Today the kids are off trunk-or-treating with a family friend. I am loving their outfits this year. Kaleya continues her Monster High obsession and is dressed up like the character Frankie Stein. Jihad is a Night Stalker and a very scary one at that! Their friend is Mario of Super Mario Brothers.
Today is Kaleya’s 7th birthday and we’ve had an incredible day of it. We are so thankful for our friends that came out today to help us celebrate and I know Kaleya thoroughly enjoyed it. The weather was absolutely beautiful and could not have been more perfect.
Kaleya has been into Monster High recently, so we had a Monster High themed bday party. Monster High is a collection of dolls with characters depicted as the children of famous monsters (e.g. Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_High
We let the kids play outside for about an hour before having food and cake. They blew bubbles, played jump rope, chased each other — all the things that kids do.
After playing, the kids came inside for some snacks and then cake & ice cream.
The cake itself was a Monster High cake and Kaleya specifically wanted the piece that had Frankie’s face. (Frankie is the daughter of Frankenstein and Kaleya is going to dress like her for Halloween this year).
We also had a piñata to open. Jihad was nice enough to stand on a chair and hold it while the kids took turn pulling one of the strings to see if they would get the one string that would open it. Kaleya went first, but she didn’t get the right string. Several kids later – it was found and boy did they scramble to get their treats.
Awesome does not even describe how much fun it was to watch them. Shortly after, the kids begin to leave. Thank you all so much for coming to spend the time with us and Kaleya. What a great birthday!
Of course I have even more pictures than what I’ve shared in this post. You can find them here.
I’m visiting Augusta, GA this weekend for the conference of the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association. I came to deliver a presentation on one of our projects at work and I’m glad to say that it went well!
Then, last night, my colleagues and I had a FABULOUS dinner at Boll Weevil Cafe and Sweetery.
Despite the name, the food was delicious! But you know what was even better than the food? THE CAKE! omg. we split up three different types of cakes between us and they all tasted good. We were told even Paula Dean has given her stamp of approval so you know it must be good (and must be really bad for you – have you seen how much butter she adds to her food???!) LOL
After dinner, one of my colleagues and I decided to walk around historic Downtown Augusta. The first Friday of each month they do an Art Walk and so we knew there would be stuff to see. Augusta’s Art Walk was quite different than Nashville’s. As one of my coworkers pointed it, it has an almost Nawlins feel to it – just how there are so many people hanging out in the streets. I was not expecting however to encounter zombies.
We had a nice time walking around and just people watching. We passed members of the local roller girls team, the Soul City Sirens. They have an upcoming bout so even though I won’t be here I’ll root for them since they’re not playing against Nashville. 
We wandered in and out of stores and saw a neat honeycomb structure made of rolled up book pages at the Book Tavern.
On the streets we went by a local music group that was being showcased by the Augusta Public Library. Props to the library for interesting programming.
The best part of the evening was at Club Tropicabana though. As we were walking by earlier in the evening they told us about free Salsa lessons at 9. Apparently, they do this every Friday. So, we went, and it was so much fun! Towards the end the steps/moves started to get a little tricky, but maybe next time I’ll pick it up better. Now, I must find some place in Nashville to do it.
Do you think I’d be good enough one day to do Salsa like this?
Today, Kaleya wanted to go to Centennial Park to feed the geese, so of course I had to oblige! It’s my motherly duty.
Just a couple of pictures from our outing. We had a nice visit.
Kaleya next to the water
I like the glow on her face on this one.
And, a short video clip of her feeding them.
Then, we were off to the playground.
Next to the slide.
on the playground apparatus
pretty among the flowers
Today, my sister and I took Kaleya on a trip to visit Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. We had a wonderful time! Neither of us had ever been there before so I can now check that off of my list of Nashville places to go. Of course, now that I have been there, I will keep my eye out for new exhibits and events.
We started off by seeing some of the scarecrows they have around the gardens. They were scattered about everywhere, so I tried to take a picture of them all. One of my favorites was not a scarecrow at all, but a scareowl.
Penny Joy the Scare Owl
The Train Exhibit was fun to look at and all the kids loved it. Shoot – this adult loved it too! The structures erected were taller than we were, and the trains weaved in and out of the setup.
random train pic
There was even a Thomas the Train one! I of course had to stalk it down until I captured a good pic. My nephew Keon loves Thomas the Train, so this one’s for you Keon
Thomas the Train
Throughout the train exhibit, there were miniature reproductions of several historical Tennessee landmarks. The genealogist in me loved that! They had Union Station, the Alex Haley House, John Sevier’s cabin and many more, including Cheekwood itself.
Miniature of the Cheekwood House. Cute one car Ladybug train stopped in front of it.
In two places (that we saw) there were picture frames set up so you could take a picture against the beautiful backdrop. Of course we had to do that.
aren't Kaleya and I cool?
We then made our way up to the house which serves as a museum. We learned the history of the house and it’s family and were able to see the current art exhibits. The house is beautiful and the outside gardens next to it were gorgeous too with beautiful scenery. I could live here.
Kelli on the veranda
Me, Kaleya & Kelli
Kaleya and Kelli are oh so happy!
Thank you Cheekwood for a wonderful visit!
Of course, I took many more pictures than those in this post. See below for a slideshow:
