ArtPrize

It's ArtPrize time here in Grand Rapids, and now that I don't work downtown anymore, I don't actually hate it.  Two years removed from trying to navigate out of the city parking ramps filled with people that act like they've never been in a city...ever... and I actually find it to be kind of enjoyable.

Our mini art-connoisseur ready for ArtPrize 2013

Art people we are not, but Megan is s.u.p.e.r. into it.  She actually has a piece of art in the competition!  Well, to be more specific, she has one piece of 7,000 that is part of an entry that the art teacher at her elementary school designed.

Each kid at Orchard View, as well as anyone in the community who wanted to participate, designed a ceramic leaf that makes up this display.  Grandma Dee took Megan to see this earlier in the week - she was one proud little artist!

We start following along more closely when they have narrowed the field down to the Top 10 or 25.  Megan and I went down for an enjoyable evening of art viewing the day the Top 10 were announced, and we were able to see 6 of them pretty easily.

This giant panda & baby (in the Top 10) are made entirely out of tires.  So cool!

Megan was a big fan of this one, as was Hannah (who visited earlier in the week with Grandma Purdy)

Enjoying the dog statues outside of the Public Museum

I *think* she understood that they weren't real, but girlfriend loves her dogs

We love these silk flags in the Grand River.  Megan does not understand why they can't stay after ArtPrize.

Come to think of it, I don't either...

"Earth Giant" - this guy is made entirely out of trees, leaves and dirt (and also Top 10)!

Her expressions became slightly more strange as the evening progressed.

I think the ducks were pretty great

Maybe not particularly artsy, but we liked the kitty cats outside of the Ford Museum too.

Megan particularly enjoyed this odd jungle gym thing outside of the Amway Grand

Peek-a-boo

Getting silly after a couple of hours of walking around

We stopped for ice cream after doing a loop of the major venues around the river.  Upon returning home, Megan promptly informed her father that "Mom spent nine dollars on ice cream".  THE TRAITOR!

Safari Adventure

One of the items on our summer to-do list was to check out the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton, Ohio.  We eventually made it...though it took us until the last weekend of September.  We left Friday afternoon after Megan got out of school, and spent the night in Toledo to break up the drive.  Here are a few glimpses into our little mini-adventure:

Unfortunately, way too much of our drive looked like this.

Two little sweeties enjoying hotel life  

We hit the hotel breakfast bar bright and early - their idea, not mine.

Ahhh, scenic Ohio...

We were surprised to learn that not only could we drive through the zoo with our windows open, but we could also feed the animals.  Upon entering, we were promptly greeted by this guy.

Hannah feeding her first visitor

Got carrots?

Hannah found the whole experience to be hilarious

Especially this part - hello BUFFALO!

Fun fact:  buffalo are large - very large  (second fun fact:  buffalo drool)

After the buffalo, this much more reasonably sized animal was a welcome sight

Megan did not (repeat: DID NOT) enjoy the buffalo attack on our vehicle, but did get into the experience with the reindeer - these guys are much less intimidating than the rather aggressive llamas and gigantic buffalo

For much of our drive, we were the only car inside the safari.  This car entered as we were leaving - the swarm of animals gave us an interesting visual of what our experience must have looked like from the outside.

Double giraffe noses

Hannah got to feed the giraffes...

...and drive the car!  

Go, Hannah, go!

'Sup?

The zebras were our last stop on the drive-thru safari.  (This was lucky as we were out of food)

The girls got a camel ride - included with admission

Hannah enjoyed climbing the dangerously high slide which makes her mother a nervous wreck

Up close and personal with a cute little hedgehog during a nature show

White alligator - there are only 30 of these in the whole country.

Hmmm...how could we skip this?

And they're off!!

Daddy, Megan, and the newest addition to our family - Bob the billy goat.

Grand Haven - Fall fun

To our pleasant surprise, we are finding that we enjoy Grand Haven just as much in the fall as we do in the summer - maybe even a little bit more, actually, as the crowds have disappeared, there are a lot of great fall festivals, and the weather has been just as gorgeous.  The plan was to start scaling back on our trips out there once school started up again, but we made it out just about every weekend in September!



Flowers at the Farmer's Market

Exploring the GH library for the first time

Practicing our two-wheel bike riding skills - two weeks after this (with no further practice), she picked up her bike and just took off riding!

Contemplating life while enjoying a Spongebob popsicle

Someone else made her first run for ice cream in GH, too

Painting a mural during Kid's Day at the GH Salmon Festival

I was surprised she was adventurous enough to touch the turtles
 

Smokey Bear showed up to the Salmon Festival, too

She loves people in over-sized costumes - it doesn't particularly matter if she knows who they are



Fishing for steelhead at the kiddie fish pond (no such luck for our little blonde angler)

The sisters enjoy Popsicle Hour in the backyard



We found the right deal on a used playhouse for them for the backyard.  Our agreement was that I buy it, they clean it up and make it inhabitable - a job they took very seriously



More painting opportunities as part of ArtWalk in GH - this girl and her H's...

First-graders take art very seriously, you know