Busy Saturday

I think it's always interesting to see when the calendar says Fall starts. Usually it starts earlier at my house, because I can always tell by how busy we suddenly become on the weekends. Have you ever noticed how many more things happen in the fall than in the spring? Well this was our first busy Saturday, so I decided it's Fall now.

We started out leaving the house at 6:30 am to get to the Balloon Festival just south of town. Yep, we left at 6:30....meaning we were up muuuuuuuuuuucccccchhhhhh earlier. We were all glad we went though - it was small but a blast! The kids got to see up close how a hot air balloon and basket are assembled and inflated. Literally, the edge of the balloon was only about 10 feet away. I think they really got the idea after the first one went up, as all of a sudden we were running around the field to find where the next one to go was. While I only counted about 7 or so that actually made it up, we still had a great time watching and looking. I know the kids had a blast!

Then we went south of that field to a street where the same little town was holding a harvest parade. Not really anything to get excited about - the town's less than 5000 strong, but it was great for the kids. (and doesn't that make it worth it all?) It reminded me of growing up when I would go spend a week in Dumas, Tx, with my maternal grandmother, and they would have a parade for the high school homecoming. You know the kind, homemade floats, homemade costumes, and the best part for the kids: everyone's throwing candy from them! Aiken only brought home literally a pound of stuff.

Since we weren't finished yet with our crazy day, we then went to the National Cowboy Symposium downtown. We weren't going to pay admission, but we did catch the end of the Parade of Horses. Then we wandered around the grounds outside looking. I'm so glad we did - we found the carriage rides. Of course we had to wait for the Cinderella coach to come. Daddy wasn't really interested in riding (gee, why not?) so the kids and I hopped on and he met us at the next stop. Azx3 loved just riding, and kept craning his neck around to see the horses. Azx4 was just in AWE that she was riding in "Cinderella's coach!" I mean it made her day. Then we all walked around the chuckwagons, getting ready for the cook-offs, and found the Native American pow-wow.

After that, Daddy had to go to work, Azx4 went to GrandMommy's for some play and a much-needed nap, and Azx3 and I went to his soccer game. Then we came home for a nap! Phew! It was a great fun, but busy day!!