The Family Forest Fest is a 3 day festival dedicated to kids and their families involving camping, kid’s bands, bubble shows, goat petting, farm tours, a costume parade, evening movies, and so many other activities that there was no time for naps or really sitting still as we didn’t want to miss a single thing!

An old friend from 17! years ago, Shanti Hodges, now a mama herself, founded the festival in 2016 and invited us to attend this year. My husband Kim had been planning for us to go to a bluegrass festival the same weekend, but since this US trip is really all about providing awesome experiences for our kids I was able to talk him into attending. I was so glad I did!

Living in Central America is amazing. There are so many great experiences for Luna. She runs around barefoot, spends lots of time at the beach, and interacts with pigs, chickens, and horses on an everyday basis. She goes for moto rides with her Nicaraguan nanny to visit a Nicaraguan grandmother in their very simple home, chasing chickens and eating homemade tortillas and gallo pinto. She plays in the dirt with simple toys and local kids. She speaks Spanish. She’s not used to TV. The weather is always warm and she can swim everyday. It’s a great lifestyle and so different from the one I experienced as a kid.

But I think balance is important, and although she was born Nicaraguan, she is also an American. She’s into princesses and sparkly dresses and costumes. So when she showed up at the Forest Fest and saw so many blonde girls running around in fairy wings and mermaid dresses I saw her eyes widen in the realization that “there are others like me!”

The festival was a blur of awesomeness that I tried to capture with my GoPro, but of course was having too much fun myself to film everything. I hope that our schedules will align to attend next year as well!

We loved the Portland based kid’s band Red Yarn! I used one of their songs in my highlight video above, and here’s one of their music videos below. If you’re looking for a great kid’s album that’s also fun for parents to listen to, check them out!

For info on attending next time, check out the Family Forest Fest here.