The Dallas Arboretum

A few weekends ago, my husband, son, Mom and I decided to check out the Dallas Arboretum near White Rock Lake. Okay, if you have never been there, you should really go check it out. It's amazingly beautiful and so peaceful.  It started raining, so we didn't get to see all of it.  We definitely plan to go back.

To celebrate the fall season, they had lined the walkways with pumpkins and mums and gourds. They had a huge pumpkin patch and even a pumpkin house.  And a hay maze, of course.  (wink.)

It is such an incredible place and I can't believe I had never taken the time to check it out before.  

So, if you have never been there, or haven't been in a while, then by all means get thy self over to the Arboretum! You won't regret it.

I apologize for the shaky videos.  My Mom always comments on how nauseous she gets watching some of my home movies.  I use a Flip Camera - which I absolutely LOVE - but it's not perfect.  It doesn't shoot long distances very well and if you move around while you hold the camera the video can get fairly wobbly. I shot about 15 to 20 minutes of video at the Arboretum, and when I made my first movie and tried to upload it, it was rejected because of the size. So, I had to edit it and split it into two videos to upload.  :)

Enjoy.

Pumpkin Patches and Hay Mazes

So, it's that time of year again - pumpkin patches and hay mazes.  It's no secret to those of you who know me that I love fall - more specifically, I love Halloween.  But since the world has shifted from when I was a kid, and people are so concerned about political correctness, there are few, if any, school Halloween carnivals anymore. They have been replaced with cheerful, and in no way spooky, pumpkin patches and the occasional hay maze.  Sure, every now and then you will find a "fall festival" some where that reminds you of those good 'ole carnivals, but they just aren't the same.  

I never missed a school Halloween carnival.  I'm serious.  The costume contests, the game booths, the haunted houses... THE FOOD!  I could have cared less about trick-or-treating.  It was the carnival I got excited about.  I don't know why they quit having them.  I was under the impression that they were actually pretty good fundraisers for the schools.  But, for what ever reason, they are gone.  My son will never know how much fun those were.  sniff sniff....

So, Ben gets to experience pumpkin patches and hay mazes.  We never pass one by without stopping.  It's a thing with me.  There is something about that sea of orange that lures me in.  I love pumpkins.  Did I mention that already?

While we were in Dallas this past weekend, we noticed a Pumpkin Patch on the way to Granny Weez and PawPaw's.  So, we took Granny Weez with us and visited the pumpkins.  It was great.  Ben got through the hay maze and we actually got a decent photo of Ben with the pumpkins. (On a side note - trying to get photos of Benjamin is like herding cats.  It's frustrating.  It's impossible.  But somehow we manage every year to get a great photo.  So, I guess it's worth it.) 

Ben decided he wanted to throw a tantrum and refused to do anything we asked him.  I was pretty much fed up with trying to control him, Jason was picking out the perfect gourd and Granny Weez was trying to buy Peppered Pickles.  (Yeah, I know - weird.  But trust me - those pickles were fabulous!)  I lost track of Ben for maybe 2 minutes and when I went to look for him, I found him chatting it up with this pretty girl and getting his face painted.  He always manages to find the pretty girls and flirt with them.  He's gonna be trouble.

I did manage to get a few minutes of video from our visit.  

And you know, that face painting of his lasted a full day on his little cheek.  Maybe there's hope for him yet.  Maybe...