Yesterday we got to attend out first ever Summer Solstice Festival. It was an interesting and unique (for us) experience, and it felt great to be surrounded by people and many many children (not an every day occurrence for me, not counting Mark and kids here). I truly enjoyed feeling such positive atmosphere and only wished Maya and Elijah had a bit more fun. They are really not used to such events, especially when there's nobody familiar to them. As a result, Elijah felt more comfortable watching the events from distance and Maya... well, no surprises there. She fell apart sometime between the moment when I didn't let her have someone else's birthday cake for dinner (she thought it was mine, because she knows my birthday will be in a few days)and the time when Mark gently reminded her, while she was playing with hula-hoops, that her untouched dinner was sitting on the plate. Everything after that was a blur. Mark took screaming Maya away from the crowd and spend a good 20-minutes trying to get her to calm down, while I was packing our stuff with Anya on my back, watching Elijah with one eye to make sure he didn't burn anyone with the stick he kept putting in the fire.
(the rest of the photos here)
All in all, the amount of stress was within normal limits (by our standards) and as Mark and I concluded later, there were lessons we both learned and things we both enjoyed. Still, hoping to do better next time...
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and before I forget, a recipe for my summer 'must-have' salad (the yellow and orange one)
carrots (about 4)
beets (2 medium sized)
walnuts (about 1 cup)
salt
pepper
agave nectar (or honey)
apple cider vinegar
extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Peel and grade carrots and beets. I used yellow beets this time which I never tried before. I think I prefer stronger flavor of red beets. Crumble walnuts into the salad and add the rest of the ingredients to taste. Simple, eh?
(no recipe for quinoa salad this time, I just frantically mixed it together as Mark was putting kids into the car. I may try to recreate it soon :)
5 comments:
beautiful pics and oh my that looks yummy!
Too bad we're way down here in Cedar city. It looks like a great group of fun people.
Love your photographs!
I don't remember meeting you at the festival, but you and your family look familiar. I'll go upload my photos and post them as well.
I thought I saw you there! I met you a couple years ago at one of the babywearing meetups :) Awesome pictures!
Where did you go to this summer solstice celebration, it was always a big deal to celebrate back home in alaska, but people don't seem to celebrate solstice much down here in utah, we'd love to join you next year!
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