Callaway Gardens with Nan and Poppa

Last Saturday while Nan and Poppa were here, we travelled up to Pine Mountain, Georgia to Callaway Gardens. We had been told several times since we moved that Callaway Gardens was somewhere we had to go. A friend told me that they were having a Autumnfest there during the month of October and that was all I needed to hear! I don't miss a fall festival if I can help it! Callaway Gardens was about a half hour's drive and we were so glad we went. The grounds are beautiful and even though the weather was less than ideal, we had a wonderful time.

The whole gang at the pumpkin patch. As you can see, we're dressed for summer. The weather forecast was for 80 degrees and sunny. Unfortunately, it was only about 65, overcast and windy. Thank goodness I brought jackets for the kids--just not for myself. Brr. Maura really wanted us to lift her up and put her in the empty space on the pumpkin tree, but I was afraid that would send it crashing down upon our heads!
Maura had the chance to pick out a pumpkin. What she wanted was one of the teeny tiny pumpkins. Unfortunately, Poppa didn't know that and he paid for a big one, so we had to do some persuading to get her to pick a big one.

Eventually she embraced the idea of a larger pumpkin.
Nan and Tristan helped her to pick out a good one. Tristan stayed in the front pack for the whole day. Nan volunteered to hold him and he eventually fell asleep in the pack. I didn't even think about it until later, but she ended up wearing the pack for the entire day. I bet she was tired. That little man is HEAVY!
Maura and Tristan with their Nan and Poppa. I think Nan and Poppa really enjoyed seeing Maura have fun at Autumnfest.
Maura got to paint her pumpkin and she had a lot of help from everyone.
The artist at work. I think the "artist" might have been just as happy to have smeared the paint all around on the plate she was given.

The finished pumpkin. Maura painted an impressionistic side and Nan painted the face. The face is a little spooky.
My girl and I. I really enjoyed having two hands to play with her. I don't get too many opportunities these days to just play with Maura without having Tristan hanging around.
Tristan was so interested in everything that was going on around him, but he finally gave up and went to sleep.

Maura and I finding our way through the hay maze. I was happy to see that a lot of the activities were geared toward younger children. She loved the maze so much that we had a hard time getting her to leave it!
We did something called Leaf Pounding, which I've never seen done anywhere else. They gave us a square of muslin and we picked out leaves a flowers, folded it and then pounded it with a mallet. It made a really cool looking print on the fabric.
Maura was really more interested in picking flowers than pounding leaves.
The finished product. Doesn't that look cool?
I had tried, without success, to get her to pound the leaves, but as we were getting ready to leave that area, she was suddenly interested in using the hammer. We staged a leaf pounding for her.

She was so interested in the honey bee display.
A beekeeper was there to tell us all about the bees and explain the hive to us.
Maura was most interested in the honey bears they had for sale. Poppa had already purchased some honey, but he was gracious enough to buy a honey bear for Maura and she was so excited about it. She couldn't wait to get home and open the honey bear.

You also had to option of making a scarecrow, but Maura was definitely not interested! She was afraid of the scarecrows. Apparently they don't just scare away crows!

Maura and Daddy posing for some pictures. What cute models I had!
Daddy and Maura enjoying the beautiful flower gardens at Callaway. I bet they're even more gorgeous in the summer.
We had such a fun family day.
A fall picture at Callaway Gardens. At this point, it was getting late and the tired and uncooperative Maura would not get out of her stroller for the picture. Did I mention that she loved the honey bear?
We ate a picnic lunch alongside the lake, not realizing that it was probably the coldest spot at the park. We did get to enjoy some bluegrass music as we ate. It was really a lot of fun and we enjoyed our fall outing to Callaway Gardens.