Pumpkins and Pizza

On Saturday I went with Steve and Eva to a few fall festivals. The first was at a Horse farm. We got here as they were opening so things were still getting going but there was still plenty to do. Starting with an assault course.

Race around the cones

They had lots of pumpkins around, as does everywhere at the moment. Apparently painted pumpkins are just as common as carved ones around here.

Painted pumpkins

There was a pony ride, trail rides, and tractor rides. So Eva went on a pony ride.

Looking a bit cautious (it was big pony)

Lucky the pony

We did get tickets for the tractor ride but no one seemed to know what was going on. I thought about offering to drive but doubted anyone would get on the back if I did! So we amused ourselves with the games around. Well, Steve and Eva amused themselves and I took photos!

Seesaw

Lassoing the "bull"

Get that bull!

It become a tug of war - Eva won of course.

The weirdest was the udder toss which just sounds wrong. It's like corn holes, where you have boards with holes in and the idea is to throw bean bags throw the holes in the opposite teams boards - very popular in tailgating (pre-football drinking and eating in car parks). Except here they had gloves filled with water to look like udders and the aim was to throw them into the opposite teams bucket.

Toss the udder 

Climbing on the hay bales

Nap time!

After the horse farm (we never did get those tractor rides), we headed to Sinklands, which is a pumpkin farm where  they have a festival throughout October. There was lots to do and very colorful.

Pumpkin scarecrows.

They had lots of pumpkins still, though this was the last week. I decided not to get one as I still have about 3 butternut squashes in my fridge. I don't think a pumpkin will fit. (I have developed a serious addiction to homemade butternut squash soup!)

Pumpkin patch

Colorful pumpkins

We got some chili and sandwiches for lunch and tried to avoid the yellow jackets (local wasps) while eating. (Eva wanted to give them her cheetos to make friends.) The sun was out and it was so nice sitting outside. It is not going to be possible for long. It is supposed to snow this coming weekend! :-(

Tractor

They had a very cute little maze which Eva enjoyed.

Headed for home!

They also had some animals to pet. My favorite was the cutest little kid I have seen in a long time!

Mini ponies.

Cute kid

I also went into my first corn maze! Eva was leading and did a very good job. (Though we did take some interesting routes which I am not convinced were actually paths.)

Corn maze

The advantage of being a kid.

After the maze, we had to go on the hay ride. (I made sure! I have never been on one before so we HAD to!) We got some kettle corn for the trip. It was only about 10 minutes but fun munching away as we bounced along.

Tasty kettle corn.

They also had a pumpkin toss - Shooting pumpkins from a sling as far as they can go, which is quite far. It seemed fun but a waste. I would rather find a way to eat them!
I was really tempted by the tiny pumpkins. I have no idea what I would do with them but they were so cute.

Lots of little ones!

The creepy Hokie bird was also out. It's a guy on stilts and very steam punk. He even had a tip jar but it was on his butt. Strange!

Steam punk Hokie bird

Last stop was for ice-cream. I stole a bit of Steve's pumpkin ice-cream, which was tasty but I had eaten way too much kettle corn by this point. (And Eva was not going to share any of hers - she put away the whole tub!)

Tiger eyes.

More pumpkins.

They dropped me home for a few hours while Eva went to her friends Birthday party. I try to avoid those - loud! So I skyped home to catch up as my parents have been away for the week. After the party, on the way back Steve and Eva picked me up and we made pizzas. I was going to try a new recipe for the dough but forgot a few of the ingredients. :-( But thankfully I brought some bases (just in case the recipe didn't work). I was going to take photos but the kettle corn had worn off and they didn't last long enough. :-)
Eva and I curled up and watched a movie before books and bedtime dancing. It was very sweet. Steve and I then drank too much wine before I got a taxi home.
The rest of the weekend was the normal - work. :-( But needs to be done.

This week has been the usual - work. But I am going to the ballet tomorrow night which I am very excited about. It has been ages and I am looking forward to seeing the new arts centre at VT. 

Radford festival

Saturday, Steve and I wanted to take Eva to the planetarium at Radford University (well we wanted to go to the river again but the weather forecast was not good so this was the alternative). The campus in Radford is beautiful and we got some great pictures walking through.

Baby nearly going for a swim

Father and daughter

Pulling faces - because we can!

 However when we got to the planetarium, it was shut! :-( We waited with 2 other families but no one came to open up. So we had to give up. We found craft fair in Radford which was actually really good. I was really tempted by some of the rings (my ideal ring) but decided to save the money to pay off the credit card and save for the next traveling adventure (hopefully mini later in the month and major in February). I ended up getting some local honey and Eva got a piece of carrot cake as a treat.

After the craft fair, we headed to Dublin for a Fall festival. It is scary to think they are considering fall already. It should still be summer! But the fair was fun. Eva got cotton candy and candy corn. One happy (and hyper) kid.

Happy/hyper kiddo

 They had some animals there too. I admit to going gaga over the baby ducks and rabbits.

Ducklings

Rabbits.

Eva even took a ride on the pony. When I first meet her, 3 month ago, she was too afraid to go near one, let alone ride on a pony. She is growing up so quickly.

Riding the pony

Happy father!

 Then it started raining so we headed inside. And Eva, with some couching, won a bracelet from the corn throw (you thrown a bean bag through some holes - a great American tradition, particularly at football game tailgates) and a necklace at the pumpkin toss (throwing a hoop around the stem of a pumpkin). She looked very stylish at the end.

Fashion icon and her snow cone

After a snow cone (a kids dream junk food day), we headed back to mine to pick up some work and then to Steve's house in Christiansburg. Steve and I took turns with naps and work while Eva napped (not long enough) and played with her. After games and reading, she finally slept! Steve and I split a bottle of "R Collection" Cabernet Sauvignon from California. (If you ever see this wine, buy it, and buy me a bottle. I will love you forever - It is the best wine on the planet!) I am currently waiting outside Steve's for the taxi to go home. Thankfully his internet extends to the front lawn!

RiverFest, Radford

I survived my first week of teaching! My class keeps on growing and some of the students are challenging at the least. Still most of them are great and I am hoping once I get used to it and start doing the demonstrations, it will become less stressful and more fun. (Assuming the demos work, which is probably a big assumption!)
Saturday I went with Steve and Eva to Radford, about 20 mins outside to the RiverFest at Bisset Park. The park was very nice but the Festival wasn't quite what we were expecting. They had slightly exaggerated what was going on. There was no as much going on as we thought there would be. :-(

The festival

Still it was free and a lovely day. And there was some music so Steve and Eva got some more dancing in.

Getting their groove on.

Dancing

Getting dizzy now!

 We had a walk around (which didn't take long) and got a lemonade and cotton candy, which Eva couldn't decide if she liked at first but then the sugar rush kicked in and it was all good. She also found a hula-hoop and showed off her impressive skills!

hula-hooping

We took a walk along the river though couldn't go too far as there was no shade and it was really hot. We saw lots of people kayaking and tubing down the river. I desperately wanted to go but I forgot to pack my swim suit. :-( Plus Eva isn't very happy on the water yet. Maybe another time. It looked so relaxing.

The New River Valley.

Steve took Eva down to the water but I decided not to join them. My ankle is stilling playing up from spraining it a few weeks ago. We also stopped at the park on the way back to the car but the climbing things were just too hot to touch!

Checking out the river

We stopped a nice little Mexican for lunch and then for ice-cream for dessert. Unfortunately thanks to my teaching I have tones of work to do so the rest of the day and weekend was spent in my office with cups of tea trying to get the lectures written for next week and get some research done. The joys of teaching!