Art Fest '09

We finally attended the art fest in the Grand Cities last weekend. Kristie and I always say that we will and make plans to attend, but something comes up . . . or it rains, which I think it has on the date for the past three years now.

But yesterday was beautiful - I dare say our first real day of summer.

Kristie gave me a choice: begin working on turning Casey's room into a family room or going to the art fair. It took less than a nano second to make that call.

I was really pushing my luck too because Kristie has some pretty big plans around here. Unfortunately those plans call for work, which I loathe during the summer.

She's already gotten me to put together our dog kennel and tear up a good section of the side walk that runs along the west side of our house. I thought that was good enough until August, but no. There's more to do.

So when Saturday dawned beautiful, we decided to spend the day outside reading and playing with Kenzers. Then our neighbors, Steph and Spencer, stopped over and we visited for at least five hours. By the time they left, it was pretty much time to call it a day - no chance to tear up any side walk or begin painting.

So when Sunday dawned even more gorgeous (if that's correct English), we couldn't resist putting Kenzers in a sun dress, slathering on the sun block, and heading over to Grand Forks.

It was an event. KoKo, as usual, made out like a bandit. She got a personalized ring with "KoKo" on it from one vendor while she got a tie dye skirt at another booth.

There were some incredible displays there. I loved a framed abstract photograph, but since it was an original work, I couldn't imagine forking over the $700 for it. But it would have been a great piece to have.

We did find a rather interesting addition for our back yard, though. One of the vendors, Francis Metal Works, used iron and a field stone to create sculptures of geese, egrets, ibises, and cranes. They are quite solid and most have a long spike beneath their feet that help fasten them. We settled on a crane. Gail, who met us at the fair, settled on an egret.

To escape the heat - hey it might have only been the mid 80's but it was the first real nice day we've had all year and we weren't used to this kind of weather so it felt like 105 degrees - we crossed over the bridge to EGF and sought shelter in Mike's Pizza, the best pizza I've ever had since Dave's pizza in Bemidji.

We filled up on pizza while Kenzers gobbled up some chicken strips and french fries.

Then it was back out into the heat for some more shopping before making the obligatory trips to Target and the Dairy Queen.

Kenzie was pretty tired from her day out in the sun, but poor Kristie was exhausted. When we got home, KoKo and I were ready to crank up the central air, but Kristie had the chills and was looking for a blanket and the space heater! She maybe had a case of heat exhaustion. So while KoKo and I sat around in shorts and t-shirts, Kristie was bundled up.

To cap the evening off, I let the dogs out one last time and saw Steph and her two dogs, well, technically just one, but they are babysitting another puppy. So she stopped over with Boomer and Daisy, the dogs, and we began visiting. Soon Kristie came out with Kenzie and we had another good two hour conversation with our neighbor.

It was a pleasant end to a very pleasant weekend.

Now, though, I have to get back to that side walk . . .