Parthenon, Friends & Randoms From This Past Week

Our sweet neighbor left this at our front door.

Rylan has a new obsession:

I found out that Dylan wrote this letter to Rick Riordan all on his own.

I guess he REALLY DID like the Percy Jackson Series.
~
Ry fell asleep behind his bedroom door.

I love my little guy.

We went to swing at the park.

I put him down for a nap IN his crib and came back a few minutes later to check on him.

Wrut-wro! (think Scooby Doo)
~
Our friend Ben came over for dinner.
He was picking up some family from the Nashville Airport.

Ry figured out what the headphones are for in the car.

And made up his own sign:

And has resorted to talking/screaming in the car:

Her smile is infectious!

Yup, he is eating salad . . . and loving it!

I got some snuggles from this big boy.

And found some funny photos on my phone (thanks Ry!).

Saturday we went to the Parthenon.

Well, not the REAL Parthenon, but a life-size replica in Downtown Nashville.

Those 4 right there are my loves.

A sweet lady took a family photo for us.

We actually got there 2 hours before it opened, so we went and got a bite to eat.

(Think Rylan liked it?)

Then headed back to the Parthenon!

Dylan was so excited.

Remember the letter to Rick Riordan?  In the Percy Jackson series, Percy and his friends come to this Parthenon.  Dylan knew all the gods and what they did.  He was almost a little tour guide!
Top left clockwise:
Dylan and Payton looking up at Athena (gilded in 23.75 karat gold).
Standing in front of a HUGE door (I was only able to get 1/3 of it in the photo), and Payton didn't like the lion much.
A Griffin.
Athena's Shield.
It was pretty interesting!
~
I finally caught Rylan escaping out of his crib on video:

~
We had a family game night and played Sorry Madagascar Edition.

Dylan won.
~
Ben's wife, Jen, was bringing their family back to the Nashville airport and she and I met up to let the kids play at Cumberland Park (thanks for the awesome recommendation Jamie!) in Downtown Nashville.
Not a bad view, huh?

This kid is a fearless:

The kids played and played and played.

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time with our friends. 

~

 The kids drew pictures to celebrate Veteran's Day.

Their Papa (Craig) and cousin Coco (Cody) have both served/are serving our country.
We couldn't be more thankful and proud.
Happy Veteran's Day!

What I Ate...

Monday - 30 Minute Shepherds Pie (Rachael Ray)
Salad with Ranch and Homemade Croutons

Tuesday - Thai Peanut Noodles
Gingered Salad

Wednesday - Chicken Enchilada Soup
Chili's Copycat Salsa & Tortilla Chips

Saturday - Salad with Olive Garden Dressing
(I just threw everything that we had together and made homemade croutons to top it all off with!)

Fall in Tennessee

Fall is stunning in the South.
Maybe it's stunning other places, but I've only experienced it in California, Georgia and now Tennessee.
I think Tennessee wins hands down.
Here is a tree that I pass when taking the kids to the bus.

I took a picture each morning for 4 days in a row.
BREATHTAKING!
Of course now there are NO leaves on it at all.  But I guess that HAS to happen!
And the great thing about that, is there are beautiful piles of fallen leaves everywhere.

I didn't know a tree could be this color yellow.

Especially when there is a WHOLE row of them!

We were out for a drive ad saw this.

And drove down a road that looked like this.

It's God and his creation amazing?

By the way, none of these are edited or enhanced and are taken with my phone.