Cute Kid Pix May 2025

More pictures that didn't make their own post...

Our youngest had his Spring GT Elementary Sinfonia Concert in May. The orchestra is a special, audition-only orchestra that gives students the opportunity to work on more challenging material. He had a good time and looked great playing his bass.

GT Elementary Sinfonia

My son

We went to the Main Street Festival in Laurel, Maryland. The celebration was delayed by a propane explosion that happened to one of the booth as they were setting up in the morning. The 9 a.m. parade was canceled but the festival opened at 11 a.m. 

Entering Main Street

My wife would have loved this

My daughter loves cotton candy

I love junk food

This family does not love a skeletal unicorn

Cordoned off for investigation

For Mother's Day, we went into Baltimore to Saint Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church. The inside is not very big but we were able to follow along in the prayer books. Enough congregation was there that it did not feel awkward.

St. Michael the Archangel church

Inside

Afterward, we went to Little Italy and had treats at Vaccaro's, an Italian pastry and coffee shop. 

Vaccaraccino

Rum cake and chai

Tiramisu and ???

Another concert was the elementary school's spring concert with all my youngest's fellow orchestra players from 5th grade. 

The advanced orchestra

The lone bass

My daughter's school had a pops concert night to raise money for the music boosters. It was fun even if she only played in the last few songs.

At the pops

My youngest's school had their field day so I volunteered for one of the stations. After all the "in field" activities, they gathered for a school photo, a race with a few teachers in inflatable costumes, and the fifth graders throwing water balloons at the Orchestra and Band teachers (though the students had to be in advanced levels).

Half the student body

The penguin did not win the race

5th graders go after their teachers!

A few days later were the Simulated Congressional Hearings, where the fifth grade students practiced giving testimony on various issues. My son really enjoyed it.

Ready to give testimony

Hand shaking afterward

We finally celebrated my sister's birthday at a local restaurant. One guess on the type of restaurant...

They did sing in English

My youngest had a presentation at the STEAM fair at his school. That's Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

STEAM fair presentation

My youngest had an audition for the Gifted and Talented Middle School Orchestra. It was on the last day of May, so we won't know if he is accepted for a couple of weeks. He felt confident about his performance.

Camera shy at the audition

Laurel Main Street Festival 2018

We went to the Laurel Main Street Festival, held on May 12, 2018.

A view of Main Street, Laurel, with festival in progress 

We didn't make it to the 9 a.m. parade, which featured our pastor as the Grand Marshall (since the parish is celebrating its 175th anniversary). We did run into the parochial vicar on the street later and had a nice chat with him.

Taken from the church's Facebook album!

The street was lined with all sorts of vendors from food providers to clothing sellers to home repair and renovation companies to local businesses and on and on. One vendor interesting vendor was a local beekeeper who was selling honey and soap. He had some bees on display. Our kids were fascinated to see them. We parents were happy that the bees were safely stored behind glass.

Admiring the bees

The guy told us that the bees were gathering at the top to keep the about-to-be-born bees warm. We even saw the queen bee, which they had marked with a small spot of paint to help them find her.

Testing the temperature of the bees

The attractions weren't just on the sides of the street. My son saw a dinosaur walking down the center and was happy to greet her.

Run in with a dinosaur

In addition to the sales, a couple of bands were playing. We didn't stop to listen since the kids were drawn down the street by the smells of popping corn and frying foods.

One set of singers

We eventually gave in and bought a fresh-made funnel cake, which is the best way to have funnel cake. We split it among the five of us, making it a tasty treat without it being a diet-busting experience.

Powdering our cake

By the way, that box of Oreos isn't there by accident--the stand was also selling deep-fried Oreos! Such a treat is too decadent for us.

Our funnel cake

We walked down a bit farther and bought hot dogs at one of the church stands. The church offered shaded seating which we liked very much. Another church across the street was having a book sale, which we naturally could not resist. We picked up the Bartimeaus Trilogy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among other fine acquisitions.

On the way back to the car, we bought some honey from the beekeepers. We enjoyed their presentation and we use honey quite a bit, so it just made sense.

We are looking forward to next year's festival!

St. Matthews Multicultural Festival 2016

We made it to the very end of the St. Matthews Multi-Cultural Festival in October, 2016. St. Matthews is an Orthodox Christian church in Columbia, Maryland. We had meant to go to the Octberfest night on Friday, which featured German beer and dancing. A conflict came up so we couldn't go. We finally went on Sunday afternoon for an early dinner.

Various vendors had tents up outside, selling items like religious icons, crafts, and food.

Festival tents

The food tents

The food tents were especially nice since they had food from many regions in the Orthodox church. They served Greek, Lebanese, Romanian, Slavic, and Ethiopian foods. We had pierogis (Slavic), lamb kabob (Lebanese), tiropita (Greek), and a hot dog (American) for my daughter.

Kabob with pita and tiropita

I also visited the beer tent for my beverage. Unfortunately by Sunday afternoon all that was left was Leinenkugel's. They had taped over the premium German beers, so I don't know what Oktoberfest goodness I missed.

Beer Garden

We ate in the main tent which had a stage for performances. Throughout the weekend talents of all sorts were on display: Flamenco dancing, Irish dancing, martial arts, ballet, Mexican music, and more. While we were there they had belly dancing, which included audience participation. We were too shy to try it out, but others in the audience were braver.

Dance lesson

The kids were ready to go home, so we did not get the chance to tour the church. Maybe next year! On the way out, we stopped at the dessert booth and bought a multi-dessert pack. Our favorite was the baklava.

Dessert sampler at home

Dessert close up

Maple Lawn Street Festival 2014

As proof that we are taking advantage of all that goes around us back here in the USA, we'll have a couple of posts this week of summer activities we've already done. First, we went with some friends to the Maple Lawn Street Festival in early July. The festival was the typical street festival. Various businesses, volunteer organizations, politicians, and restaurants had booths along the road selling their wares. We saw Mary Kay and Chick-fil-A and the Howard County Republicans and the Knights of Columbus and etc. etc. The streets weren't filled yet because we came relatively early (trying to get it in before bedtime--the festival ran from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., with fireworks at 9:30).

One side of the street

The other end of the other side of the street

A stage with a live band sat right in the middle of the festival. The band was okay but too loud for J and L. We didn't get too close. I admired the Atari t-shirt from afar.

The stage

We were hungry for dinner and tried a bite here and a bite there. One restaurant was giving out chips and salsa for free, so we sampled that. Another was selling corn dogs, paella, and samosas. L wanted a corn dog but became less enthusiastic about it (yet another disappointing American sausage). J had some paella which he shared with everyone; Mommy had a chicken samosa. They were all delicious but not quite a full meal.

At this point, I think L was just unhappy to have her picture taken

We also ate popcorn from a credit union's stand and Belgian waffles from a cart on the street. The waffle was yummy but not quite enough. J later complained that he wanted a regular dinner where we sat down and ate. I have to admit I did eat some leftovers after we got home, so I should have had more.

J and L wanted balloon animals. We stopped at the booth and got tickets for them. L asked for a dog. The fellow asked what color and she said blue. When it was J's turn, he also asked for a dog though he chose pink. Dark pink. Don't judge!

Two balloon guys and two customers

We didn't stay for the fireworks (which were long past bedtime) but had a good time seeing people wandering around and enjoying a summer evening.