Vashon Strawberry Festival 2013

We went to the Strawberry Festival several times over the course of the weekend.

 We went on Friday evening while the booths were still being set up.  Though there were no booths we mostly just went to ride some rides.  Though I think the rides were pretty lame I can't help but wonder if this is just what happens when you are an adult.  Carnival rides just aren't as cool as your memory captures.   Nonetheless, J had a great time! The beer garden was open, the music was great, and the locals were out!  For the several hours on Friday there were familiar faces everywhere!

Before the parade we went to the Kiwanis Pancake breakfast! The pancakes were good, the community was awesome. People were chatty.  Seriously it was a lovely little small town event.

We walked in the Children's Parade with Creative Preschool. (we love J's preschool!).  Then after we walked we stopped at the end of the route and watched the rest of the parade.  It was fun! Very fun.  Actually walking in the parade gave us a good sense of everything that was going on.

After the parade we had hoped to peruse the booths and stuff.  But it was so so so crowded.  Lesson learned! We won't do that again.

Later that evening we went back with some guests who had arrived and walked around and J rode some more rides.  It was fun.

Finally, on Saturday night S and I went up to the music in the streets. It was fun to walk the streets at night, to dance in the street, and to enjoy.  It is such an intimate thing with one's town to dance in the streets.  The relationship with place changes when you have used it as a dancefloor!

All in all, this festival only contributes to our love for this Island. We had fun!  And it was just enough for our family!

Vashon does Halloween

Of course the Vashon Island community would not just let Halloween be a family or even neighborhood holiday. It is much too creative and playful for us to leave that one!

So Vashon town center closed down from traffic and most of the businesses open their doors and welcome trick or treaters.  From the senior center to the thriftway grocery store most everyplace was open!

It was really fun! People of ALL ages (seriously ALL) were dressed up.  I personally loved a Hula Zombie Dad and one of the businesses has people "haunting it." In general, it was really easy to handle our three year old despite the crowd of High Schoolers, Older kids, adults etc. 

All in all, we will go back next year- without a doubt. Hey, we even saw someone we knew so that was nice/cool.

Oh, I forgot, the Vashon Island Roasterie had hundreds of carved and lit pumpkins outside it was super super cool! We ALL loved it!

We didn't participate in this, but our neighborhood also had trick-or-treating.  We were pretty much done coaching our three year old through, "say trick-or treat," "Say thank you." etc. But it's cool that the houses around our neck of the woods  have a tradition too.

Grease- by Drama Dock

For a play that seemed to be put on almost exclusively by kids under 18 it was awesome!

Today, my three year old and I went and saw the musical Grease at Vashon High School.  It was such fun! She loved the dancing and the music. I really enjoyed seeing the Island kids acting and creating.  It made me dream for my girls. Not that they will necessarily do drama but the auditorium was full of other teenagers supporting one another.  Very cool!

They did a great job! We had plenty of fun!
Oh, and the snacks at intermission were by donation only.

I confess though this was my first experience of not loving all of it.  Some people were pretty hostile at intermission. I was trying to negotiate helping Junia make a donation for her snacks. She had brought some of her own money and I wanted her to donate it before she grabbed a cookie. She was totally fine with it- but the woman behind her wanted her beverage NOW!  C'mon people, I have a three year old with me, and you are at a freakin' musical.

So be it.

Nonetheless, it was great fun!