Another Fall Festival - this time at Calvary Baptist Church. Our friends, the Lombeidas, invited us to join them and we had a great time. Juan and Heather have 3 little girls. The oldest is Brandon's age and the youngest is 6 months. Nick and Juan know each other from UAMS. After spending some time watching Brandon and the girls play various carnival type games, Nick took charge of Laedyn and spent a good amount of time in the toddler area.

How appropriate is this background??? There was a bucket full of bugs and the kids were supposed to throw them at the spider web. If the kids got one to stick, they got a piece of candy.

Master fisherman Spider-Brandon He caught a Hot Wheels car, much to his delight! There was a "hay wagon" set up for photo opportunities. Brandon rarely turns down one of those!

Brandon also got his face painted - with a spider of course...

Other attractions included mini golf putting, ring toss, tennis, bounce houses, bowling, balloon animals, cotton candy and a cake walk. I participated in the cake walk (my very first one) and actually won a cake. I let Brandon choose and he picked out a plate containing four star shaped banana breads. They were delicious.

Nick and I undertook pumpkin carving for the first time this year if you can believe that! I've always purchased pumpkins to carve & somehow we would never get around to it. It's amazing what gets done when a 4 year old is persistent in begging for it! Here's Brandon's first look at pumpkin innards. He thought it was gross - especially after touching it. I removed alot by hand and then Nick followed up with a big spoon.

The first cut using one of the carving tools that came with the pattern book.Laedyn wanted to get started on pumpkin #2. She tried so hard to pick it up & was very frustrated that the pumpkin was so terribly heavy...

Jack o'lantern chosen by Brandon out of a pattern book. Figures he'd choose something so detailed for Nick's first year carving! Great job Nick!!! jack o'lantern designed by Brandon:

When we were at the Wildwood harvest festival, Brandon got a mini pumpkin. He wanted to carve it, but I convinced him it was better to paint Lilliputian pumpkins... I was surprised he didn't put a face on it, just made it very colorful. I'm calling it the "patchwork pumpkin."

Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts held a Fall Festival this year with local musicians, local food & beverage, activities for the kids & a wonderful setting on a lake in the woods. We'd never been out to the property, so we decided this was a good opportunity to check it out. Comedy & Tragedy got into the spirit of the season...One of the local elementary schools built this recycle sculpure. Brandon was obviously impressed.Outside of the theater, there was a peaceful little garden with benches. I hoped to get a lovely picture of well behaved, serenely smiling, decorous siblings ... this was the best of the bunch. At least they are happy! Brandon got to do some crafts on "Pumpkin Hill." First he made a hobo sack on a stick which had a delicious Jolly Rancher inside.

After the hobo sack project, Brandon got to be more creative and use markers, glue and construction paper to create a paper bag puppet. This is the scarecrow he made. After doing the crafts, he told us "the Fall Festival wasn't so boring after all" ... yes he did say it just like that too.While Brandon was busy crafting, Laedyn checked out the pumpkins. She was excited to be able to touch and carry them around.Climbing on haybales wasn't bad either... An unusual moment of introspection!

Brandon made a new friend - Daisy the Scarecrow. We ran into her several times during our visit & Brandon didn't ever want to let her continue her wanderings. He REALLY liked Daisy & had to be pried away from her on several occasions.See ... I let Nick have the camera from time to time! This little canopy is near the performance stage. Performers were amplified, but the lake really allowed the music to reach every corner of the property in an unobtrusive manner. I look forward to going back again just for the music and ambiance!After wandering around the Wildwood grounds and seeing all that the Fall Festival had to offer, we took over a deck with a table and let the kids play. It was very relaxing. The weather was beautiful, the music surrounded us as it echoed over the lake, and the kids were content. Music soothes the savage beasts??? At the far end of the lake is a little pavilion where people can sit and enjoy the view. It had stairs that lead directly into the water - I guess you can dangle your feet into the lake if you want. We preferred to simply watch the schools of little fish darting around under the surface. On our way out we stopped near the entrance where they had a tractor set up for people to climb on and have their pictures taken. Brandon climbed up all by himself and refused to let us help him...

He didn't mind having Laedyn come up and join him for a picture once he'd had a few moments up there all by himself. She was pretty excited by the experience too, and cried when it was time to get down & head home.

Brandon was getting really shaggy, so we took him to a new kids salon in west Little Rock. Check out the cool cutting "chair."While getting his hair cut, Brandon was entertained by a flatscreen TV playing Bee Movie, bubbles and his choice of animal crackers or a sucker.Before disembarking, Brandon gave the propeller a good spin. Doesn't he look much better with a nice short haircut???