weekending

(there is officially progress being made on Claire's felted play mat.  I'll post photos as it comes along...)

On Friday we went to the NC Arboretum to see the Legos exhibit.  There were some pretty amazing creations out of legos.  Hundreds of thousands of legos.

The sly fox stalking the rabbit was my favorite.

They also have a great bonsai exhibit~  It's mind blowing for me, seeing what appears to be a full-grown very old maple (or elm, hornbeam, spruce, red cedar, etc.) tree dwarfed by years of careful root and branch pruning.  And the tiny little maple and elm leaves?  Crazy.  Crazy.

Down in the woods, just off some of the trails, are some little shelters and lean-tos scattered about.  We'd met our neighbors at the Arboretum, and the three big kids ran and played.  We mamas decided we need to bring them back to this place as often as we can, to give them the good woods play that it offers- fairly open and level woods, crunchy leaves so we can hear them running around and not get worried that they've run off too far..... and in the meantime, we can drink warm beverages and catch up ourselves.  Yes, please.

Papa's fire station is near the Arboretum, so we stopped by to say hi before heading back home.  Turns out, while we were gone that morning FedEx was trying to deliver my new bike- the one I've been waiting for for a month!  (and just in time for this freezing cold week we're getting ready to have) You can be sure I'll be sticking close to home on Monday morning.

But meanwhile, there was ballet class first thing Saturday morning, followed by a quick visit to the holiday tailgate market so that we could get to Asheville in time for the parade ~ papa helped lead the way in his kilt, playing his drum with the Asheville FD Pipes and Drum Band.  I really thought I got some pictures of him, but they mysteriously disappeared from my camera.  It has been acting a bit wonky and needs some professional help, I'm afraid.  What matters more though is that Claire saw him and got to run out and give him hugs and kisses.  I may have, too.  Kisses anyway.

There were at least four different high school marching bands playing Christmas songs, a couple animal-rescue organizations parading by with several up-for-adoption pups (and even a pig!) in little sweaters reading "adopt me today!", about a dozen horses, a group of actors from a local theater dressed in their "A Christmas Carol" costumes, and quite a bit more.

I think my favorite thing (well, maybe tied with the marching band music) was this puppetry group and their awesome puppets~

this puppet, in particular~

And then it was home fairly early Saturday afternoon, where we've stayed put since.  Mostly in our pajamas, and feeding the hungry fire that is working hard to keep the freezing cold at bay.

It's snack time, and so I'm off to make some popcorn and cut up some pomegranates.  And possibly do some straightening up and planning ahead for the week to come~  this girl and I are going to try to get a more solid morning routine/rhythm in place (though this may not be the week to start, I guess) and there is grocery shopping to do.  My father, grandfather, and my brother and his girlfriend will all be joining us for dinner on Thursday, and I'm very excited to be hosting.

cheers~

*weekending with amanda