A Visionary Artist

This year's trip to the Des Moines Art Festival was made extra special because Adam's art was selected to be part of the Visionary Artists exhibit!

 He got to walk across the stage, shake a few hands,

and sport a very fancy artist medal while we checked out the festival.  It was such a fun way to kick off the day!  All of our kids love art, and it was fun to hear them debate over who would be selected to participate next year.

 I asked a woman to take our picture with all of the big buildings in the background.  I guess that one is pretty big...

Oh well.  Look at that cute family!  Everyone is getting so tall.  

Then off we went to check out all that the festival has to offer.

 The kids would have happily spent the whole afternoon playing dress-ups in the performing arts booth.

That green screen transported the kids into these classic paintings that are now titled

"The Grumpy Family"

"Mona Lisa's Biggest Fan"

and "Hear No Evil, See No Evil."

Adam's picture didn't transfer, which was a real bummer.  But still, he was the only one to come home with a medal.  Once we had hit up our favorite booths- spin art, dog toy braiding, dress ups, and storybook makers- we got sucked into the looooong line for face painting.  Actually, I stood in line while Jason and the kids finished checking out the rest of the kids area, and they swooped back over with their requests (after 45 minutes in line).  They'd tell you it was worth it!  

Except for Noah, who had zero interest in getting his cute face painted.

 This is my favorite sculpture in downtown Des Moines.  

 Let's flash back to the first time we visited this sculpture, back in 2013.  Noah was still five months away from birth in this picture.

 And we all talked about this very stream, where in a previous year we had a painful teaching moment about gratitude and forgiveness and all of the other life lessons that parents help children learn.  Those darn balloons.