Wingards Hallopalooza

On Saturday, October 30th we went to Wingard's Nursery for their "Hallopalooza." As I had mentioned in an earlier post, Emma's Girl Scout troop made one of the scarecrows for their contest.

Emma posing with her troop's scarecrow...

They also had apple bobbing which each of the kids attempted.

And a train ride...

The train traveled around the nursery grounds and you know how much kids love train rides, so this was a big hit.

All of these activities were free and to top it off, get this...they even provided free lunch! Hot dogs, chips, soda and candy - maybe not the healthiest of meals but did I mention free?

Unfortunately, Emma's troop scarecrow did not win this year but there was some really good entries.

Sky Top and Hendersonville

Earlier in October, we made our annual pilgrimage to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. Sky Top sits atop beautiful Mt. McAlpine and the views are gorgeous.

They always have a multitude of pumpkins lazying around the front of the store which makes for great picture taking!

Eden wasn't cooperating very well with me. She was more interested in crawling from one pumpkin to another so actually getting a photo with her looking towards the camera was a triumph.

Emma decked out with her puppy purse and Hello Kitty necklace...

Ryan...

And Avery...

We went ahead and purchased our tickets for the hayride and let the kids play on the playground while we waiting for the ride to begin.

The hayride takes you around their apple orchards and by some of their farm animals. It is a really pretty ride just looking out over the mountains.

The hay bale spider...

Eden and I at the end of the ride.

They have about every variety of apples you can possibly ask for and of course you can either purchase prepackaged or pick your own.

Michael and Eden in the apple orchard.

Every year, Ryan attempts to climb a tree to get an apple and it seems every year he has a mishap with a tree. Usually the tree wins. At least this year he didn't land face down under a tree!

I don't know what is up with the hood. The girl has her own sense of fashion!

Ryan insisted that they all stand by the Sky Top sign together and have their picture taken!

Besides apple cider slushies and apple cider pumpkin sippies, we all enjoyed a hot apple donut before we left - yum!

After we left Flat Rock, we took the short jaunt over to Hendersonville to visit their downtown area once again.

I love the vibe of this area! There are people relaxing outside at local eateries, walking their dogs and that evening we got to see a parade of men dressed in high heels to raise money for "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" - a group that raises money to fight domestic violence. How cool is that? I told Michael that I could see myself retiring someplace like this someday.

The kids joined the parade to donate a dollar for the cause and got a balloon in return!

We browsed a few stores and then found an outside table at Mike's on Main Street which is an old soda shop that serves sandwiches and such. I enjoyed a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with a vanilla coke!

A great fall day trip with the family!

Scarecrow Creation

Emma's Daisy troop, along with the Brownie troop, built a scarecrow recently for Wingard's Nursery's annual scarecrow contest.

Their scarecrow was designed to be a fellow Girl Scout and the girls had fun stuffing the hay as their creation came to life.

And here she is...the completed scarecrow! This is Emma's Daisy troop together - Emma is the one child not looking at the camera!

Pumpkin Patch and Hayride

Last week Eden and I accompanied the 3-year-old preschool classes to Seases Farm. The kids had the opportunity to visit with animals, ride a hayride and pick out their own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

Avery on the hayride...

Picking out her pumpkin...As a side note, I had to ditch Eden's stroller when we got on the hayride. Well, the hayride dropped us off at the pumpkin patch which was a good distance from where I left the stroller. My pregnant body was worn out carrying Eden and trying to pick out and carry pumpkins with one hand...Yikes! I, of course, considered it my workout for the day!

The kids enjoyed their snacks of juice and cookies before loading back on the buses and heading back to preschool. They were so excited...for most of them it was their first bus ride and their first field trip!

The Italian Festival

Back in early October, the Sons of Italy held their annual Italian Festival and Bocce Tournament in downtown Columbia. It was one of those Saturdays when there were multiple festivals going on locally at one time. However, we were hoping to return home in time to watch the Clemson game on T.V. so we elected to swing by the Italian Festival to check it out for a bit over lunch time.

They had a few old fashioned children's games set up which our kids loved. Here is Emma fishing for a prize...

Ryan showcased his mighty strength in the Strongman game...

They enjoyed visiting with local celebrities...

During this picture, the kids were serenaded by an accordion player. You never know what you might find at the Italian Festival! The kids munched on pizza for lunch and we roamed around for a little bit until it was time to jet back to the house to watch the Tigers play.

I love all things retro...

It really isn't healthy. I see these boxes of Quisp cereal sitting on the shelves at Food Lion and feel this need to throw a couple of boxes into my shopping cart. I wasn't even there to pick up cereal.

But I remember eating this cereal as a kid and it has this really strange affect on me. I had to come home and look up this cereal on the Internet to make sure I wasn't just making this stuff up because I couldn't figure out why exactly they would still be manufacturing and selling this cereal that I don't think was ever very popular to begin with.

So here is the lowdown...Quisp was introduced in 1965 by the Quaker Oats Company but it was probably best remembered in the 1970's. Amazingly enough, they discontinued the cereal later in the '70's due to low sales but then brought it back in the '80's, '90's, and in 2001 because obviously, this is a cereal that they just won't let die.

Now they sell it online - I mean who actually orders Quisp online?!? And...they sell it occasionally at Food Lion, Marc's and the Dollar General.

I for one, am so glad I happened to be at Food Lion that day!

Daisy Outdoor Day

This is Emma's first year as a Daisy Scout and she had her first outdoor activity this past Saturday at Camp Congaree in Lexington.

Saturday was an extremely busy day for all of us...Emma's dance company had a pancake breakfast fundraiser that morning, Ryan had a Cub Scout activity and then of course, Emma's Daisy Scout activity. Michael took Eden and Ryan and I took Avery and Emma.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal to bring Avery along, however, the kids had awoken that morning at 6:00 a.m. so by 9:30 a.m. Avery was already tired. And this was during the first activity - making pine cone bird feeders!

Each girl selected two pine cones and slathered shortening all over it before rolling them in birdseed.

It took a little while since there was only one large container of shortening for all of the girls to share...

Still working...
And finally, Emma's completed bird feeders which she hung from a nearby tree!

Next, the girls went on a nature walk/scavenger hunt. Normally this would be a lot of fun and it was nice and shaded throughout the woods. Unfortunately, this was where Avery was giving out. She whined, moaned, cried and at a few points through the nature walk laid down on the ground because "she couldn't walk anymore!"

Needless to say, I was glad when that was over and I promised myself that under no circumstances of any type would I ever...EVER...bring her along with me again.

Thankfully, the last portion took place in the mess hall indoors and was an arts and crafts project. Each girl was able to make her own fairy from a synthetic flower.

Avery kept herself busy the entire time making her own crafts with beads, pipe cleaner and lots of glue. Lots and lots of glue. But she was happy and not whining so all was right with the world for that little bit of time.

Emma's completed fairy...It was a cute project and Emma had a lot of fun during the outdoor day.

Afterwards we sat outside and ate our picnic lunch that we had brought. Granted it felt like 95 degrees, we were all tired and most people opted out of staying for a picnic lunch, but I left it up to the girls and well, they wanted to stay and eat in the heat. So eat in the heat is what we did (and then stopped for ice cream on the way home!)

They both took nice naps later that afternoon! I look forward to more of Emma's Daisy activities but in the future...one on one with Emma.