parking

Parking downtown already sucks. I went in the afternoon- so parking meters weren't scarce but you can only put in so much change and A: I didn't have any change B: there's no way I'm walking back and forth with two kids just to put change in a meter. There are parking lots but they were charging 6 and even 10 dollars to use them. That is RIDICULOUS!!! Especially since one of the 10 dollar places was the library. Yeesh! I ended up deciding to Park on 5th south in free parking. This did require me to walk with John while pushing Miriam in the stroller a few blocks. Which brings me to my next thought...

#2- Event Transportation

Had I been thinking, I would have parked by the trax station further up the street and taken the kids to the library. That way  I'd besitting in an air conditioned train with total control of the kiddies. The next ideal would've been to bring my sling to carry Miriam and push John in the stroller. (What I would've given to have already bought the double stroller) I had decided not to take the sling because I thought it would be easier to have a place to put Miriam knowing that John would just get restless and I'd be stuck pushing an empty stroller while chasing one kid and carrying the other.

In the end, what I did end up doing was walking with John those few blocks,and then; quickly realizing at that rate I wouldn't get there til Christmas, putting him on my shoulders and pushing Miriam to the entrance. This is also how we came back. The upside? Excercise for me. :)

#3- Making the health booth your first stop is the best idea.

 Here you'll find free cold water and fans. They also gave us a plastic water bladder to fill up for John to carry (yes, I did bring our own water but this was way more fun for him). In addition to that they had adult and kid sunscreen and sunscreen in packets. I'm really glad that we stopped here first because it made the festival a lot more enjoyable.

#4- Swimsuits

If you think that there is going to be water for your kids to play in  where you are going, bring the inswimsuit either in your bag or by having them wear it there. We stopped at this little fountain (before and after we did everything else) and luckily I had the foresight to have John wear his swim shorts. He had a lot of fun and I didn't worry about him getting his clothes wet AND it dried quickly. PLUS it made a hot day bearable for my little boy.

We walked into the water and at first John was a little unsure of what I was letting him do. "You want me to play in the water and get my clothes wet mom?"

It didn't take him long to warm up to the idea though and pretty soon he was splashing and even sitting in the water here.

#5- How hard it really is to take to small children to any public place.

I applaude single parents who do this kind of thing everyday. It was an interesting experience and I think that I'll definitely take Ben with me to this next time because it sure was a balancing act.

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"Mom, get me out"

Someone's a little sad. :(

John thought that this dragon was pretty neat and he kept trying to shake his hand. I had to pull him away finally though cause I didn't want to be "that mom" who let her kid break the dragon art.

Playing with the blocks in the shade

John is trying to figure out how to get up on the slide. One little girl saw him and said, "um I think this one is for the bigger kids." Lol.

John loves the teeter totter and this Aligator one was right up his alley

This green sand was really soft and John loved playing in it with the other kids. They also had other sand boxes full of blocks and other toys.

Under the red shade of the stroller is Miriam dozing away while John has his fun in the sun.

FYI the arts festival is a great place to take kids. Ages 12 and under are free and they have some great activities for them. There were 6 to 8 booths with things to do and take home and they were free. There were even a few more things to do if you wanted to spend 7 - 10 dollars more. I'm glad that we went and I hope to make this a tradition.