Sesquicentennial state park

The deep fall scene was beautiful. But it was such a cold day. We barely walked around the lake because the wind was freezing. But the girls had a fun time chasing each other on the grass.  

Halloween 2012

This past Halloween was our busiest Halloween ever. Our first activity was the annual fall festival at Heidi’s school. There were food, indoor and outdoor games, crafts, dancing, face painting, etc. Next we went to the fall festivals at a couple of churches as we did in the past years. Finally Heidi and I went trick or treating in our neighbor on Halloween while Bin and Iris stay at home welcoming the other trick-or-treaters. We got a lot of CANDY this year, no wonder.

 

Fall leaves -- Blue Ridge Parkway

I love fall leaves. Simple love them. I want to see them every fall. But... the last time I saw them was in 2004, when Bin and I were still dating. So this time, we went to Blue Ridge Parkway to see the fall leaves. It was like a long term dream came true.

We drove to Waynesville first because they were having apple harvest festival that day. We had lunch and walked along Main Street to see various local craft and food stands. The biggest hit is Mast Store. Heidi was overwhelmed by the candy barrels. We let her choose whatever she wanted but she had no idea what to choose because there are so many choices! Heidi said that was a fun day right after we walked out the store.

We then drove onto Blue Ridge parkway and spent a good 2 hours driving and seeing the leaves. We stopped at more than 10 viewing point to see the scenes. What Heidi liked the most was picking wild flowers and grass. She made a cute flower bundle. I think the most beautiful scenes were when we drove at the lower latitude and saw the trees with leaves of multiple colors. The girls were also excited when we drove in the tunnels.

 

Heidi the dancer

I never took dance lessons in my whole life. I cannot dance. I wish I learned it when I was little though. Heidi started ballet lessons when she was 3. It was a daycare program. She moved to a new daycare when she was 4, and had another year’s ballet lessons there. I never went observe her dance class. She didn’t dance at home either. The only time we saw her dance was her recital. They were sunflowers, so cute. But she didn’t like dance the way I expected. So when she was 5, she wanted to try cheerleading instead. She did cheerleading at the afterschool program when she was a kindergartener. She liked it better than dancing. We went to their end-of-year performance and it was good.


This year, Heidi is taking ballet and tap at a dance studio. This is my decision. I want her to try dance for one more year, hoping she will enjoy it. So far she still doesn’t like it enough and sometimes she complains about it. But there are also times she said she likes it. Her class is from 5-6pm. She is usually pretty worn out even before she goes. She may enjoy it more if it was at an earlier time. But with our scheduling, this is the best we can do.

I observed her class in Oct. I was very impressed by the little girls. They are so pink and cute! Heidi was doing really well. So far so good. She likes tap more than ballet, partly because she likes the tap shoes, and partly because she thinks ballet is too slow.

We will see how it goes this year and if she will enjoy dancing more eventually.

Okra Strut

We are making this a family tradition since we moved to Irmo. This was our 3rd year watching the Okra Strut parade. Heidi’s dance studio was in the parade. She didn’t want to join so I didn’t buy her the outfit. But when she saw them lining up before the parade, she said she wanted to go. Too late girl! Hope she will go next year!


The girls had fun getting all kinds of treats and flyers from the parade. Iris was busy eating candies. We saw many of our friends in the parade, including the girls’ little friends. So when the parade people were calling Heidi and Iris’s names, I was trying to figure out who was calling whose name and I was busy taking pictures of our friends. Fun!

SC State Fair

Fun Fun Fun! We just focused on kids stuff this year. Iris was not high enough to ride most of the kids ride. But she had fun with the train and the car rides. Heidi picked the rides and games she liked and was pretty happy about them. Her favorite are the dinosaur ride and the fairy’s wheel.


The four of us didn’t finish 1/2 of the turkey leg. Too big! We all liked the fries there. Iris and I liked the fried mushrooms.

The farm animals were a hit. We were feeding the goats and llamas for a while. Heidi even rode on the elephant. We had her choose among pony, camel, and elephant, and she chose the elephant.

Riverbank Zoo

This is our ideal Saturday morning place to go when the weather is nice. The girls like it. Heidi never really got into watching animals. She likes everything else: pony ride, rock climbing, train ride, feeding the animals. She didn’t try rock climbing until this fall. I kept asking if she wanted to try. Finally she gave it a try and she enjoyed it. She climbed to the top on her 4th try.

Iris likes the carousel the best. She rides 2 or 3 times each time we are there. Heidi never liked the carousel. The train ride is another must-do for Iris. She really wants to ride the pony, but still not tall enough. She should be fine next year.

Edventure Museum

We try to go to Edventure once a month since we have the year pass. It turned out we didn’t go that often. But each time we go, we have a great time. 

Heidi runs from room to room. She’s like that since she was a toddler. As she’s older, she is losing interest in some of her old favorites, like the little supermarket and the little kitchen. Her favorites now are the craft room and the baby room. We are not supposed to take her to the baby room since she is too big. But Iris is going there each time, and it’s hard to not let Heidi go with her. Heidi found herself a secret hiding spot in that room. It’s a dark corner under the “trees”, and has nothing in there. She likes to sit there for a while, then goes onto the slide, and does it all over.

Iris enjoys almost everything. She plays in the same station for like 20-30 minutes. Usually I can just sit down and watch her play.