Boo in Boonville 2011

For Halloween again this year, Shawn and I passed out candy at the WOW! booth at Boo in Boonville.  We did this last year and had so much fun.  It's basically one long line of people walking around the square collecting candy.  I'm not sure how much candy everyone else passes out, but we went through 20+ large bags of candy.  Shawn does more of the passing out of candy, and I keep the table stocked and take pictures of trick or treaters.  I take pictures of a variety of the costumes, but for some reason, I love editing the scary/gory costumes the best!?! 



Here is our stash of candy!  Can you believe we went through every bit of it, except for the box of gumballs (because they are for a gumball machine and aren't individually wrapped) and just a handful of candy!



There was LOTS of yummy candy and we had quite a few requests for what we gave them. 

 

A line of people waiting to go around the square to collect candy.

My FAVE trick-or-treater of the evening....Spiderman aka Gavin! 

Me being silly before we packed up for the evening.  That little bit of candy left on the table was all that was left.

I do NOT like this picture of us, but it's all that was taken of the two of us that night :(

Gavin's going to the Zoooooo

Shawn and I had been wanting to take Gavin back to the zoo for some time now.  The last time we took him, he was about 9 months old and all he could do was just sit in the stroller and look around.  We were excited to go back with him; for the fun for him and for the exercise for us.  Hee!!  The weather on the day we went was perfect; it was sunny with a little bit of breeze and not too warm, but not to chilly either.  Our zoo is nice; but we've been to other zoos that are nicer.  I would love for us to take him to the St. Louis Zoo.  I've been there once, but it's been quite a while ago.  My favorite thing to see at the zoos are the giraffes.  And then our favorite thing at the zoo on this day I would have to say would be the monkey exhibit.  Those monkeys were running around chasing each other, jumping around, and swinging on their ropes.  They actually drew quite the crowd in while we were there.  I also had my little point and shoot camera with me and gave it to Gavin to take pictures while we were there.  He took quite a few pictures and it was funny to see the zoo through his eyes. 

 

The giraffes were so close to us that day.  I tried to get Gavin to get closer and pet them and feed them leaves like the other kids were doing, but he wasn't having it.  And by the time we could finally talk him into feeding them, the giraffes walked away.



 

These next two pictures are pictures Gavin took :)

This otter exhibit was really neat.  This tunnel was built through the exhibit, so the otters were swimming around you while you were crawling through.  In the next picture you can see the otters sitting on top of the tunnel while Gavin is crawling through it.

During the month of October they have Boo at the Zoo in the evening time, so the zoo is all decorated for Halloween and stuff.  I tried to get Gavin to stand closer to the witch in the kettle so I could take a picture, but he wasn't having it. 

A volunteer with the zoo had this porcupine out so we could touch it.  It was really neat and felt like a plastic animal.  I had asked the volunteer if he could climb off the table, but he said no, he couldn't jump.  I tried to get Gavin to pet the porcupine, but he wasn't having it either.  LOL!

The turkey butt started doing this new thing the night before we went to the zoo.  I would try to take his picture and he would through his hands and arms up over his face and say the light was too bright in his eyes. 

Heading out of the zoo.  The sun was bright in his eyes too!

Gatlinburg 2011 Trip Report: Wed. Oct. 19

Wednesday morning when I woke up, it was raining and cold outside.  As soon as I saw the rain, I went back to bed and we slept in that morning.  We finally got up, got ready, and ventured out for the day.  We didn’t have breakfast that morning because we slept in, so we stopped for lunch at Calhoun’s.  It was good.  I had a salad with greens, grilled chicken, pineapple, rice, and a warm honey mustard dressing.  It was a good salad. 

After lunch we started out drive out towards Cades Cove.  We stopped at a little mom and pop country store to shop at and get fudge, however we opted for the ice cream instead.  Seems like we always stop in here when we are on our way to Cades Cove; just something fun we have started doing.  We left there and were on our way to look for bear.  We got to Cades Cove and there was very few people driving through the afternoon we were there; probably because of the rain and cold weather.  The whole way through I was on the lookout for bear; but didn’t see any.  We did see lots of horses, deer and wild turkey.  We stopped midway through at the visitor center and got out and walked around the mill area and such.  We have been to Cades Cove probably 5 other times and I never knew all of that was there.  I could of done without the rain and cold weather, but we still had a great time. 

After we left Cades Cove, we drove back into Gatlinburg down Little River Road and pulled off at quite a few pull-offs.  There was a waterfall at one and then the other pull-off was at a place that we went to our first year going to Gatlinburg and I never could remember where it was.  We went back to the hotel to freshen up and then headed to dinner at the Bullfish Grill.  The Bullfish is probably our favorite place to eat at in the area.  We both had the baby back ribs; I had mashed potatoes and coleslaw with mine, Shawn had the hashbrown potatoes and coleslaw and we both had yummy, yummy bread.  After dinner, it was back to the hotel for the evening and to start getting things ready for trip back home L

Gatlinburg 2011 Trip Report: Tues. Oct. 18

On Tuesday, we had tickets to the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.  When I bought the tickets for that day, the weather was supposed to be warm and sunny.   Closer to the day to go, the weather forecast changed to rain.  We were blessed with a great warm, sunny day and no rain, except for a few sprinkles on the way home.  We got up a little later than had planned, but we were off and headed down the road at 9:00 a.m.  It was about a 2 hours drive to Asheville from Gatlinburg, and the scenery along I-40 was absolutely beautiful.  Once we arrived at the Biltmore, I was in awe of how beautiful it was and how big it is.  The Biltmore House is a 250+ room home.  Home is putting it mildly!  You can click on the link to read more about it.  We were able to tour the inside of the house, but weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside L, and then we toured the property, flower gardens, farm, winery and just the property in general.   We had lunch at the Stable Café and it was yummy.  I had a salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese strips, fried okra, tomatoes, deviled eggs, rotisserie chicken, and brown sugar bacon, and then I had a cup of potato soup. 

On our way back home, we took a short cut across the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is another beautiful drive through the mountains.  We drove into Pigeon Forge for dinner that night at the Applewood Farmhouse Grill, which was delish too.  I had the sampler platter with chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, and chicken pot pie, fried apples, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  All meals were served with apple julep, apple fritters, and apple butter.   And of course, we ate too much and then stopped for dessert on the way back to the hotel L



Shawnie and I at the Biltmore House

The Biltmore House

Shawnie and I at the Biltmore House

The view off the back veranda.  Would it be amazing to have this view each morning!

The back veranda with the amazing view of the countryside.  This porch was huge and had about 5 or 6 sets of these chairs spaced down the porch.

My lunch at the Stable Cafe

Inside the green house

When I took this picture, I was just taking a close up of the grasshopper on the plant.  Upon further inspection of the picture, I realize the grasshopper is pooping on the plant.  LOL!!

The green house on the Biltmore property