Bumberlovin'

Doug and I went to Bumbershoot, a fantastic arts and music festival held every Labor Day weekend in Seattle. In the past, Doug had to cover the event when he worked for The Seattle Times. Finally, we could go as regular joes, but this time there was a catch: We had to take the kids.

My previous Bumbershoot experiences consisted of spending the days wandering around checking out the events, then touching base with Doug while he covered the weekend's lineup. If we saw an event together, he usually took notes then ran off to consult with a reporter halfway through it. I was so excited to spend time with him at the festival that I had some difficulty finding a positive space in my mind to take the kids with us. But all in all, the kids did well, Doug took a hit for me and watched the kids all day Sunday while I met friends at Bumbershoot and we did have some great family time together on the final day.

Saturday we started out with Katy Perry, which was a blast mainly because Phoebe really digs the song, "Hot and Cold." I loved watching her face as she heard the music, then realized we were watching someone perform the music versus just watching the video online. She and Em also loved chasing the large inflatable balls bouncing around the arena.
We caught Mayer Hawthorne, where we ran into our pals, Marc and Tina. We ate roasted corn on the cob, supplementing our salmon sandwiches I packed. We hit the Center House where there were fun crafts to do, musical instruments to try courtesy of Soundbridge and an awesome gymnastics area for the kids to jump out some energy. Emma hit the arcade for rides and games, which appeased her somewhat. Our final performance of the day was Eric Hutchinson, who was fun and upbeat. (if you're online, you should totally check out his acoustic version of "My Girl/Ignition.")

Sunday was a huge bonus day for me. I met up with Marc and Tina (sans familia) at Memorial Stadium for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O was on fire, dressed up in this wacky tassle/fringe/biker jacket ensemble. Tina and I ditched out a little early to catch S.E. Hinton, the author of "The Outsiders." She was frank and funny, with some revealing insights about the stars of the films based on her books. (On Nicholas Cage: "He is strange." On Mickey Rourke: "He was a pill. That's a nice way of saying he was an asshole.")
Other highlights from that day were the Flatstock poster sale area, making a book at the Seattle Center for Book Arts booth, hearing my favorite song from United States of Electronica, Michael Franti and Spearhead and Jason Mraz. We really did turn it out for Michael Franti, I have to say. It felt amazing to just jump around screaming while my bulky backpack bounced up and down. I loved every second of every song. Absolutely loved it.

The ride home was funny-for some reason we started singing, "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. And we did it all. The barenarenahnarenahnare guitars, the piano riffs, the backup vocal sections, even the crazy screamin' Steve Perry vocals. Pretty embarrassing that between the five of us in the car, we could pull out the entire song. But pretty damn awesome, too!