Greek Festival

We took Kenly to the Asheville Greek Festival on September 25th. The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church sponsors a weekend of cultural education every year. Adam went by himself last year, and now we have decided to make it an annual tradition. Greek food is so yummy, and there is always something to see or do. We attempted to go to a cooking class, but Kenly got restless about 15 minutes in, so we had to leave for some other more engaging activities.

We started the morning by having some Greek coffee and a large order of Loukomade.  Kenly enjoyed trying these Greek donuts--honey puffs that have been dipped in warm honey and sprinkled with chopped walnuts and cinnamon.

The festival had a kids play area with inflatables and carnival games to keep the kids entertained.  We bought Kenly a wrist band so she could play for the day.  She stated by making a sand art necklace.

Those necklaces became weapons.  We had to watch where we were walking because it seemed like every kid there was swinging one around.

Kenly had some fun on the big slide.

She tried a few more of the inflatables, and thanks to the help of some other "bigger" kids, she was able to do most everything there.

She decided to take a bath in a kiddie pool full of balls. 

She tried her hand at a few of the carnival games as well.

After we worked up an appetite again, we headed back to the big tent with food.  We were lucky to be able to watch some Greek dancing.  Kenly loved it.

We convinced Kenly to try some Greek food by calling it "Greek mac and cheese."  She was really eating Pastichio.  Adam and I had healthy portions of Pastichio, Spanakopita, Dolmades, Moussaka, and of course a Greek salad.  I could eat my weight in Dolmades.  I'm going to have to learn how to make some of these Greek dishes.  Eating them once a year is not going to cut it.

One of Kenly's favorite parts of the whole experience was having her Daddy push her "higher" on the big girl swing.  I love these pictures.  To me, they capture the essence of childhood. 

After eating, Kenly was able to go back to the children's area to play for a few more minutes.

I love that Kenly can have some fun while learning (albeit slowly) about other cultures.  We need to attend more of these.  Asheville has so much to offer when it comes to these sorts of cultural experiences.  We even need to start taking her to some of our favorite ethnic restaurants as well.  I'd like to say she's an adventurous eater, but she's not.  Maybe with slow exposure, she'll gradually branch out.