Bluegrass in the Park

About 5 years ago, my mom and I discovered a wonderful annual event called "Bluegrass in the Park" right across the river in Henderson, Kentucky. We kind of stumbled upon it and ended up staying all day and into the night to listen to many wonderful bluegrass bands from all around the country. I convinced Chris to come along the following year and he was hooked too. The setting is beautiful, right on the river, and the weather has been unusually nice almost every year. People bring their chairs and blankets and just camp out in the grass all day. We've made it a tradition to make the short trip across the Ohio River to enjoy some terrific music, fried green tomatoes (my favorite) and watered-down lemon shake ups every year since 2003. And maybe best of all...this event is FREE!!!

We took Addie last summer and it was miserably hot, but we still enjoyed the music and the atmosphere. So this year, we thought it might be even more fun to add a music-loving, dancing toddler to the mix. Fortunately, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we ended up staying for about 4 hours. Addie played and danced on a quilt and even made some new friends. There was a little girl who was 15 months old sitting with her family right behind us and she kept venturing up to see what Addie had to offer in the way of toys. They were so cute together, playing and sharing toys. Addie even gave Ella her "lovey," which surprised the daylights out of me since this is her most special possession.

Addie and her new friend Ella

Sharing toys

Later in the evening, another little girl arrived with her family who was about 18 months old. She was almost as tall as Addie and talked just as much and really enjoyed pointing to Addie's nose and ears and telling her all about the strawberry on her shirt. It was very cute to see them interacting.

Addie dancing and clapping to the music

I think the huge inflatable slide and jumping castle were the highlight of the day, although Addie was not big enough to actually enjoy them herself. She kept pulling us out of our chairs to take us over to them just to watch the big kids play. It kind of made me sad that she couldn't play on them...maybe next year! She did get to pet a nice doggie and see lots of "fast boats" and "noisy trains" throughout our time by the river. She loved the music and even said, "yay song!" one time when a song was over. It was a fun day for all of us!