Mansfield Trip, Part 1

Ok, I still don't have Mike's photos from our trip to Missouri so this will be a two parter! Next week I'll probably post Halloween pictures sooooo we'll see when part 2 goes up! Anyway, we went to Mansfield, MO, for a couple of days over Fall Break to go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum. I have a suggestion to everyone: go on a festival weekend or it's pretty dead. There are 3 restaurants near the Weaver Inn where we stayed. Two were pretty decent, one was downright awful. Mike and I took pictures of each other taking pictures at the Mexican restaurant.

We were there on a rainy weekend so we didn't get to do as much trail walking as we expected. To fill the time, we went out to Whispering Oaks Winery and tried a couple of wines. We bought both of them because they were great but I don't think they were expecting any visitors. There were tours and cheese advertised buuuut there were, in fact, no tours and no cheese. They did tell us we could go look at the grape vines, though. So we did. 

We also hit this little roadside park. I googled it to make sure it wasn't a known ax murderer hang out because, well, I do stuff like that. There was a murder there last year but it was premeditated and the perpetrators were caught so we took the chance and hung out. Mike and Autumn had fun going through the rock piles.

And we all posed at the cute waterfall. There is a picture of me somewhere buuuut guess who has it? Yup. It'll be in the next batch. The colors weren't quite changing yet. It was still too warm. I can imagine the area will be even more beautiful when it's fully fall which is why it's too bad not much more happens there during this season. Mike and I went to Asheville, NC, for our honeymoon 12 years ago this same weekend and they make a living off their color season. I assumed, incorrectly, that the museum town would do something similar.

Mike had to hang off rocks for a photo op!

I'll write more about the museum next time but for now I'll just tell you that we weren't allowed to take photos at the museum and it was raining while we were there so we couldn't get any outside. But during a break in the rain, we went over to the Mansfield Cemetery and found the Wilder and Lane graves. Autumn was really impressed that Laura's daughter Rose was also a writer. On the back of Rose's grave there is a quote from Thomas Paine: “An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. Neither the channel nor the Rhine will arrest its progress. It will march on the horizon of the world and it will conquer.” We wandered around the graveyard and looked at the graves dating way back to when the area was first settled. Pretty crazy and sometimes very sad.

After the museum and the cemetery, we had lunch at the bad restaurant and then went over to a cute used book store that had three kitties living inside! This kitty did NOT want Autumn to read this book about dogs!

We stayed at the Weaver Inn which was probably the nicest place in town! The room was pretty cozy if a bit loud. If we ever go back, I want an upstairs room to get away from the traffic noise! Autumn was nice and snug during rest time on Saturday. Best thing about the stay? Freshly baked cookies every afternoon!

I have a few more photos to share but I'll hang on to them until I have some more photos from Mike's stash. Next week: Halloween! The week after? Probably more trip pics. :D

Mobile Moments: Violins, Memories, and Molly is Weird Part 5002

So, I totally forgot to get Mike to share his album of our trip sooooo you get THIS. AUTUMN PLAYING THE VIOLIN.


Sunday was pretty fun. We got to skype Uncle Brad and he and Autumn played a Twinkle Twinkle duet. I should have recorded it but I did get a photo! I know a lot of people aren't fans of social media, technology, and other advances but, personally? I love it.

Last week we had Autumn as Fancy Nancy. This week we have mismatch day! Autumn got to participate for reaching her AR goal, yay! There are things I miss about Autumn over the years as she has grown up way too rapidly. One of the big things is when she had that cute cartoon sounding voice. I think another thing I'll miss is when she doesn't play dress up all the time. But then...maybe she'll be like me and wear a costume every chance she gets!

Okay, I have to post this video that's on my youtube page of Autumn and her cartoon voice.


Sigh. Anyway, we got pie Saturday. Autumn ROLLED through her piece. It was kind of amazing. I almost didn't get her a piece of her own but, holy cow, I am glad I did. I wouldn't have gotten any! This child eats as much as I do and I eat a LOT. If you are ever in the Germantown area, be sure to stop by Pie Folks. It's good stuff!

