"Fall"ing for a Low Key Weekend

After a string of hot and busy weekends, everyone in the Riggs' house was ready for cooler weather and doing a whole lot of nothing. Last Friday it was still in the 90's. Eric came a little earlier from work to compensate for some evenings that he's had meetings and workouts to staff so I was able to take a nap. Which meant that later on I was actually able to make it through an entire movie without falling asleep (it didn't hurt that the movie was The Book of Eli, which was really good-- you should rent it--it's one of those movies where you totally don't see the ending coming, kind of like The Sixth Sense).

Anyway...Saturday we woke up to temperatures in the 70's. Alleluia! We threw open the windows and then remembered it was Ridge Day, which always includes a parade. We went when Cate was a baby, were out of town last year for Ridge Day, and decided that Saturday was a great day for a walk up the hill to the parade route. Shorts with long sleeved shirts and flip flops? Yup, that's how we roll when the temperature starts to dip a bit. We walked up to the parade with our awesome neighbors and snagged a great spot right outside the coffee shop.
First came the fire trucks. Cate clapped and waved to them. They threw candy to her (sidenote: our parade is known for being a great candy-giving parade-- Cate came home with a bag full). She was also excited about the stilt walkers and the "Marching Swarm" drum and dance line. Big Boy is also a favorite!
Some of the streets in Pleasant Ridge get together and make their own floats, like the one below for Orchard Lane.
Mostly though, Cate just enjoyed eating Tootsie Rolls.
After the parade, we came home for lunch and a nap. We pretty much did nothing the rest of the day. We played outside, did some laundry, read some books, did some knitting (well, mommy did some knitting), and after Cate went to bed, Eric and I caught up on some of our Thursday night NBC shows that we'd missed this past week.

After church on Sunday, Eric's parents stopped by our house. They were on their way home from Tennessee and had some presents for Cate including a small penguin book, a penguin hat from the aquarium, and a black bear stuffed animal which we've named Smokey (b/c of the Smokey Mountains). We also made a pot of chili to welcome in the fall weather. It continued to get cooler as the weekend went on (and as this week has started). We're now in long sleeves and pants as we haven't hit the 70's since Saturday. I'm not complaining though. It's still warm enough to leave the windows cracked to allow in some fresh air, but cool enough that I can bust out the fall clothes. A good thing too-- yesterday marked 3 months until my due date and my spring/summer maternity clothes were starting to feel small. My fall/winter ones are one size larger since Cate was a winter baby.

It's weird to think that Brennan will be here in less than 3 months. Remember-- I'll most likely have to be induced a week or so early with him since I had some complications with Cate and really, really don't want those same complications again (mostly b/c those complications could result in me needing some surgery).

Anyway...it was a nice, relaxing, and cool weekend-- just what everyone in this family needed.
~Melody :-)