After school today I took the boys downtown for the Arts Festival. They insisted we stop by home first to get their notebooks and pens so they could draw the flowers that grow downtown. We parked far far away for free and rode the trolley in for 25 cents. The gardens were beautiful today and the weather was perfect. We got there before the after-work crowd, so it was relatively sparse and easy to get around.

We didn't see much art, really. We did stop for every new plant we saw so the boys could draw it in their notebooks. I bought them Dippin' Dots ice cream and we sat on the lush green lawn in the shade and watched the ducks swim in the pond.

We eventually made it to the artist section and, what do you know, the boys noticed the flower pots sitting beside the art and they sat down to draw those flowers, too. At least the artists thought it was cool! The boys did finally notice one artist's work and we spent a lot of time in her booth looking over her colorful sea life silkscreens and asking her about her inspiration for her wacky flowers.

After looking at the art, we headed over to the children's "bowl" where the children are allowed to tie strips of fabric to mobile structures. The boys absolutely loved it! After a while, Spencer decided it might be fun to roll down the hills, so he spent a good thirty minutes running up, rolling down and starting all over again. The grass was as soft and green as it gets, the landscape was beautiful, and he rolled down under those colorful creations, which were gently moving in the wind. Perfection.

"Mommy, what happens at night at the festival? Do the criminals come and steal all the art while everyone is sleeping?"

"No, they put the art away and they also have policemen who watch over everything at night."

"Oh. So, then...some policemen are nocturnal?"