Our Busy Fall Weekend

The Tractor Parade!
This was the last weekend off Christopher and I would have together for the next while. Since our anniversary is coming up on October 19th and we'll be going down to Florida to spend a few days with his ailing grandparents, we decided to make this weekend really count.

He got paid early since Monday is a holiday, so it allowed me to get grocery shopping done before the weekend. I also took 3 of the girls out to Subway for dinner. Friday night Christopher and I watched an episode of a British show we like and hit the sack.

Saturday, we had to get up early. Both the older girls had jobs to do today. One was working a farm festival and the other is a part time housekeeper for a friend. So we got them off to their jobs, then we were finally one our way to my hometown to the big fall festival they hold every year. As soon as we got to town, we stopped at the Burger Bar for lunch. We were there less than an hour and ran into 3 people we went to school with and used to hang out with that we had not seen in 15 years or more. It's a small town heh.

Then it was on to Heritage Days!
I have only missed maybe a couple since they started 30 years ago. My mom used to work a booth at the festival with a club she belonged to. I was 9 the first year it was open. I hung out with Mom, but eventually, she allowed me to go explore. So every year during this humongous fall fest, I was turned loose to explore the downtown and the booths and buildings. So anyway, it means a lot to me to go.

I do wish I had taken more pics of the actual crafts, but we were having such a good time looking at things, I forgot about my camera.


I did however, remember to take a few pics down the street that was delegated for food booths. Oh my goodness the smells! As you can see it's pretty crowded. Well, this was just one small side street. Five blocks of Main Street were blocked off as well as 3 side streets to either side of Main. And every bit of it was as packed as this street...



I have always loved the way Pioneer Woman takes pics of her family from the back when they are on vacation, so here's my homage haha.


Here's my adorable hubby ordering a peach lemonade. Yummy!



Faelyn had a couple bucks left of her allowance so she decided to play the fishing game. We tried to explain these things are always rigged, but she played anyway. For two bucks she ended up with a teeny stuffed animal from a crane machine. Oh well, she had fun.


Zoe had a good time!


This abandoned old house sits just behind Main Street and has for as long as I remember. My dad used to be the manager of a small grocery store on Depot St (back before supermarkets) which was just around the corner from this house. He told me when I was little that a man who was a friend of his (I guess he went into the store a lot since it was right there) lived there and he owned a monkey. He'd come home from work and tell tales of things the monkey had gotten into. He liked to climb on my dad's pickup truck. It looks like the house won't be there much longer, so I figured I'd preserve it here in a pic and a story.


This is a section if the First Rogersville Baptist Church which happens to sit next to the old house. I love the windows.



This is the sign marking the beginning of Crockett Park. One of the interesting things about this town is that Davy Crockett's grandparents lived here, and were killed here in an Indian massacre. Rogersville is the second oldest town in Tennessee, second only to Jonesborough (which is where our church is actually).




The tavern (It's got a long side balcony, but I didn't get a pic of the side. It looks like it's a run down apartment building now and not a really good place to take pics of it from the side.)


The house mentioned in the sign above. Joseph Rogers was a pretty successful tavern owner and did end up starting the town. I think it's cool my hometown was built around an Irish pub LOL.


In the last few years, the land of the Tavern and Crockett's grandparents has been turned into a park. The Renaissance Fair is held here each June.



The old cemetery still stands. I didn't think to get a pic of the walls. It has a stone wall around it to keep out animals. There are steps now that allow you to step up and over and back down the wall.






Mary's father, Thomas was the wealthy landowner in these parts and was not happy when the Irish tavern owner eloped with his 16 year old daughter. I wonder if there was ever really a wedding. Notice she's got his name, but was called his "Consort". Interesting. Still, the man got the town named after him. Not too shabby!


1833 seemed to be a bad year for the Rogers family... I'm not up on the rest of my history, so not sure what happened. I'm assuming there was a flu epidemic or something. They weren't very old. Sad really.

Well, after we left Heritage Days, we went to 2 of the "Tri-Cities" and did some shopping and ate out with the girls at IHOP where kids eat free with an adult on Fri and Sat. Yay! Also stopped at a used book store where I found a couple of great Elizabeth George books. We finally made it home around 8 and finished up the day by renting and watching Monsters vs Aliens with Faelyn and Zoe. That was a pretty good movie. Then we sent them to bed and Christopher and I watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Oh what a great movie that was!!

Today, we made it to church for service, but not in time for Sunday School. We were worn out! After church, we went to the HUGE Chinese buffet restaurant where it cost a fortune to eat, but it was the one last big splurge for our anniversary and spending time with our two younger girls.

After a nap this afternoon, it was time to get back to work. It was a great weekend overall. I may need a couple of days to recover from our days off!