Franklin Dickens Festival

 Ever year the city of Franklin, TN has a street festival in honor of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

I read about it this summer and I've been looking forward to it and counting the months, weeks and days to it since then.

FINALLY, this weekend was the weekend to get bundled up and wander the historic streets of downtown Franklin in search of Father Christmas, Tiny Tim, Scrooge, roasted chestnuts and apple cider.

(Rosie and her Nana are like two peas in a pod, bundled up and ready to be festive)

 The day did not disappoint. People of all ages we dressed up in costumes from the 1800's. Some were actors with specific rolls to play, like Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the ghosts, and others were just people who decided to get into the spirit of things and dress up.

There were street performers all over the place. I really liked this girl who played and sang songs from the 1800's.  There was also a group of kids who did scenes from Oliver, as well as a stage where an Irish Dance School really captivated Rosie's attention.

Besides street performers there was lots of great food, including hot chocolate, chestnuts, apple cider and meat on a stick. And to top it all off there were booths and booths of artisans and crafts people selling unique Christmas gifts.

There was also a horse drawn carriage that I was very excited about.  Every time the carriage stopped to pick up and drop off passengers this dog would climb out and stand on the horse. It was very funny and very cute.

Even the Police officers on duty got into the spirit of things and were dressed in Victorian inspired uniforms. 

AND we met Father Christmas! He was very nice and actually got Rosie to talk to him and smile at him.

Here's a random family that decided to come dressed up. Aren't they cute!  

We also found a stand that was selling Sugar Plums!  We each had one and yes.... they've been dancing in my dreams ever since. Even Rosie liked them. 

Rosie is such a cool baby in her sunglasses. She loves wearing them.
She also really loves to watch people dance. Here she's mesmerized by all the dickens characters dancing 300 year old dances in the street.

 Our favorite part of the whole day was when all the Dickens Characters got together in the street and danced traditional dances for the 1800's. It was so much fun to watch them.  Even Rosie couldn't take her eyes off them.  You can even see the Ghost of Christmas Past (in the white dress) dancing with The Ghost of Christmas Present. (the Ghost of Christmas yet to come isn't much of a dancer apparently.)
It made me want to learn how to dance all those all dances... and dress up as a Dickens character.

It was a wonderful day with yummy food and fun things to look at. A lot of the churches had performances in them too but there was so much to see we couldn't do it all in one day. With a toddler and a pregnant lady in tow we were pretty tired and had to go home to sleep. But I'm very much looking forward to going again next year, and hopefully next year we can go both days of the festival and attend the Christmas All Sing in the town square.

For information about next years event and other Festivals check out www.historicfranklin.com

Dickson County Fair

 On Saturday we went to the local Fair.  My mom read that they were going to be showing meat goats and since that's technically what we raise she wanted to go check them out.

This was our first local fair so we weren't sure what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised. There was a bird barn with chickens that Rosie really loved. She also really liked the ducks and turkeys.

I enjoyed the 4H barn where kids had entered their canning, and arts and crafts, science projects, and collects, which are always my favorite. I love seeing what people collect and how they choose to display them.

We also enjoyed the produce barn where I saw green tabaco for the first time and a water  melon that was 110 pounds!

 After enjoyed the birds and produce we made our way to the goat barn. Other days of the week they had other animals but today was the goat judging.

The first group that showed their goats was the 5 and under age group. These kids were so cute marching their goats around the coral and they all had such cute goats. Everyone in this group was a winner.

 Here's a picture of the high school group for show goats. The girl in the red shirt in the bottom right corner of the picture won first place. This group was really hard to judge and it took a really long time for them to pick a winner. All the goats were really good looking and the kids did a great job with them.

Rosie also enjoyed watching all the people on the crazy carnival rides and games. Of course she wanted to do the fishing game. That was her favorite game back in July at the Irish Picnic too.

 I think she could have stayed there and fished all day.

 She won a purple bouncy ball.

 Then we found the ponies. Rosie was very happy just watching them walk around in a circle. We asked her if she wanted to ride one but she kept saying no. Then all of a sudden she decided she really wanted to ride one.

