Sunday, October 7, 2012

Hangin with the Hippies - Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival 2012

 Last year, we tried Bluegrass with Cameron after the ALS walk and it was a disaster. Cameron did not want to sit still or entertain himself so we could enjoy some music. So we paid $70 just to be there for 2 hours (before the storm hit) and we did not get to listen to any music because we walked around trying to entertain Cameron. So this year, we did it differently. We all took off Friday and Daniel's parents watched Cameron so we could spend the day at Bluegrass. (And I missed Cameron a lot so I compensated by taking tons of pictures of cutie Hannah.)
 And in Kansas, you never know what the weather will be. But this year even though it was a little chilly, it was great weather for Bluegrass.
 We all had at least 2 layers of clothing (I had 3). But it was great cuddling weather especially with Hannah.
So we all took turns cuddling Hannah. And even Daniel and Hannah cuddled. :)
 She is so adorable. And teacher Erin had her highlighter out to clearly mark what shows she wants to see. 
 Cuddled and completely passed out on Erin
 And of course at Bluegrass, we get great food and what a variety of options - BBQ, hamburgers, pork burgers :), gyros, chinese, pizza, and of course desserts like cobbler and funnel cake :)
 Hannah & her mommy taking naps together
 Hannah just waking up and our first show (or at least partial show) with Andy May on Stage 3.
 Then of course, John McCutcheon. He's amazing. And we only cried once at the end when he ended with "The Great Storm is Over" which dad picked out for his funeral. But it was good to cry all together as a family. 
But we had cutie Hannah to keep us smiling :)
 Then we headed to Stage 1 to save our place and then went and looked at all the crafts, etc. Normally, the ground between the grandstands and the stage is full of people, but with rain on Thursday, it made it a little difficult so only a few braved the mud. But most Bluegrass attendees are not discouraged by a little rain or whatever else could come their way. They are Bluegrass fans to the core and look forward to this all year. So rain, shine, storm, flood, 100s or 50s do not discourage this amazing experience.
 So we watched Dan Cary & Thunderation which is Irish music and then the Finger Style Winners.
 Then we watched Driven which was more gospel and they have a set of twins in their band which makes me like them all the more :)
 And then we watched the Greencards which are always great.
 Hannah enjoyed some yummy cobbler
 and Daniel and I shared a funnel cake (which I seriously ate 2/3 of it myself and then woke up in the middle of the night not feeling very good)
 David got to meet up with us late afternoon and of course we were very glad to have him with us. 
 Daniel and I went over to Stage 2 to watch The Steel Wheels. And I loved them.  Then back to Stage 1 for John McCutcheon again.
 Hannah was ready for bed and so were we. 
So we got one family picture in before Daniel and I headed back to Andover/Wichita to pick up Cameron and go home to sleep so we'd be ready the next morning for the ALS walk.


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