Stomping through Autumn

Wow, I can't believe I used such a cheesy title. However, having said that, it is exactly what we did on this beautiful fall day in Lincolnville, Maine. Today was Lincolnville's Harvest Festival and they (that would be the "powers that be") put on a pretty darn good festival. It started with a parade at the beach, but only Steve, Wesley, and Grampa Georgie made it down to the beach early enough to catch that. While there Wesley participated in several beach games they put on for the kids and then had his socks knocked off by juggler and contortionist Matthew Tardy. That was all Wesley talked about when he got home - he said "it was the coolest thing I've ever seen, Mom. He even juggled KNIVES." Around lunchtime we headed out to the Cellardoor winery where most of the days activities were taking place and made it in time to enjoy a scrumptious and FREE pork/chicken barbecue lunch. You had a choice of the two with rolls, cole slaw, beans, and the best cornbread I've ever had (I wish I'd grabbed more of it.) The line was long but it was well worth the wait (which really only ended up being about 20 minutes.) Lucky for us, just after we snagged our food, we were treated to an encore performance by Matthew Tardy (and yes, he was as impressive as Wesley originally described.) He even juggled the knives behind his back - pretty impressive. He was also really funny which was an added bonus. We had a hard time dragging Wesley away from the inflatable tunnel and slide where he and his buddies Emmit and Lake spent a good 30 minutes going in and out and in and out and . . . well you get the picture. Preston was fascinated by the alpacas they had all over the vineyard - so incredibly soft. We waited a ridiculously long time to take a hay ride (probably the only mistake we made.) And Wesley and I were daring enough to dip our toes into the freezing cold grapes to channel a little "I Love Lucy" and stomp out some vino. It was definitely and interesting feeling and I'm sure I would have liked it had my feet not gone numb within the first 30 seconds. I was so grateful stepping into the wash bucket filled with wonderfully warm water. I got the feeling back in my extremities in no time . . . and I'll probably do it again next year.

Unfortunately we missed the hot air balloon rides because they didn't come until late in the day and we left for church at 3:30, bummer! We'll have to try that next time (it probably would have been too chilly anyway. We were so happy that Nema (Preston's name for Gramma) and Georgie were here to enjoy it with us.