Fall Fun

OK, here's the post everyone really wants to see, because it's the one with pictures of Benjamin.

Yesterday was a full day for the Shoptaw clan. It started off early, with the annual Downtown Fall Festival held here in Russellville. The first stop is the omelette breakfast at the American Legion building. You pick up your ingredients and they make the omelette up for you right there. Good, tasty stuff. Of course, the political candidates this year were the ones doing a lot of the cooking. Doesn't hurt to feed the voters!

Outside there are numerous booths, tents, etc. set up to show off wares and other things. One of the highlights is a chili cookoff, so there are a lot of groups set up cooking chili and giving it out. I could have been one of the chili judges one year, but it didn't work out. I may have to see if I can do that again sometime!

The big thing for Benjamin this year, though, were the pony rides. Last year, we paid our money and put him on the horse, but he immediately started crying so they refunded our money and we got him off. This year, though, he seemed ready to get at it.

As you can see, he really wanted into the ponies. I wasn't sure he'd like it, because he had a chance earlier in the morning to get on a big horse, and he didn't want to do that. I guess that one was too big for him, but the ponies were just the right size. When it was time, he picked out a pony (whose name, we found out, was Taffy) and got on board.

Meron walked around with him, keeping him on, but he really just seemed to enjoy it without stress. They went around in a circle probably for 5 minutes or so, which was a good ride in my opinion.

Unfortunately, the problem with him enjoying it is that when it was time to get off the pony, he was not happy at all. He wailed for a bit, wanting to go again. It's a good thing that we had a distraction opportunity. A woman that used to go to our church owns a toy store that was right by where we had parked. Her big selling item is Thomas the Tank Engine, which Benjamin is really starting to get into. We went in and let him look at all the toys and bought him a Percy toy, which is really enjoying.

While he settled in for a nap, Meron had a Tastefully Simple party to do. It turned out to be her biggest party ever, both in number of people and in orders. She's had two this week and they've both been very good. I'm hoping she's starting to turn a corner with this. (Also, if you've not done so, feel free to follow the link and order something. Great stuff there, really.)

When she got home, it was time to get ready for the Halloween Carnival at church. We did this when I was in youth, but it died out for a while. When it returned four or five years ago, it was a little different. We start out with Trunk or Treat, which is when everyone sits at their cars in the parking lot and the kids go around to each one getting candy. After that, there are games inside, then there is a "hayride" around the church. It's a four-wheeler with a trailer of hay attached, but everyone loves it and they go around again and again. It's always a blast.

This year, Benjamin went as Bob the Tomato from VeggieTales. His cousin Zachary from Ohio had worn this costume when he was about Benjamin's age, so Meron's mom borrowed it and sent it on down. He was extremely cute in it, as you can tell.

Now, I said a few entries ago that I was more of a Bob man myself, but since he had the better costume, I got a Larry the Cucumber shirt, put on a long sleeve green shirt and some green pajama pants, and went along as his sidekick. I think the costume worked a lot better on him!

So that's what's been going on around here the last week or so. Benjamin's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I know we'll have a ton to talk about then. So keep checking back!