yesterday afternoon we ventured downtown to Bele Chere, the crazy huge free festival downtown every summer. we made our way through the crowd, towards the kids area, where we stayed the entire time. there were plenty of rides and games and free arts and crafts, and we all stayed busy and happy for a couple of hours. then we decided it was time to come home and, as we do every year, we vowed to stay home the rest of the weekend and avoid the entire downtown area altogether. bele chere is fun for a few hours, but enough is enough. we'll take our nice quiet little corner of the world.