National Book Festival

On Saturday the boys and I hit the Mall for this year's National Book Festival. I took a big chance on taking the boys by myself, but it was awesome! My expectations were very, very low, so that may have had something to do with it. But the boys really enjoyed it and they were very well behaved.

It didn't start off too well, though. I hit traffic driving into DC, and then I couldn't park where I was expecting to park. I found a spot close to my office, but then we had to make the long walk to the festival. I was trying to get there by 1:40 p.m. because I wanted to hear the book talk by Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House books. I thought the boys would enjoy it. We hustled and got to festival and found the tent. It was packed, but I managed to shove urge the boys to get in closer. We got a spot where we could actually see the author and then waited for her to come on stage. The boys were tired. And cranky. They didn't like waiting.Then she finally came out and started talking. The boys were still tired. And even more cranky. They whined, "This is boring!"



Mary Pope Osborne in the black and white tunic

T. C. Boyle, author of Tortilla Curtain and many more!

So we bailed. My next goal was to get T. C. Boyle to sign a book for a friend of mine, so we headed toward the complete opposite side of the festival (I don't even know how many blocks, but it seemed like a LOT) where the authors were signing books. William wanted to go to the activities tent. Seth wanted to go to PBS Kids tent. I wanted to at least make an effort to get the autograph, so we stopped for ice cream and got in line for the book signing. It was a beautiful day, but we were in the blazing sun, and it got pretty hot. The kids sprawled in the grass in my shadow and ate their ice cream. I started talking to the woman in front of us. People around us commented on how well behaved the boys were. They started getting antsy. But then the line started moving. Oh my goodness! It looked like I might actually get the signature! The boys held it together, they handed T. C. Boyle the book when it was our turn, and he signed it! Mission accomplished!

After that, I told the boys we could do whatever they wanted for however long they wanted.

We went to the states tent and got a stamp for every.single.state on William's map. We went to the tent with Scholastic books and did crafts and watched an eStoria book.

We rode the Carousel on the Mall and waited in a RIDICULOUSLY slow line for what we thought would be Gatorade, which they were out of, and then maybe Sprite, which they had but they were out of ice so it was luke warm, but in the end, turned out to be water. I added more ice cream for good measure. Then we visited the PBS kids tent and then the Target tent and then we finally headed back to our car at around 5:30 p.m. The crazy part was that the boys  walked the entire way back to our car WITHOUT WHINING. Epic, people. Simply epic. Seth even commented on the fact that he wasn't even asking me to hold him.

Here's proof of their good moods on the walk to the car:

 

 

Seth enjoyed a cherry italian ice that stained his face for the rest of the day!

So, it turned out to be a great day. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rest of our weekend, though. On Friday night, it was elementary school night at our high school's football game. The kids got in for $1, and they LOVED it. I don't think they watched the game for more than one minute, but William found a bunch of buddies and they all threw a football around in the grass. Seth stalked followed the school mascots, throwing them high-fives and hugs every chance he got. (The high school's mascot is a mustang, the middle school's is a huskie, the upper elementary's is a tiger, and Williams's school is a hippo.) Ed and I played man-to-man coverage and had to drag them home just after half time. We had fun and if the weather stays nice, we'll be heading back.

On Sunday, William had his 3rd tee-ball practice. He's enjoying it and already getting better. Here are two photos I snapped.

I'm so glad I enrolled him in this fall clinic. It's been a really good experience so far.

So that was our weekend. Lots of fun, but I'm still exhausted!