Asheville Holiday Parade!

This past weekend was the Asheville Holiday Parade.  We made a morning of it and went out to breakfast downtown at Over Easy (yay for Andrew's work parking garage!) and then got good seats for the parade... which meant we were there 90 minutes before the parade started... :)  Here are a few pictures...

Passing the time, riding the copper pigs. :)

More wasting time... group hugs!!

More time wasting... taking pictures!

Finally starting!

Kids favorite thing... jugglers...

Enjoying their parade loot... Statue or Liberty style. :)

Halloween Activities

Painting Pumpkins!  (Sooo beats carving :)

Pumpkin Decorating #2

Naomi, Ben & Juliet

 This is the second year in a row we hung our with our friends the Whipples on Vermont street in West Asheville.  It is quite the "destination" for trick or treating.  We had a great time people watching and hanging out with a bunch of friends.  Mr. Mark Whipple dressed up as the Abominable Snowman... Poor Naomi was TERRIFIED... hence her face in this picture. :)  He was standing behind me. 

Loot Collecting :)

Tinkerbell :)

Peter Pan :)

Bele Chere 2012

  Our lives in Asheville would not be complete without Bele Chere every year.  This year Andrew had a work conference so we were only able to make it down one of the nights, but we had a great time... despite that lovely heat!  Thank goodness for an air conditioned kids area! :)

Ben and his Crazy Bele Chere Hat... you can't see it, but there is a large orange and blue spider perched on top.  :)

Naomi and her Crazy Hat :)

Our friend Mark, the Balloon Guy... he Rocks!!!!

Naomi and her "Lellow Boon!" from Mr. Mark!

Two children high on Sunshine and the Chocolate Lounge Coconut Macaroon Brownie

I Love Asheville

One of the many reasons I love Asheville....  You can find things like THIS on the menu!

Animals

On one exceptionally warm day in January we ventured out to the Biltmore Estate to enjoy the weather... the kids loved loved loved the petting zoo!

Bele Chere Weekend!

Bele Chere 2011!

Bele Chere is a funny thing... half of Asheville heads downtown to enjoy the festivities and the other half goes out of town or hides in their house. I am one of the former. I love it, for so many many reasons. I used to love it for the music, the booths and an evening out, now I enjoy the air conditioned kids area and the balloon man... and the 5K... and I have ALWAYS loved it for the food (Corner Kitchen reuben and Mama Citas guacamole tacos!) and especially the people watching.

My brother Micah flew down for the weekend and we tried to pack it all in, as we always do. We managed to do Bele Chere Friday & Saturday night, watch/run the 5K, see Harry Potter 7, go to 12 Bones for lunch, Birthday Dinner for Daniel and we also packed coffee and a nap or two in there. :) So here are some pictures from our awesome weekend.

Pre-5K on Saturday morning.
Daniel (brother-in-law), Eric (father-in-law), Lara (my amazing 7 1/2 month pregnant friend), and Micah (brother).

Hopefully next year I will be on the OTHER side of the camera with a number pinned on. :)


There they go! It was so nice of Eric & Lara to wear bright colors, much easier to see them!


Eric crossing the line... and the time was a minute or two faster since they were at the back of the pack when starting.


Micah & Lara coming across.


Post race. Note how far apart they are now as compared to the first picture. :)
Running at the end of july in humid A'ville makes you SWEAT!


Some of the entertainment at Bele Chere. I love the gold girls. :)
They have Ben a chocolate kiss when he gave them a $1.


Ben getting balloons.
This is my brother Ryan's friend Mark, so he totally hooked Ben up. :)


That right... crazy hat, light saber WITH holder. :)
And what do you do with a light saber? Attack uncle micah of course!


Watching the Dog Jump.
Tall Uncles ROCK!


So this is Bele Chere. And can you believe that some guy came up to me when I had stopped to talk to some friends to tell me that "my stroller was in the traffic pattern."


Bele Chere!

Thanks for letting me steal your pictures Micah!

And finally a video taken by my brother Micah, which perfectly captures why I go to Bele Chere... there is nothing quite like the people at Bele Chere. It is worth the 17 seconds to watch. :)

LOVE THIS TOWN: Thursdays

I love my town. It is laid back, casual, a perfect blend of hippies, hillbillies and rich retired folks... with a few of us "none of the above" sprinkled in. Big enough to have lots going on, not big enough for horrible traffic. Voted most independent restaurants per capita recently, very earthy and organic but you can also find a walmart when you need one. :)

Well, a friend mentioned that I should blog about fun things to do here in Ashevegas, so I will try and list some of the fun things we do... some free, some not, but hopefully all fun.

So, tonight we will start with THURSDAYS!

On Thursday nights we head to Earthfare for free kids meals! With a $5 purchase from the deli area (I usually treat myself to some sushi or lettuce wraps, but you can also get wraps, pizza of stuff from the hot bar) you get up to six free kids meals. (They are usually only $4). You get your pick of sandwich (chicken salad, ham and cheese, pbj, soy nuggets and more), a fruit or vege (carrots and dip, raisins or grapes/bananas/oranges/apple... and you can pick), a snack (cheese stick, yogurt, animal cookies- that are dairy, wheat, rice free! - organic goldfish or gummies) and a drink (milk or juice box).

We usually pack up our lunches and head out for a picnic... sometimes on the front lawn. But a couple weeks ago we went downtown and found a concert in Prichard Park. Put on by a local radio station for the summer (so it is almost over), they have Homegrown artists from 6-8. Fun music... as you can see Ben, Naomi and my friend Missy's little girl Alina really got into it!

These kids can move! Enjoy the videos!