Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival

The weather finally turned fall-like last weekend, so we decided we should do some fun (outdoor) fall thing. It had been years since we had been to this festival at James Madison's Montpelier (and Benji had never been), so we drove out to Orange on Saturday afternoon.

We started out watching the sheep dog trials, which Benji was fascinated by:

After a quick snack, we checked out the animal tent, which had all variety of sheep and goat:

Snack break

We then moved on to the vendors and, lastly, the expo tent, where Benji had a million questions"

Benji trying out a sock machine

Weaving

This woman was weaving yarn right off of her rabbit

After leaving the festival, we checked out the exhibit in the old train station across the street before heading home:

'Merica Monday

It's Spirit Week at CHS, leading up to the homecoming game and dance this weekend.  Yesterday's theme was 'Merica Monday (they were stretching for the alliteration):

Halloween Countdown 2019

Benji was super excited when this appeared back on the wall:

Rosh Hashanah 2019

Festive dinner:

Ready for services:

Fall Centerpieces

We checked off one of our last bucket list items on Sunday, with the making of fall centerpieces. We had a lot of fun with the hot glue gun, and the final result was really pretty:

Benji wanted to use exact measurements for his

Finished product

 

All lit up with tea candles

Washington Nationals Game

On Saturday, we headed up to DC to catch one of the last regular season Nationals games. Although they had already clinched a spot in the wildcard, home field advantage was up for grabs, making it an exciting game. We met up with our friend Brady at his condo in Maryland (he wanted to show off his recent renovations) and all headed to the game together:

The banner after the Nats won, thus securing a home game today

Firebolt 5K

As part of Staunton's Mischief and Magic weekend, the Frontier Culture Museum hosted a Harry Potter themed 5K to benefit the Blue Ridge Casa. When we found out that the race shirts would be house-themed, we were all in. It was a very pleasant course with fun photo spots along the way. Abby and Kevin ran for speed, while Benji and I took our time, running about half of the course and strolling through some parts to take photos:

pre-race

Benji ran into a friend from school along the way and they finished the end of the race together

All done!

The finisher medals for the next 3 years will interlock and make the Hogwarts crest. They announced that next year's medal will be Ravenclaw