Other than eating and skyping and violining, Autumn is still doing her kiwi crate every month (um, if you're ever tempted to buy a subscription or a crate, go to my other blog and click the banner!). This crate was pretty fun. She made a hobby horse! I have no idea where it went but before we even started, Autumn lost one of the ears. She named the horse Holy after our friend's cat. The cat has a damaged ear so they named her Holyfield. Recently, I explained to Autumn, at her request, the reason behind the name. "So there was this boxer named Mike Tyson and he was CRAZY and there was this other boxer named Evander Holyfield. Well, one day..."

Oh, and speaking of cats, if you were wondering how Molly is doing, she has a new hobby. She found the unpaired sock basket. So now we find socks in random places all over the house. The strange thing is that we have never actually seen her carrying the socks. I don't know when she does it or why. It's kinda funny and weird. One day last week we came home to Molly standing over an entire pile. Maybe it's like how some cats bring chipmunks? Molly brings SOCKS.

Fancy Nancy and Her First Aikido Demo

A couple weeks ago, we had our first Aikido demo that featured some of our elementary age students! Aren't they adorable??

Autumn's partner, who is also an orange belt (none of my yellow belts could make it), had to temporarily move to Florida because his dad is undergoing a certain kind of cancer treatment. So, I let the white belts work together on some of the more simple moves and then I let Autumn do her thing with me. Here she is doing shihonage which is a throw.

And ikkyo which ends in a pin! Look at that serious face! She did super well and my mouth is open all weird like that because I was narrating, haha. I feel really bad for people who have to watch me teach because still shots of me always look crazy.

At the end, Autumn and Ella demonstrated an exercise we do at the end of class. Going...

Going...

Gone! I CANNOT STAND HOW ADORABLE HER FEET ARE. I know. It's weird. And normally feet are kind of gross to me but something about Autumn in seiza just tickles me.

Anyway, changing gears...they had dress like your favorite book character day at school earlier this month!! We did some going around about it but Autumn settled on Fancy Nancy. She wanted to be Elsa or Anna but I told her no, unless she wanted to be the Snow Queen because Frozen was a movie first. I felt kind of bad because when we got to school, guess what we saw? Like 10 Elsas. And a Lego Movie character. Sooo, yeah. I told her never to tell any of the Elsas I said this but that I mainly wanted her to do something more creative than throwing on her Elsa dress.

I'd say she was creative! We pulled everything in this costume from home except for the wig which I got really cheap at Target. We put a handkerchief over her hair because the wig was itchy. It did the trick and Autumn wore the wig all day. It was awesome. I had a good time, too, obviously. But it wasn't just Autumn's costume, I got to take pictures of all the kids and they were so fun! Costumes are the best. Speaking of, I still don't know what I want to be for Halloween. Maybe I'll be Fancy Nancy...I bet I can find some stuff...

A Night with the Phantom! Or, Autumn's First Girls Night Out

Today is our fashion issue! Autumn and I went shopping last week which **never** happens but it was picture day and everything was either too small or didn't fit the dress code. Autumn absolutely fell in love with this hat. I didn't have the heart to tell her no so we got it and a couple of outfits to match with picture day and our trip to Phantom of the Opera in mind. I love this outfit so much! I just wish she could have worn the hat in her pictures. Too fun.

It was a little warm on Saturday for the dress but there was no way Autumn wasn't going to wear the hat. She has worn it every day since Wednesday, except for today!

Mike and I went to Phantom some time ago so this time around it was just my mom, Autumn, and me. Autumn was pretty pumped. She kept grinning and saying it was her first real girls night. I figured since this was our first time and will be a rare event so we did dinner, dessert, and the whole nine yards. We went to The Beauty Shop Restaurant in Midtown. It was good! I'd definitely go back.