 She was SO happy to be riding the "horsey"

 She smiled and giggled the whole time.

 She was so cute that every one was taking pictures of her and the pony lady gave her an extra long ride.

All in all it was a great day. We were all very impressed with the fair and came home with smiles on our faces and a very tired baby girl.

A day in Nashville

 Last week we had to go to the airport to pick up my mom. We decided to take advantage of the drive to Nashville, so we stopped at two of our favorite place.

First we went to the zoo to see the monkeys and to have a picnic lunch. Rosie loves to sit and watch the monkeys. She also loves eating outside.

 Then we went to Trader Joe's. Our very favorite store.  It was the first time that Rosie got to push her very own cart.  She looked so adorable walking through the store shopping with her Nana.

She look very carefully at the milk and other things she thought we needed. She was definitely the cutest shopper in the whole store. 

I can't believe how big my baby girl is getting. She's growing up so fast.

St. Patrick's Irish Picnic, Day 2

 Well it's been a while but the St. Patrick's Irish picnic was super fun. After the first night at the picnic I dreamed about eating the pulled pork all night long. As soon as we got up on Saturday morning my mom and I went to the picnic grounds to buy some. I nibbled on it on the way home. It made a wonderful breakfast. and lunch... and a few other meals after that.

Even though things were in full swing fun in the morning when we were there to buy our BBQ pork we didn't go to play till that evening.  Joe's band was planing around 7 so we went about an hour before to make sure we got good seats.

While we were waiting Rosie and I got our faces painted and William and Rosie shared a funnel cake. Actually she just ate the whipped cream.

 We went to all the game booths again and had fun playing in the bubble machines. Rosie loves bubbles and really enjoyed dancing in and chasing the bubbles. She also wanted to go back to the rubber duck booth where she stood and played in the water with the ducks for about half an hour.

 Here we are wandering through the picnic checking out all the good food they had.  I made William try the deep friend Oreos. He was less than impressed. 

 One lady walked up to us and said we were the cutest family and asked if she could take our picture. It was like a little taste of China again.  It's nice to be seen in public with such adorable red heads.

Finally after some technical delay due to a little rain Joe's band, The Dotson Brown Band, took the stage.  They were wonderful, as usual. Rosie enjoyed dancing to the music and climbing on her Nana.  She very much enjoyed her time at the Irish Picnic and I know we are all looking forward to it again next year. 
It's always the last weekend in July if you're ever in the area.

St. Patrick's Irish Picnic, Day 1

Every year the town we live in has a huge Irish Picnic, hosted by the small Catholic church and school.  This year is the 157th Irish picnic and we've been looking forward to it all year, as has every one.  Today was finally the opening day of the Irish picnic and I couldn't wait to get there and enjoy the festivities.

Bonnie Rose wore her Irish dress for the occasion. Here she is "smiling for the camera."

The star of the Irish Picnic is the BBQ. People come from all over Tennessee and even from surrounding states to buy pulled pork and roast chicken and get a jug of St. Patrick's famous Sauce.

I was pleasantly surprise to find there were a lot of carnival games to play where every one got a prize. Rosie loved the fishing game the best.

She was very happy to win a blow up doggie for her excellent fishing.

There's a picture of them putting more wood on the fires for the pork shoulders they will cook tonight. They will slow cook them all night long and in the morning there will be lines of people there to buy them.

Bonnie Rose also like the "Ducky" game. Pretty much she just likes games with water and was very content to just stand there and play with the ducks for a while.

"William go stand by the fire pits so I can take a picture of them." Poor William. They were too hot to get too close to, but he's a good sport.

William tried playing the tick tack toe game with Rosie but she just kept dropping the balls on the ground and laughing.

The booth people said we were the most entertaining customers they'd had all day and gave us a little prize for the good laugh we gave them.  But most importantly Rosie had fun.

Tomorrow we'll try to get to the picnic early enough to get some famous BBQ. We'll also go hear Uncle Joe's band play and hopefully play some more games. But mostly we'll go to do what every one else goes to do there. Eat  BBQ.

