Newport Folk Festival, Day 1

We took Hannah to the Newport Folk Festival at the end of July.  We had been two years ago and really enjoyed it; we're hoping to make it a family tradition for years to come!  

Beforehand, I was telling people that we're either the coolest parents in the whole world, or the dumbest ones.  I really wasn't sure what to expect taking a toddler to a 2 day (all-day) concert, but Hannah actually did a lot better than I could have even hoped for.  Although she didn't nap either day while we were at the festival, she did nap in the mornings both days so at least she was in a pretty good mood for most of the time.

We borrowed a backpack carrier from our friends Mira and James (thank you!), which turned out to be invaluable - it made it much easier to get around the festival and also to get from the parking lot to the concert as well.

I don't think either of them wanted me to take this pic

Hannah didn't like being in the carrier the first few times we tried, but we "practiced" enough with her that by the time of the concert, she loved being in there!  She was actually even asking to get into it at times.

There were a lot of other little kids at Newport and we discovered one of the best-kept secrets of the whole festival - the kids' music tent!  Not only is it a great place to get out of the sun (or the rain, in our case), it's the perfect way to see the musicians up-close-and-personal.  Not very many people know about it, so it was almost like we were getting private little shows.

Many of the musicians will perform there in-between the sets on the main stage, so it was a chance for us to do something while we were waiting for other acts, and Hannah loved being able to watch people perform and dance along with them. 

Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower were the main artists for the kids' tent.  They played a few sets just on their own in addition to performing with many of the other artists.  As I've mentioned before, we really like Elizabeth Mitchell.  Here's a photo of them on stage in the kids' tent:

Elizabeth Mitchell is on the left, her daughter Storey is singing with her

Late July sponsored the kids' tent, so they were also giving out free samples (Hannah really enjoyed them and kept asking for more!) and they had crafts that kids can make (although she was too little for it this year). She even got a free harmonica.  She tried very hard to make it play music, but was unsuccessful, so she just hummed into it instead - so cute!

Enjoying a chip

"Playing" music

Hannah also had a lot of fun playing peek-a-boo with our backpack carrier and snacking while sitting on the blanket and listening to music.

Where's Hannah?

Yum!

We're not sure why, but at one point during the afternoon, Hannah was very adamant that she wanted to put on her coat.  She found it in the pocket of the backpack carrier, and basically forced us to put it on her.  As you can see from the photos, it was very overcast and threatening all day, but it was also extremely hot and humid.  She walked around like this for a while actually.

Does she know something we don't?

Silly girl!

How funny are these photos?

One of Hannah's absolute favorite parts of the festival was the bus ride to and from the parking lot.  I can't remember if she's ever been on a school bus before, but she loved it.  She also made a lot of friends on the bus!