"Revel Days Are Here Again"

Growing up here in the Shreveport Bossier area, Mush and I always enjoyed going to the Red River Revel in October. It's an art festival with live music and plenty of activities for kids. This was y'all's second Revel experience. One of the great things about the Revel is the delicious food. Smoked turkey legs, muffaletta pizza, shrimp skewers, and meat pies are just a few selections of the fare offered. Having you two kiddos, we dined on roasted corn, chicken tenders, corn dogs, funnel cakes, and sweet potato fries (over the course of several hours, mind you). Another is all the beautiful art done with all kinds of media by artists from all over the country. We didn't have too much time for that kind of thing, however! After we noshed a little, we made a beeline to the children's area. First up was bottle sand art. Landon, you were eager to make a "friend" for your bottle that you made at last year's Revel. Next up: face painting. Now, face painting has come a long way since my days at the Revel; where once there was the measly selection of a butterfly, sunshine, or some other pretty basic picture, there is now whole face painting complete with glitter by an artist. You chose the dalmation, and the transformation began! You were still as a stone as she worked her magic. It was amazing once she had finished; and the "tongue" that she painted hanging out of your mouth was too much! We didn't do your's, Shelby, because we knew you would never sit still. From there, we headed next door to the Brookshire's grocery store exhibit. You both loved this: pushing the little shopping carts around, gathering groceries and then checking out. Then it was on to the archaeologist's mock dig. I didn't think you, Shelby were going to have anything to do with it, seeing how she despises sand so much. But once you saw that you could, in fact, stand up and it wasn't going to kill you, you had a great time! You both sifted and poured searching for the "hidden" crystals, shark teeth, and gemstones. Landon, you did a couple of art activities: you painted a clay pot and made a fish out of model magic. On our way out, you spotted the ferris wheel and wanted to ride. It was 50 feet tall, and you were certain that you wanted to ride. We hopped on, and right off the bat, we were zoomed to the top where we stopped. I had fully prepared myself for a complete meltdown, but you were exhilerated with excitement. You smiled the entire time! Shelby, you were not real thrilled with us being way up there though; you cried and waited with JuJu. By that time, we were all getting tired and reveled out. So we picked up a couple of funnel cakes "to-go" and headed back home. Another great Revel experience!