Life's a Zoo

 Today we went to the zoo.  We've been wanting to visit the Nashville zoo for sometime. Bonnie Rose loves animals so much, and we want her to be exposed to them as much as she can as she grows up.

Rosie was so fascinated with most of the animals and studied them very intently. She tried very hard to say all of their names.

 She thought the Flamingos were fun because they were pink and drank water upside down. She stood a long time watching them.

In the petting zoo her favorites were the goats of course but she also liked this Sicilian Donkey a lot too. They also had 8 week old Camels that she really enjoyed looking at.

She was almost overwhelmed in the gift shop with all the fun things to play with. She loved hugging and giving kisses to the stuffed animals.  But of all the things in the gift shop she liked the table full of pretty polished rocks. Rosie loves rocks. She spent a good long time picking out her favorite ones.

The Meerkats made her laugh and laugh the way they wrestled and ran around.

But her very favorite  animals were the Gibbons. At first she wasn't quite sure what to make of their loud singing, but she was definitely intrigued.

Here you can see her clapping for them when they stopped singing and then asking for "more."

Every time we walked near the Gibbon habbitat she asked to go watch them again. They not only sang all day long but they would swing from tree to tree.

 Right before we left we found the "jungle gym" play area of the zoo. It was the nicest play ground I've ever seen. We will being coming back to play here for sure, and to see the Gibbons of course.

Drive In

 Last night we went to the movies. We saw Green Lantern on opening night. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie on opening night, but the best part about it wasn't that we were getting to see a nerdy movie the night it opened. The best part about it was that it was at a drive in movie theater.

For six dollars per adult (kids under 12 are free) you can sit in your car with your own snacks and you can watch not one but two movies! How crazy is that?!

When we first got there I was a little surprised that it wasn't more crowded, it was Friday night after all and opening night of a big movie. But  I was also very happy it wasn't too crowded.  I realized right away that I am a Drive in Noob.  We showed up in our car with a small cooler of snacks and that was it. Every one else had comfortable lawn chairs and pillows and their dogs, and sat comfortably and ready to enjoy the perfect summer evening.

I thought the movie was good. Sure it followed the predictable comic book formula, but hey, it was a comic book movie so what do you expect. I thought the Green Lantern character was cute and loveable and slightly sarcastic... in a funny way. There was the nerdy side kick (every one needs a nerdy side kick, that's why I have William) and the cute girl that sees the hero for who he is before he does (every one needs a cute girl to support them, that's why William has me).  Sure it was predictable but it was fun and cute and the characters for likeable and funny.  We all liked the movie very much.

Baby Girl got to climb around the car during the movie when she wasn't watching it intently or trying to smash her face against mine, she always does that after kissy scenes.  She also thought it was great fun to hang out the open window to watch the movie. She looked like a puppy dog.

We didn't stay for the second movie. I would have liked to but it was a romantic comedy and it's not one of Baby Girl's favorite genres. She pretty much just goes for Sci-fi or movies with animals in them and it was a small space for her to be confined in for another movie. So we decided to go home and watch some Doctor Who.
Except, the car wouldn't start.

We had the car on, but not running, so we could have the radio on. That's how you hear the movie. And as a result the battery died. Luckily the guy at the concession stand had a portable car starter and helped us get the car started. He says he does it all the time.

How do people go to drive in movies and not have their cars die? And how to people sitting outside their cars hear the movie? Any advice from Drive-in-theater veterans would be great.

Our drive home was beautiful.  The moon was a perfect sci-fi moon, big and bright and yellow and partly shrouded by wispy crowds.  All in all it was a great night and I very much look forward to doing it again.  Especially now that I know that the concession stand has a portable battery starter.

Fish Fry

Last weekend we went to our very first Fish Fry. Fish Fries are a very special local past time here. Politicians must host them if they want to get elected, Churches host them to draw people in. To me a fish fry is the mark of Summer around here.

A fish fry is just what is sounds like. A bunch of people getting together and eating fried fish. In these parts that means Catfish.

