Winterfest

It took me nearly a week to recover from Winterfest. There were nights after midnight and mornings up by 5ish. I needed a long recovery period after that. Once I caught up on sleep, then I had to catch up on work, so there wasn't any blogging for a while. I will have to remember that next year! The last night at Winterfest we try to eat somewhere nice, NOT fast food. Last year it was TGIFriday's, and some of the kids wanted to do that again while others wanted something new. The other female chaperone and I looked for places, and we tried Hard Rock Cafe, but at $13 for a burger we decided to keep looking. I heard a man in a fudge shop recommend Uva to a tourist, and it was near our hotel, so we tried it out. The food was good, inexpensive, and the place had charm. It is a mom and pop wine bar and cafe, and on Saturdays they have karaoke!! Several of the kids tried the karaoke and we are planning to make it a tradition. Just don't tell the elders that we took the kids to a bar!

#1 took a friend this year with him to Winterfest. I thought it would make the trip better for him if he had someone to share it with. It seemed to work. Here he is with his buddy volunteering to be in a game while we waited in one of the many Winterfest lines. They had to make a noise like a bison. Neither of them won, but I'm not sure that the group had ever heard a bison, so I don't know how legit the judging was. They were good sports about it though.

On Saturday afternoon, the kids get to have some free time to wander the town and shop. #1 really wanted to go back to a store he discovered last spring with our family. He bought this mask there.

Here we are waiting in line again. The conference is well worth the wait though. This year the theme was the veil that keeps us from God...Satan's trickery. There were lots of different ways the message was presented...acting, testimony, video, preaching, visuals, poetry, and a guest from The Biggest Loser. Communion on Sunday was intense.

The hotel we stayed in was a long walk through town to the conference center, but the kids said they liked it there. I think they liked getting to talk to each other while we walked. It also meant that they had to make a decision about what they wanted to do and not go back and forth to the room. The view from our room was great; the river below was beautiful.

So now I am "recovered" and hopefully will start blogging again. Of course with kids' projects due, chicks about to hatch, a play in full-swing practice, and a dog that is constantly in trouble there may not be another entry for a LOOOONNNNGGGGG time.