At the Orpheum! We were stopped by several people who told us how cute Autumn's outfit was! She's not a huge fan of that kind of attention. Once she had on cat eye glasses and took them off because too many people were looking at her. Apparently Autumn likes the hat so much that she didn't want to take it off despite the staring.

After I bought the tickets, I was concerned that I made a terrible mistake. Autumn hates movies. She's even scared of Frozen even though she loves it! But, she has watched the 25th anniversary Phantom, loves listening to Broadway on Pandora and is all classical with her ballet and violin plus I just want her to like theater so I have someone to go with (Mike only goes occasionally!). Thinking about her issues with noise and potentially scary parts, I got tickets in the top balcony on the front row. It worked out really well because we could see right down on the stage and it was far enough away to not be freaky. Plus she could see the violins playing and she was amazed. She kept saying wow throughout the whole show!

Autumn jumped once or twice but never got scared or covered her ears which I'm going to take to mean that all my preparation via YouTube videos of potentially scary parts worked. She even danced along with Masquerade! It was awesome and I wish I could have gotten video of it. Afterward, Autumn told me it was better than a movie. We all had a great time. It was my mom's first time to see Phantom, too, by the way. I think I like the old version a little better--more of a spectacle, *possibly* slightly less campy but that could be me--but it was still super fun and the new, rotating stage is fascinating. I'd love to see how it works up close. Saturday went so well that I'm kind of almost thinking maybe Autumn would enjoy seeing The Lion King in the spring. We'll see!! Oh, and check this out. Autumn never falls asleep in the car but her very first girl's night tired her right out. :)

Super Zoo Fun Day!

Friday Autumn didn't have school so we went to the zoo! Josh and Aurora and their mom Mimi met us there.We had a great time even if there were a couple of hiccups!

For example, THE TRAIN RIDE OF DOOOOOM. The little kid train was interesting. I love fast rides but I dooon't think this train was meant to go like 40 miles an hour. The kids were screaming of fear and joy and I told Mimi that we were about to be on the 5:00 news! "In other news, train derailment at the Memphis Zoo..."

We almost lost Miss Aurora. Mimi and I were on the row behind the kids because, again, kiddie train, so I had one arm on Aurora keeping her from tumbling out and Mimi was holding on to Aurora's inside arm! We survived, though, and did let the zoo know that their operator was a teeensy bit excited about her job.

In the same area as the train, there's a petting zoo. No one was in the mood to be petted, sadly. I did get a photo of this hilarious goat. It just stood there like this, stock still and in denial that anyone else was around. I named him the Mike Goat. Teehee.

Autumn did manage to sneak up on a chicken that had flown her coop. She was all SHHHHH I AM HUNTING and got to brush the chicken's feathers. Exciting. Apparently.

At lunch, these guys romped around in this cute bridge area. Of course, all of my pictures from this spot except this one are blurry. OH, by the way, all of these have aikidomemphis.com watermarks. Please ignore them. I had previously set the auto-watermark and I was too lazy to delete and re-upload the photos!

The pandas were pretty cute. Those ears! I want to pet them!

Autumn loved this panda's nest. She was all, "he's so cozy and comfy with his food!"

And NOW. For the HIGHLIGHT of the TRIP. GIRAFFE FEEDING. One of the best $5 I've ever spent!! This even made up for the fact that they sent the kiwis to New England before we could see them. We tried 3 times but they were shy, which is why they moved. Anyway, Autumn got a handful of lettuce to feed the giraffes.

They had baby giraffes but we went over to Kenya who looked really excited to get some lettuce. LOOK AT THAT FACE. Did you know giraffe heads weigh over 100 pounds? Kind of amazing. 

This is basically the same photo but, again, LOOK AT THAT FACE. Giraffes kind of weird me out so I'm a little surprised at how adorable they are when I'm not thinking about their really long necks and knobbly legs. Although giraffes weird me out less than ostriches.

