BATMAN, THE MAD HATTER AND THE FALL FESTIVAL 2008

Saturday Laura and I took the girls to the Fall Festival in historic downtown Franklin. As usual, it did not disappoint! Immediately upon arriving we were greeted by the Dark Knight himself. Gotham’s very own Batman was sent to patrol the streets upon the news of a lunch meeting at Mellow Mushroom’s between Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Jack Napier. The Joker and Harley never disturbed the activities, but who would? The Caped Crusader was huge and awesome. Brooke was impressed. Best of all, Batman called me by name; come to find out, the Bat’s true identity is that of an old friend. I won’t reveal his name but it rhymes with “Hob Rarris.” I was stunned, it was actually very funny.

The kids were even more excited to see that Tigger had made his way from the 100 acre woods to party with the crowd. Katie was still a bit nervous about anyone in a costume. Years ago when we went to Disney Tigger and Pooh and the gang really scared her, especially Eyeore (the Donkey). Now she is cautious. It didn’t help that a pirate walked up to her before this picture and said “Aaahhhrrrrrrr.” She just put her head down. As you can see in this picture, Brooke embraced the characters. Adrienne seemed oblivious. She just wanted down. Franklin always does a great job, all the kids got bags to collect candy with and all the games (most of which were set up by The People’s Church) were free!

Katie is really “coming out of her shell.” She played a ton of games from the bean bag toss to shooting baskets (with Daddy’s help). She even walked up and took a spin at the Wheel of Fortune. She scored gobs of candy as well. Her favorite part was a tea party with Alice in Wonderland and Snow White. Everything was great until the Mad Hatter sat down beside Kate. She was immediately up and walking for Mommy!

Adrienne was everywhere! First of all, she thinks she can do everything that her big sisters can do. Secondly, she is very independent and opinionated. As evidenced in this pic, she was not happy about having to leave this candy basket behind. She has candy in both hands but truly believed she was entitled to the entire basket. I simply said “Let’s go Adrienne!” And her face simply said, “Go ahead punk, make my day!”

 

As for Brooke, the highlight of her day was clearly the pony ride. I think it was a pony. A small pony. Or a big donkey. Kind of a ‘Ponkey’ or a ‘Dony’ I guess. She rubbed his head before the ride and just seemed to be in all her glory as she rode around in the circle. Her face was so beautiful – that happens when your child is overwhelmed with happiness. It was a great day. As we left for the parking lot, my wife led us around the back of the grills. This was one of my highlights. Smoked Turkey legs, bratwurst, burgers and steaks … whew! It’s a good thing I didn’t have any more cash on me! We are excited about moving to Carmel because they seem to have a lot of family activities up there as well (maybe more than we have here). But we will certainly miss the annual Fall Festival in Franklin. When we got home, Brooklyn said “Thank you for taking us to the Fall Vegetable.” Festival is not a word we use often.