2Busy2Cre8

We have been so BUSY!! Last Thursday we met up with Tara and the adorable Elan:

We met in downtown Staunton and lets just say, walking around an old town, shopping (or window-shopping) with several kids in tow, is just not all that easy and definately not relaxing in the slightest. So after a couple stores, we went to a park, complete with dinosaurs and more ducks in one pond than I have ever seen before! It was so nice to see my old friend. Then on Friday my parents came out and we went to the local Wilson's Wild Animal Park.

I was insanely surprised by this little zoo. I was expecting dinky-petting farm and they had everything from lions to kangaroos. We could even feed the kangaroos! I have never fed one before, and it was really one of the sweetest animals I have ever met. If you are local, I highly recommend this place! Its not as pretty as the Smithsonian Zoo, or even close, but it is more hands on and interactive. Then we went to another local place:

The Rte 11 Potato Chip Factory! We got to see how potato chips were made and sample each kind of potato chip they make. My dad bought a HUGE bag of dill pickle chips and an almost-huge bag of sweet potato chips. Yum! We finished up the evening in Winchester with some local BBQ and some coffee and ice cream. It was busy, but with my parents there and chauffering us around, I actually had one of the most relaxing days I have had in a while.

And Saturday we went to this Heritage Harvest Festival that I have really been looking forward to all year. It was put on by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange where I buy all my seeds from. Unfortunately the festival was a bust after our 2-hour-with-small-children drive. But the view was nice:

I was expecting a more country gathering of mountain-people exchanging old farm wisdom and trades. Instead it was more of an upscale, yuppie, wannabe-hippie gathering. I felt that the vendors were more political and less back-to-our-roots than I was expecting and it was actually somewhat depressing. I am sure the classes would have been nice, but I think I will skip out next year. We saved the day by stopping at this awesome mill-turned-general store and taking a very nice stroll to downtown Charlottesville. They had a great toy shop, we picked up some yummy coffee, and stopped some serious meltdowns with the prettiest cupcake I have ever seen. Anastasia is definately on a cupcake craze and this one had glitter on the raspberry frosting, and a candy butterfly that looked so real. It made her day. And walking in an old town, with my family and a cup of really good coffee definately made mine.

Oh, and we started school today! I even started my Homeschooling Blog called Sylvan Hollow School. Check it out and let me know what you think!