As Autumn finished, one of the zookeepers stopped us and got some extra lettuce. He said that Kenya is really great at photo ops and then if Autumn would turn and face the camera and hand Kenya lettuce over the shoulder, she'd get a cool photo. Well. Autumn was a little nervous so I handed her the camera, told her I'd go first, and asked her to take a picture. I never thought she'd really get a good one but this could be the best picture anyone has taken of me in a long time! AND, it's now on the zoo's Facebook page! Autumn was having some trouble with a boy at school today so this went a long way to make her feel better.

None of mine were remotely as awesome but Autumn and Kenya are too cute not to photograph well. Kenya has a crazy long tongue! Going...

Going...

AND GONE! Both of them have great faces here. Kenya's all "more lettuce? We're totally friends now, right? BECAUSE LETTUCE!"

Bye, giraffes!

Tonight's post is at Passing Pinwheels!

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August Mobile Moments!

It's been a while! I forgot one week and then the next was a holiday and I'm sure you know how that goes...anyway, here we are! Since we last met here, Autumn has started violin lessons! She's way excited about it although after 3 weeks I think her homework/daily practice is wearing thin. She thinks she's bored but I'm not sure Autumn really gets that the foundation is super important. I'm guessing that's pretty common with kids. I know a few of my aikido students (of all ages!) think they are ready to be Steven Seagal TOMORROW but they have to do a few other things before they can start tossing people into walls and have movies called something like [student name here IS] DEATH to NINJAS.

Something funny, Autumn had to make up a word rhythm to play on her E string. The teacher had her play "Mississippi Hot Dog" as an example. Autumn's rhythm is "Momotaro-san." The grandfather of one of my students gave me a copy of a beautifully illustrated book he bought in Hawaii many years ago. It's a Japanese fairy tale called Momotaro which means Peach Boy...elderly parents find a baby in a giant peach and he grows up to become a warrior who defeats an island of demons. Autumn is absolutely obsessed with the story and while singing a song written in the back of the book (that we attempt to sing in Japanese sometimes) she decided on that for her spoken rhythm. Too fun.

Other than violin, we're chugging along with school, work, and all of our regular life things. I try to make sure Autumn gets time outside with her friends because she's struggling with the long school day and I told her we'd be sure to have active, fun time every afternoon. This week she's been sword fighting in a yard with the neighbor kids. A couple weeks ago, she and her other friends were raking which was fun? I put a question mark there because it's not MY idea of fun but they enjoyed it.

I've been doing a hanging challenge and encouraging Mike and Autumn to do the same. Mike because it'll be as good for his back and shoulders as it has been for mine. Autumn because kids have so many natural skills that we have to relearn as adults so I'm hoping to help her keep them as she gets older! Hanging, squatting, breathing from the stomach and not the upper chest, those are all things I have to reteach! It's kind of amazing how long she can hang and all the wiggling around she can do.

Kiri is still around! Our friend Amy gave us a cat bed that her cat rejected, thinking Molly might like it. NOPE. Molly prefers shoes or socks to sit on. As a matter of fact, Molly has discovered my mismatched sock basket. She has learned to pull it out and now I am finding single socks all over the house. We caught her carrying one around and it was way amusing. Anyway, Kiri uses the bed as a nest so it isn't a complete waste of a nice cat bed!

For any parents who have kids who hate the dentist: there is hope!! Autumn used to think the dentist was going to take her out with the dental tools but now she loves getting her teeth cleaned. It was a gradual, 5-year change from terror to chatting with the assistant through the tools but here we are. I think having the same person every time was a big help.

Last picture! Autumn was so sad because we had a girls night one Friday. She was all, "so, you're going to have fun? With girls? Without me?" Ha! Heaven forbid I have fun with girls without Miss Autumn, right? Well, fortunately, she had her own girl's day the next day! Aunt Penny came over for snacks and Frozen. Autumn, of course, had to wear her costumes. First Anna, then Elsa complete with wig. As the movie progressed more and more of her Frozen friends joined us on the sofa and we had to hold them all properly.

Well, that's it for August! It wasn't a bad month. I hope September continues on smoothly and that everyone had a great Labor Day!