I think I could eat fried catfish every day. It's amazing. I'm so glad we live in the South. I can't believe I've gone all my life without fried catfish.

This particular fish fry was hosted my Aunt Mae's church and was a pot luck. Every one brought their specialties. There were hush puppies and french fries and 3 tables of desserts and of course Coleslaw. Or as people around here call it "Slaw."

 Coleslaw is historically a dutch dish called "koolsalade", which means cabbage salad. It's main ingredient is shredded cabbage and often has shredded carrots in it too.

 I thought there were only two kinds of "slaw," vinegar slaw and mayonnaise slaw. But last weekend I learned I was very wrong.  There was vinegar slaw, and slaw it milk sauce, and slaw with grapes in it, and slaw with green peppers. I have seen so many different kinds of "slaw" in my life!
We sampled most of them and William came home with many ideas to try.

Bonnie Rose enjoyed the fish fry very much. She loves hush puppies and Aunt Mae made sure there were special Gluten Free hush puppies and fish batter just for us! She's so good to us and we all over ate.

Another special treat was Uncle Joe's presents there.  At first Bonnie Rose played a little shy with him. But he managed to make her laugh and win her over, as he always does.   I'm so happy she has some one as kind and fun and musical as Joe to grow up with.

After eating way too much and visiting and Joe taking Rosie in the bouncy house and playing endless rounds of hide and seek with her, we all rolled our selves home and sat lazily in front of the TV and watched Doctor Who.  We didn't even have any room for ice cream. 

I can tell we are going to have a very wonderful, if not fattening, summer.

Another Day at the Faire

 Every year in May (weekends only) there is a Renaissance Faire just outside of Nashville. We celebrated Mother's Day there this year and then a couple weeks later we visited again.

On our second trip to the Faire we saw different things than on our first, and it wasn't quite so crowded.  One of my favorite shows was the live chess game.

It was fun to see the "pieces" sword fight for their squares and it was fun to see the French beat... with some modification to the standard rules.

Since this Faire is not quite so big as the Southern California one it is much more kid friendly, and we got a private audience with Queen Elizabeth I. It was my first time meeting her and I was very excited.


The Nashville Faire's main claim to fame is that it is the only Renaissance Faire in the US to be held on the grounds of an actual Castle!

The Castle was built by a Mr. Dan Freeman and is actually his personal home!

Every year he sponsors the Ren Faire and he allows tours of part of his castle home and grounds.



It was actually more of just letting us wonder around than a tour. Which was so nice, so fun, and so relaxing. Also, the inside had air conditioning. Thank you Mr. Freeman!

In the Great Room of his Castle there was this 800 year old Sword on display. It was excavated from Jerusalem and is from one of the Crusades.  Mr. Freeman is one of four owners this sword has had, the first being the Knight who lost it on his Crusade.

 Also in The Great Room is this authentic replica chandelier that lowers so each candle can be lit and then raises again to light the room. I didn't ask if the wax drips or not.

 This is an actual Irish Elk head and antlers. The Irish Elk was the largest deer that ever lived and has been extinct for 7,700 years.

 Each arch in the castle is hand made and authentic to the time period.

 After we wandered around the castle and grounds we made our way back to the Festival grounds.  We were given a much welcomed break from the heat with a 15 minute rain shower that gave us a second wind to stay till closing.  

Bonnie Rose was such a good sport and loved seeing all the people dressed up. Even though she was so tired and so hot she was always in a good mood and had a smile for everyone.

There are so many fun things to do at the Fair that I think I could go every weekend for the whole month and still not see all the shows or eat all the treats or play all the games.

 It was Pirate Weekend at the Faire so William is dressed up like a Pirate and here with Captain Red Beard.

During of one of Baby Girl's hottest moments when she didn't want to be held or be in her stroller any more and wasn't in the mood to hold hands, she discovered that I had a rope tired around my waist and thought that was great fun.

She was not only content to stay near Mama holding on the rope but she thought it was the greatest fun to run and pull me around where ever she went.

We were a happy little Ren Fair Family. Next time I'll have Baby Girl dressed up in her little costume I'm putting together for her.