A lovely, local day
We had a really wonderful day yesterday, mostly spent attending local events.
Our first stop was the library to return and borrow books, and we headed to the community center. Upon arriving we learned that there was a large book festival going on! They had a mobile library in addition to the regular one, and an activity where you collect bookmarks from various stations around the facility. One of the stations had you creating your own mini popup picture book, by cutting shapes out of construction paper and gluing them to a folded book they provided. The reward for collecting all bookmarks was a papercraft of the mobile library. All in all, a very tasteful set of activities that was focused around books and designed just right.
They also had a used book booth where we got a lot of picture books, and a couple of encyclopedias for a great price. Together with the library books, we probably came home with around 30 new books to enjoy.
And, there was an incredibly talented man with an accordion walking around. He was performing a wide range of music including classical French songs and Ghibli tunes. I couldn’t believe how good he sounded!
Next up, there was a little event going on at the senior center with a petting zoo, free cotton candy, and snacks for purchase. We got to pet goats, sheep, a big pig, guinea pigs, and a friendly snake.
We try to attend events like this that seem fun for the kids, but lately we have been seeing mostly for-profit ones. This day was such a breath of fresh air, and not just because everything was so cheap (if not completely free). It just felt like the people putting on the events were all genuinely happy to have people attending, and had put a lot of thought into how to make us (actually the kids) happy. It made me so glad that we live somewhere with an active community like this.