Latino Festival 08

Going to the Festival Latino each year is a traditon for us. We just love this festival downtown! It is so fun, and the food and music is just awesome! Our kids look forward to going, though they don't eat Mexican food, but just to be around tons of people and do fun stuff. Last year we missed it, since we were on vacation, but this year, we couldn't help ourselves! It was Friday night, and the fun began at 5pm!! Sadly, due to funding and the crappy economy, the festival was shortened to just 2 days, only 5 hours each day, and they charged admission! (It was only $1 for adults, and the crazies were free), and the space they held it at was smaller, so less vendors could fit, so there was only about 6 places to order food! Bummer, since we could not stand in line for an hour with our 3 kids! We ended up eating Wendy's at a park afterward (so sad), but still managed to have fun! The kids' crafts were incredibly fun this year, and so we did them all! Leah made this cute necklace! Then she made this cute mask! I am not sure what is up with the sad face and the mask, but it was still a fun, cute idea! Alex colored maracas- fun too! Celeste made a kitty mask, too and kept it on for about 2 seconds- enough time to snap this cute photo!

There are free booths everywhere, so we took advantage of those ones, and won free stuff- crap, really, but hey, it was free, and it was fun!
COSI was there, so they had cool things for the kids to do.
Dana helped the girls make the necklaces and masks- and it was hot in the sun- we were dying!
Daddy and Celeste groove to the tunes- they had live music and people just dance wherever they are! It is so great!
Celeste colored bookmarks from the library booth- she even broke 2 of their crayons- great!

So for under $15, we got parking, dinner, and prizes- including 2 t-shirts for Dana, one from a Latino newspaper here, and one with the Incredible Hulk on it! Lucky us- 2 new t-shirts, whoo hoo! What a cheap night, but fun for everyone!! I even ran into my friend, Justin, who randomly reads my blog, who is my friend from years ago, and Dana ran into several of his former students- the Elders were even there handing out Book of Mormons in Spanish! Awesome!

Aferward, since we are such good parents, we bought them cotton candy from the street vendor, who sells it for $1, instead of whatever they sell it for inside!! Oh, and we took in our own waters, too! Here are some last pictures of us eating our "Family Dinner"- and the yummy cotton candy!