Feed or Chase? That's the Question.

We started feeding ducks at Lake Julian, but I always felt like I was putting Kenly in danger.  The ducks and geese there are horribly aggressive.  At times, I've had to border on duck abuse to keep Kenly out of harms way. Feeding ducks in the face of constant danger is not fun, so we decided to find a new feeding ground.  Patton Park in Hendersonville is the perfect place to feed ducks.  If we go on a weekday, they are happy to see us and our bags of stale bread.  I can confidently and comfortably let Kenly feed the ducks all by herself without fearing for her safety.

They surround her, and I don't even break out in a sweat.

See.  This is me without a bit of worry.

But when she's done feeding the ducks, she loves to chase them.  Am I horrible?  I let her.  They quack and she squeals.  No feathered friends are harmed.  In fact, they get a workout waddling away on those little webbed feet.  If she can every make one fly, she laughs with wild abandon. 

She wears herself out, and I'm entertained. We all have a perfectly symbiotic relationship. The ducks get fed. Kenly gets exercise and joy. Mama gets to watch and take pictures. Peaceful, right?

Figuring It Out?

I love the look on her face when she figures out what is going on.  I think she's thrilled.  Do you?

Sesame Street Live

Back in June, Adam discovered that Sesame Street Live was coming to the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, SC.  Since Kenly loves the Sesame Street characters, we thought it would be a good idea to take her.  We didn't tell her anything about it.  On Saturday, September 10th, we woke her up and told her that we were going on a surprise adventure.  It took us about an hour to get to the arena, and she made guesses the whole way.  A headband store.  The Hands On Museum.  The Park.  The Play Lodge. We never gave in.  When we walked into the Bi-Lo Center, she noticed a merchandise stand selling all sorts of Sesame Street stuff.  The guesses continued.  A movie.  A game.  We bought a flag/banner, some cotton candy, and a snow cone.  Then we headed to our seats.

While we waited on the show to start, Kenly got her first taste of cotton candy.

She's still clueless, but she and Camry are ready for anything.

We had great seats.  Not floor level, but I could have hit the stage by throwing a rock, and I don't have a strong throwing arm.

When the show started, she was all smiles.  My favorite quote of the day was, "I wish I could go up there and hug them."

Kenly loved the snow cone.  I bought it for me, but I don't think I got very much of that yummy cherry flavored ice.  It was her first time having a snow cone too.  Needless to say, she had quite the sugar rush after the show was over.

Adam and I missed most of the show for watching Kenly.  She danced.  She sang.  She snuggled.

The show ended with "paper fireworks."  Kenly wanted to run out and catch the falling streamers and confetti. 

Her favorite musical number was "Rocking Robin." In fact, she wanted them to perform it over and over. During intermission, she refused to come to the bathroom with me because she was afraid she would miss something. Disney on Ice is coming to the Asheville Civic Center shortly after Whatzit is born. I can see a special date for Kenly in the near future.

Playing with Paint

When all the "Back to School" sales were taking the world by storm, Kenly and I found a deal that was too good to be true.  Michael's ran a deal on canvases that made my head spin.  If I were more crafty, I might have gone a bit crazy.  Instead, we bought one small canvas for $5.99 and got the other canvas for 1 penny.  One of my friends had her boys do abstract art on huge canvases for the living room.  They turned out beautifully.  Instead of letting Kenly go totally wild, I picked out a few acrylic colors that matched her big girl room.  I let her work with one color at a time to avoid two canvases covered in brown.

We started by putting hand prints on each canvas.  She got to pick which colors she wanted to use.  We did a right and a left hand on each canvas.

We let the canvas dry while watching an episode of Word World.  I put both canvases in front of a fan to speed up the drying process.  Kenly can't stand for a crafting project to be in limbo, so we needed to complete the project in an hour or so. Then I let Kenly add her creative touch using bushes.

Yes, I'm well aware that the right hand in green has 7 fingers.  Kenly has not mutated.  We tried to double stamp for a darker hand print and we failed to line things up exactly.  We like when a project has character in this house. 

She decided that adding dots to the canvas was by far her favorite thing to do.

I got brave toward the end of the painting and let her have more than one color on the pallet.  She used one brush for each color.  I was amazed.

Showing off her finished product.

I think they are beautiful.  I'm ashamed to admit that none of her wall art is hung.  I must put the finishing touches on her room before the baby arrives.  I can do it!  Yes, I can!

Apple Festival 2011

We've been taking Kenly to the Hendersonville Apple Festival since 2009.  Each year she finds something new to love.  This year we experimented and went to the festival on Friday night to hopefully avoid huge crowds of people and excessive heat.  Success.  I think we will always go to the festival on Friday night now.  Not only was it cooler, but we could pull Kenly's wagon with ease.

Part of the appeal of the Apple Festival is the food.  Adam had a gyro and a yummy Greek salad that he shared with me.  Yum.  Kenly and I had hot dogs/corn dogs and some yummy fries.

After eating, we bought enough tickets for Kenly to ride five rides.  The spinning strawberries were her favorite.  She and Adam rode this ride three times.  She doesn't just want to sit either.  She spins that strawberry with all her might.

Every time they got off the ride, they would give me two thumbs up.  I got jealous of all the fun they were having.  My motion sickness won't let me ride anything that spins, so I had to watch from the sidelines.  I did want to try to ride, but I'm afraid the consequences would have been disastrous. 

Look at her spinning that strawberry.  The teenagers she rode with didn't have to take it easy at all.

Kenly spent her remaining tickets playing in the "fun house."  Instead of riding the pirate ship, she went through the maddening maze twice.  I love that Adam is coaching her through the bean bags.

I thought she would panic when she had to climb the rope, but she proved me wrong.  I think I have an adrenaline junkie on my hands.

The "fun house" ended with a trip down a twisty tube slide.

She's lining up to go again.  Tickets in her hot little hands.

After spending all her tickets, she found and rode the winged tractor contraption from the WNC Air Museum.  Last year they had to stop this ride and let Kenly off.  She screamed bloody murder.

She was completely in love with the experience this year.

We bought a 1/2 peck of our favorite Honey Crisp apples, some sliced apples with warm caramel, and an apple cider slushy and then spent the rest of the evening dancing to a local band.

I love the air guitar playing, especially when she sticks out her tongue.

Big Mama danced a bit too. 

Kenly even broke out some ballerina moves.

She ended the evening by slow dancing with her main man.  And life was good...