Sunday, September 26, 2010

"First" Friday Fun this summer

Another fun thing we did this summer was going to First Friday events. As you may have guessed, First Friday is an event that takes place in my neighborhood on the first Friday of every month. The stores stay open late, there's usually entertainment or art on display and sometimes free food - like desserts, appetizers and kid drinks. It's very family friendly and a great opportunity to meet up with neighbors, support the local stores and restaurants and just do a little something different with the family.

MAY First Friday was so much fun! We started out at Eat, Play, Grow, a fun childrens play area and cafe but the boys quickly heard the music thumping a few doors down. Even though their friends were there playing they wanted to leave and check out what was happening with the music. We walked a few doors down to find a youth dance group rocking out. The boys LOVED it to say the least. Annabelle just loved being held by her Daddy.


After standing on the sidelines watching for a bit they couldn't help but start grooving themselves. Our boys have got some moves - check them out!



Not sure about this dance stance but they had some serious moves going on.



After dancing in the circle they ended up getting some private dance lessons. They boys were such good students!

Check out this guy. He was one of the main dancers. He had some CRAZY moves and then of course the boys couldn't just watch - they had to join in.


We finally pried them away from dancing to get some fresh air. Those boys would have danced the night away had we let them. Thankfully, the big red bus was a pretty good trade for them.




JUNE was much more low key. We casually walked along the street popping into a few art exhibits and we even got to see the Long Beach Roller Derby girls do a couple of spins. We ended the evening riding the big red bus. We had the whole back section to ourselves and as you can see, the boys made themselves quite comfortable. They really enjoyed just quietly looking out the windows. It seems that everything looks different after your bed time.


The boys were so sweet, just watching the world they rarely see at the hour. It was only 8ish but we are never out that late with the kids.


SEPTEMBER was completely dedicated to the kids. We spent our evening at Eat, Play, Grow watching and listening to a special performance by Birdies Playhouse. There was barely anyone there so the kids there got all her attention while the parents got to sit back and relax a bit. We opted to make it an early night and not ride the bus this month. It was still a fun night out.

Annabelle and Ben were super cute playing together



If you live in the local Long Beach area and haven't checked out a First Friday yet, I encourage you to try and come next month. It's a fun, relatively free family night out.

3 comments:

Scasmflops said...

How neat!!! I wish that we had something like this! Love it!!! Cracking up at the dancing. :)

Gerry @Foodness Gracious said...

Hey it's so true about kids having a diffrent sense of fun after their usual bedtime. I think they truly view it as a major special treat and that's what makes it special.

Grammy and Grampy said...

What fun, the boys sure do have some great moves there. It sure is nice to have a night out in the community that's free. Even Annabelle looks like she was having a ball.