The Texas Book Festival

When we were in Austin over the weekend, we headed to the Texas Book Festival for a morning of kid-friendly fun. My friend Delia told me about it because she thought it would be something our family would enjoy. And she was right! Our first stop was the Children's Entertainment Stage to learn about puppets and see "Rumpelstiltskin."

Mary and Henry especially liked the puppet show. Mary talked about it for the rest of the day.
After the puppet show, we stopped for lunch, which was surprisingly good for a festival. Everyone munched on corn dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches with caramelized onions, and tomato soup. Yum-o!

I especially like the way Henry just eats the breading off his corn dog. We even made it to a book reading (for the kids, of course!), and then Gene captured this picture of Will lounging around.The festival is held on the Capitol grounds, so there was plenty of room for the boys to run and roll

and investigate

and just be boys.

My absolute favorite part of the whole morning was seeing Joe McDermott in concert. He is one of our favorite kids' musicians and we have been listening to his songs since Will was a baby. It was such a treat for all of us to hear him sing because his songs are fun for both kids and grown-ups. You can see how excited Will was to hear the concert. He loved it!

Everyone danced

and clapped

and had a really fun time.

Will got to talk to Joe McDermott after the concert and he even signed the CD we bought, which just made Will's day. I'm not sure how many times we've listened to Above the Crowd: Songs from the Show, but it's awesome. I don't even mind having the lyrics to "Baby Kangaroo" stuck in my head. The whole morning was so much fun and we can't wait to go back to the Texas Book Festival again next year!