Family Day: Downtown Arts Festival

Lately we have been able to spend some wonderful, very much needed, family time together. We have had a pretty hectic schedule the past couple of months, and are finally getting a short little break before summer gears up and our lives get even crazier. 

We went to the Oklahoma City Arts Festival last week. It was such a wonderful time spent eating delicious food, looking at some amazing art, and playing together as a family. 

Downtown OKC has a pretty amazing children's garden that we had never been to before. It is seriously the best "playground" I have ever been too! It had a lot of natural play spaces, thing for the kids to climb on or in, items for them to discover with, and completely open ended play spaces. We LOVED it! 

Jack loved these letters to climb on. It spells GROW. I should have got a picture of the r...oops...oh well.

He wanted to climb on top of it like all of the big kids were doing. 

There was this interesting tower with a spiral stair case. I like that it wasn't anything specific. It would allow for a child to completely use their imagination...it could be a castle, a ship, a tower...really just about anything!

I love little spaces like this natural teepee! I want one for our back yard!

They had this amazing maze that Jack loved.

He took off running into it as soon as he found it. 

...it took him a little while...

...but he finally found the center. In the center was this musical thing...not sure what to call it...but when you walk, jump, or run across it, it makes different chime sounds. Jack ran across it over and over, listening to the "music". 

He then wanted to climb this huge rock like the big kids were...but then..

...we spotted this!

...it pours down rain from the top, and water shoots out from the sides and the bottom. 

 He had a blast! I had to keep reassuring him at first that it was OK to get soaked. Little brother watched on...very curious.

I...I mean he...decided he wanted to go in...

...it was a bit too cold for his liking though and it took a little persuasion to get him to stand there and not cry. oh well. Big brother loved it! 

After changing clothes we went to wait to hear a friend of ours sing. While waiting Jack found these ribbons and started spinning...

and spinning...

and spinning...

till he fell down. He says "momma...room spins round and round" after he falls down...hahaha. Silly boy.

By this time little brother was exhausted and fighting sleep! So we decided to take a walk to hopefully help him fall asleep. 

Along the way Jack found a small stream and started gathering rocks. He loves rocks. 

the stream led us to a little pond where we saw a turtle...

Daddy was trying to show him the little waterfall...but Jack was much more interested in the rocks. 

We then found a much bigger waterfall. Daddy and Jack climbed all the way to the top. 

 On the walk back to the pavilion to hear our friend sing, we spotted a little friend resting beside the water...

Jack was so excited! We wanted to go pet the duck soooooo bad. It took a lot to convince him not to get closer. He really, really, wanted to pet him. 

After our walk we listened to our little friend sing. Then Luke was awake and happy again from his nap. We ate some snacks, played in the grass for a while. Then we decided to head home and enjoy the rest of the day laying around the house enjoying each other. It was so nice!

I love this picture of Jack and I. I was tickling him hardcore just to get him to smile. What a goof ball. 

Have you been able to spend any special time with your family lately? If not take a day off from schedules and everything else going on to simply spend time together. It is a great way to recharge and connect as a family!