Monday, November 8, 2010

This festival means family

The 32nd annual Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival is more than just a major event in our town. It also brings our eldest son and his family home from Georgia for a weekend. The festival is held in honor of the potter who was the driving force behind Shearwater Pottery that opened in Ocean Springs in 1927. Shearwater is still in operation with son and grandson continuing the family tradition. The Nov. 6-7, 2010, festival showcased about 350 artists and craftsmen from the local and state arts community and beyond.

Our son and daughter-in-law almost always leave with new treasures for their home, one-of-a-kind clothing for their two girls and rustic toys for the two boys. This year was no exception.

An extra special addition this year was our younger son Jeremy and his family who joined us Friday evening. While Jeremy hit the road for the 90-mile drive to pick up my mother Saturday morning, son Walt and Sarah headed downtown to the festival for serious shopping. Husband Walter, Jeremy’s wife Katie and I worked on keeping the chaos at an entertaining and safe level at home with the six grands.

We were all back together for lunch—four generations that ranged in ages from 91 years old to 5 months. Our mothers, used to a bit more quiet, handled the boisterous occasion with grace. Husband, AKA Baboo, as usual added his own contribution to the excitement, serving whipped topping to the boys Baboo-style.
Luke, left, and Nate open up on command.

When the boys clamored for more, this was the result:
Whipped topping surprise

The entire weekend was like a giant sleepover. Ten extra bodies definitely required a bit of coziness in sleeping arrangements. When we waved goodbye to the last load of loved ones, Baboo and I were tired but buzzed with happy and hilarious memories that we shared as we replayed the weekend. I wouldn’t mind at all if festival + family = a new tradition.

3 comments:

  1. I'm sure your weekend was a memorable one! It's always great to get our families together :)

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  2. Oh, what great pictures of your fun time with the grandchildren! Did you ever make it to the festival yourself?

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  3. Yum, can you send me some squirts of that??

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