Music, Peacocks and Dirt

Last Thursday we headed to String Summit, a very family-friendly music festival that Todd and I have attended for 7 of the past 8 years... a family tradition if you will.... The festival takes place at Horning's Hideout, a magical (if very dusty) piece of secluded land, complete with forest paths, a lake, and plenty of peacocks. The peacocks are the big novelty, with the kids (and adults) constantly on the lookout for dropped peacock feathers to take as souvenirs.
This year's adventure was amazing, as always, but a lot of work. Phoebe, who just started walking a few weeks ago, is still rather unsteady, and spent a lot of time falling... into dirt and down hills. She is also very independent (to put it kindly) and will just take off in any direction without ever looking back. That meant that Todd and I had to be really vigilant about watching her, and there wasn't a whole lot of down time.
But, the weather was lovely, the music was great, and spending a long weekend camping and dancing with like-minded folks is always wonderful. This year, about a week before we left, I spotted this on pinterest. I knew with the peacock theme, that it would be perfect for String Summit, and I knew I had to make it for Phoebe. Finn was not keen on a tutu, but told me that he wanted a new cape, and so I just had to make Finn a cape to match Phoebe's skirt. I also found some peacock-patterned fabric I had laying around and whipped up a little skirt for P to wear under her tutu.
The costumes turned out great. There were several other peacock skirts at the festival, as I had expected there to be, but Finn was the only one with a matching cape. With the hot weather, dusty ground, and a stumbling baby, the tutu didn't get worn as much as I had hoped.... however, I made it a bit big in hopes that she can wear it again next year.
Below you can see a few pictures from the weekend, as well as a quick costume photo shoot that happened before we left and before things got dirty! Today was spend unpacking, cleaning and doing lots and lots of laundry... and I hope to re-find a bit of rhythm before we go on another adventure next weekend!