Carnival Fun and a Halloween Dance Recital

For the past two weeks, we were busy with Halloween activities. Even though the schools do not do support a Halloween party, Elliot's preschool hosted instead a carnival and Amelia's class held a Fall Party. My little man was all excited that they were allowed to wear their costumes to their carnival. I was able to stop by for 1.5 hours to watch him dance and play some fun games with his friends.

Favorite Ninja turtle dancer:

Mommy and her buddy:

Elliot is quite the popular guy in class. He gets goodbye hugs from everyone and even the girls like him. Brooklyn is quite fond of my little man, who is such a nice guy and helps everyone.

Cotton Candy Love:

Today, Amelia had her Halloween Party at Dance. The girls played some fun games, then performed a dance they have practiced over the past few weeks and afterwards had a little picnic. Cute costumes and even cuter tap dancers:

The Monster Mash dance:

My little witch and her dance instructor, Ms. Rene:

Now, it is time to get some sleep as tomorrow will be an exciting and tiring day!

Celebrating 37

Between my mom's visit, fall break, catching up on work and home life and then Halloween lays also my birthday. While I'm at the age where celebrating your own birthday is not the most important part of ones life anymore, I still love that my family and friends made it a special day for me - THANK YOU!  

I still feel young and not a year older...but here and there I discovered I'm not a spring chick either. Life has been great this past year and by God's will, I will be healthy, happy and striving in this coming year as well. Since my birthday fell on a Tuesday, there was only enough time to read my birthday cards and a quick selfie with my two munchkins before heading out the door: 

At work that day, we had our annual Chili cook-off and then a presentation by the CEO of the company. While I didn't participate in the cooking competition, I did ate my way thru 16 entries of Chili and some sweet desserts. But what made the day even more special was that my company donated $15,000 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which uses the funds to help raise awareness, to support the ones affected by this disease and to find a cure. In this past year, breast cancer has affected my immediate family as well as my friends and my son's beloved preschool teacher. We pray for each of them on a regular basis but it felt good to show our support  for those three women and all the other men and women who are battling or recovering from this disease or lost their fight against breast cancer. 

In the afternoon, we continued the celebration with homemade (with Elliot helped bake) birthday cake. This is 37!

As a special birthday outing, Derrick and I bought tickets for Phantom in the Opera, which was performed at the TPAC in town. By luck, his co-worker had purchased great seats but since he was no longer able to go, he sold them for half off to us. 

I love musicals and shows; thus, it was a great treat to see this performance again. Many years ago, I saw Phantom live on Broadway in NYC and loved it. Over the years, I had forgotten some details of it and it felt like, certain parts were casts a bit different. However, this cast, especially the Phantom, were outstanding and I loved every minute of it. 

A great ending to a fabulous birthday week. I'm beyond blessed for my loving husband, family and friends and the chance to live my life amongst them. 

Getting in to the "Spirit"

I'm still catching up with blog posts so this one is a collection of things. Earlier this month, Amelia lost her 7th tooth and looked officially like a goalie. But luckily not for too long as finally a top and a bottom tooth are making their way thru after months of waiting. 

Those two might fight a lot but they are also best friends. I love the sight of them reading together!

Once or twice a week, I volunteer at Amelia's school for a couple of hours. What I help with varies each week but usually it includes sorting, copying, rearranging stuff or testing some children on vocabulary.

By now all her classmates know me and greet me with a hug. But the other day I was the month's mystery reader and came dressed as a witch. I chose a Halloween read and it was the perfect costume to match the characters in the book.

Last week, the children also dressed up for Red Ribbon Week. My cute little nerd:

Crazy Sock Day and a brief overnight visit from uncle Lee: 

Finally, one Sunday night, while the full moon was out, we used the fire pit for the first time this season and prepared hot dogs and S'Mores for dinner. 

Fall, my favorite season and when it isn't too wet or cold, we are outside. I found my way back to running 3-4 times a week and if I don't run, then we play football, tennis or catch with the kids in the yard, which is a workout too. 

