And the Halloween Festivities Continue...

We went Trick or Treating at Belle Meade Plantation today.  They had candy pick-up points all over the premises in addition to a cupcake walk, other games, and a costume contest.  Noelle won third place in her category of children ages 0-2!  Fun, fun fun!

Spooky Zoo Night and Day of the Dead

We have kept very busy lately with some spooky fall activities.  On Friday night, our family, and friend Jen went to the Nashville Zoo's spooky Halloween Event known as "Ghouls in Grassmere."  We were very impressed with a multitude of fun-yet-not-scary Halloween games, crafts, and activities.  The girls liked the haunted hayride where we saw all sorts of creepy creatures and spooky scenery.  This ride may have been scarier if we waited until dark so I am very glad we chose to do it early!  After that we walked through the Gypsy maze, participated in the costume parade, and trick or treated all the way around the zoo.  The whole set up was a lot grander in scale than I had anticipated and I was very impressed with all that it had to offer.

On Saturday we went over to Cheekwood for their Day of the Dead Festival.  This was another event very well done and I can't wait to go back next year.  There were lots of venders selling Mexican art and food, countless crafts, a puppet show, various mariachi and Inca musical groups, and teenagers from different high schools competing to make the most beautiful Dia De Los Muertos chalk art design.  The girls came home with their bellies full of quesadillas and their bags full of skeleton crafts,  We are a bit tuckered this evening but we have made some incredible memories in the last few days!

Even More Radnor Lake!

We just can't get enough of gorgous Radnor Lake and since we had my great old roomie Jen in town, we decided to sign up for their "Fall Harvest" hike. It turns out it was basically us, a nice older man, and the ranger. Basically, we had our own nature expert tour us around the lake! The girls hunted for all kinds of twigs, leaves, and acorns that poor Miss Jen agreed to carry for them. The ranger showed us some great plants and trees including the black walnut, wild persimin, duck weed, papaw, and hickory. We also were fortunate to see a flock of wild turkey munching on acorns, a fuzzy caterpillar, deer, and a very cool centipede. Natalie made it all around the lake without being carried even once (2.6 miles). Noelle was carried briefly against her will since she wanted to dig in the dirt with a stick instead of walk! Hopefully with all of our many trips to Radnor, we are planting seeds for a life long passion for nature in the girls.

Music and Molasses Festival with Mimi and Poppa

Since my parents have come to town for a few days, I decided that nothing says "Tennessee" like a country festival. They had just the ticket at the Tennessee Agricultural Center. The girls were in heaven. There were goats to feed, a "Farmer for a Day" activity area where they gathered eggs, painted the barns, filled the pig trough with feed, and saddled up on a barrel horse. The festival was filled with venders selling all different products from molasses to jewelry. Bands played fiddles, and a couple dressed in bonnets and overalls fried up cornbread to accommdate some delicious campfire stew. All the fun almost caused us to forget that we were freezing to death during a fall cold spell! According to the girls, the best part was some good old fashioned apple bobbing. Apples were tied to strings and hung on a tree. The girls had to attempt to bite the apple without using their hands. It was hilarious watching them try. Natalie swung her head around while following the apple with her eyes, her mouth wide open. She eventually pulled a fast one and caught the apple between her shoulder and her chin before biting it. Noelle on the other hand, ignore the rules entirely, grabbed the apple in her two tiny hands and ripped right into it! I can't say enough about how much we have been enjoying all the festivals around here. Nashville is such a perfect place for children!

Radnor Lake Autumn Stroll

Today I took the girls to Radnor Lake to hike around and see the animals. We were very excited that our good friends could come with us. While the fall colors still have yet to really pop, it was a gorgous day. It is becoming a tradition that Noelle spots a deer, yells "DEE-YAH!" at it and bolts for it at top speed. Somehow, deer don't like hanging around us for long. This happened nearly as soon as we stepped on the trail. Later on, our friends spotted another deer and we got some good pictures before Noelle caught wind of what was going on. We probably walked about a mile total before heading over to Warner Park for some additional play time. It is so refreshing to have places like Radnor Lake and Warner Park to bring the children. They really love the chance to run and explore the natural world.

The Girls Meet a Famous Author

Today, the girls and I drove to downtown Nashville for their annual Southern Book Festival. We were particularly interested because the author, Kate DiCamillo was there to speak and sign books. Kate DiCamillo is probably one of the best children's authors today. She is best known for her two books that have been made into movies, "Because of Winn-Dixie," and "The Tale of Desperaux." Today she was speaking about her newest novel, "The Magician's Elephant." Considering that "Because of Winn-Dixie" is not only one of the girl's favorite films but also in the top five of all time books on my own personal list, I was certainly not going to pass up this opportunity to see her! To make things extra memorable, I bought two shirts at Wal-mart and painted "I love Winn-Dixie" on them for both girls. While we couldn't exactly last long during her one hour talk about her new book (we made it almost ten minutes before Noelle just had to start verbalizing), we got to meet her afterwards during the signing. Since there was a long line, we knew we only had a minute or so but she had a nice brief conversation with Natalie while she signed all our books. She really like the girls' shirts and asked if her assistant could take a picture of them with the author's camera. Apparently we may show up on Kate DiCamillo's website eventually! If so, I will post about it here. The rest of the festival was fun but nothing as memorable as meeting Kate. I am glad to have shown the girls a positive female role model. Hopefully the girls remember this day fondly.

More Natalie Drawings

Natalie's monsters are getting more detailed, often with fingers and toes as well as different shaped heads/bodies. I love her sun too! Please double click on the photo for a closer look.

A Day at Nashville Zoo

Today was a beautiful fall day at the zoo with friends. First I had fun with my camera on sport mode while the girls took giant leaps in the play area before we met up with our friends. An autism service dog accompanied one of the children and we discovered that it is nice to have an autism service dog at the zoo. The meercats and tigers were especially lively when they spotted the dog. Those tigers were desperate to eat him for lunch! We all got some great pictures! It was a nice way to spend a morning.


Who says children can't fly?