It's the end of October and that means its all about dressing up and collecting candy. This year, we took a Ninja Turtle and a Witch out for trunk- or treating at Amelia's school on Saturday night. 

And the local park hosted a Halloween festival too. We saw lots of cool characters, played some games and got some sweets. 

One over-sized Ninja turtle, 2 dinosaurs and 3 princesses:

Of course, there were more Halloween activities we participated in but those are detailed in the next blog post.

Weekend Getaway

The last time my mom visited us was 3 years ago. That was also the first time, my husband and I got a kid-free weekend. When you do not have any relatives living close by and/ or move constantly, getting a weekend away from the children is almost impossible. So we ensured to schedule a weekend getaway while Oma was here. 

Right before lunch on Friday, Derrick and I waved our goodbyes and took off for 2 days in Cookeville, TN. Cookeville is only a 90 minute drive from us and the area around the small town is known for its hiking trails and waterfalls. We wanted to use that time not only to spend quality time with each other but also to explore some possible short family vacation spots. 

The first stop on our trip was Cummins Falls and it was a doozy. While this waterfall looked beautiful from above, it was a treacherous way to get close to it. This is Tennessee's eighth largest waterfall, in terms of volume, and a popular student hang out in the summer. 

Of course, Derrick had read the reviews and suggested not to go up close, but if you know me, I like to take on a little challenge. Wearing only sneakers didn't help as one needed to cross the water at least twice before reaching the waterhole/ fall.

 Almost there:

Well, I slipped right in the beginning and banged up my elbow and knee and then got soaked when I slipped a second time. But I did make it to the waterfall (while Derrick stayed back and relaxed in a sunny spot) and it was pretty. 

I made it: 

And back, all soaked:

By the time we made it back up the trail to the parking lot, it was past 5pm and time to head to the hotel and take a hot shower. Our time in the hotel was limited as we were only there in the mornings and evenings but enjoyed to just kick back, chat, watch a show/ movie and not to be woken up by little kids before 7am.

The next morning after a leisurely breakfast, we drove to Falls Creek Falls State Park, which is home to one of the tallest waterfalls in the Eastern U.S. It is also one of the state's largest and most visited parks due to the many different activities it offers to all outdoor enthusiasts. This park also features several waterfalls and one can explore them by hiking from one waterfall to the next. Our hike started out on Cane Creek Cascades, where one has to walk over a suspension bridge to cross the river. 

At the bottom of Cane Creek Cascades:

River Crossing:

From there, we hiked up to Cane Creek and Rockhouse Falls: 

While Cane Creek Falls has one of the largest volumes of water in the park, Rockhouse Falls is one of the tallest but also has the smallest volume.

On our way to the namesake of the Sate Park: Falls Creek Falls. 

Falls Creek Falls has the largest single plunge east of the Mississippi, approximately 250 ft. The water flow is controlled by a dam; hence the limited water falling on this particular day. 

Here is a picture of the waterfall in full flow by  http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/fallcreek.shtml:

Overall, we both really enjoyed this park and plan to come back next summer with the children. The trails were easily manageable with children and the water hole  is very accessible. 

After a quick bite to eat, we went to Burgess Falls State Park, which is also home to multiple waterfalls. The trails to the waterfalls in this park were also very accessible and a short walk away. 

 Some Photo Ops: 

And we reached the waterfalls: 

Burgess Falls is large and unusually shaped but very impressive. 

And that concludes the hiking/ waterfall tour. For dinner, we found a small place that sold Mediterranean food and freshly made pizza, which we took back to the hotel. After being out and about all day, we needed a hot shower and some downtime. The restaurant was right in downtown, which consists of maybe 3 blocks: small but cute.

On Sunday we slept in and after a late breakfast, we ended our weekend getaway with a massage. The perfect ending for a much needed and great couple's getaway. But do not worry, Oma took very good care of her grandchildren and spoiled them "just a bit" while we were away.