Late in the afternoon, I went to Kroger, Troy and Jude took the kids to the Nature Adventure Science Center and Cyndi met a friend for a drink at Jackson's in Hillsboro Village. Friday evening, we all went to La Fiesta on Belmont Boulevard for dinner. J.P. and Finn alternated between eating, then crying, with J.P. crying loudest when he smashed his finger in a door inside the restaurant.
Saturday morning, a few minutes after 6 a.m., I awoke to the sound of voices murmuring nearby. I rolled over, confused, then realized Scout had gotten into bed with us and was talking to Jude. I was reminded of how happy it makes me to have the Baines back at our house, because Scout always gets into bed with us in the mornings when they're here. And, she always wakes me up.
I slipped out of bed, quietly, so as to not wake J.P., and put on my running gear. I drove over to Shelby Park, then had a fantastic 6-mile trail run in Shelby Bottoms. It was a beautiful morning with perfect fall weather. After I finished the run, I cooled down by walking up the road that runs out of the park, by the Cumberland River. There was a slight breeze and I amused myself by trying to catch autumn leaves falling from the trees like snow. With the Leaf Party and the entire weekend with our friends ahead of us, I was in a great mood. I even ran into Cyndi, who had driven over the part herself to get in a quick run.
About 11 a.m., guests started to arrive for the party. It was all we could do to convince Wolf, Scout and my niece, Kaitlyn, to wait to rake up the leaves and start playing in them. We had a great crowd and, as always, the kids absolutely loved playing in the leaves. On one side of the sidewalk in our front yard, our friends, Rob and Roseann, sat playing in a small pile of leaves with their 9 month old son, Jordan. On the other side of the sidewalk, it was mass chaos, as the kids took turns jumping into a huge pile of leaves. In our backyard, another group of kids played soccer, or a form of soccer, because there really isn't enough room to play a real game.
Saturday afternoon, after the party was over and everyone had left, it was nap time. Not for Wolf, Scout and me, though, as we continued our annual tradition of taking a Saturday afternoon walk. We walked up to the soccer field at Belmont University and threw the frisbee for a while. Then, we walked over to Belmont Boulevard and stopped in at a candy store on the edge of campus. On the way home, we played follow the leader. It was comical, actually, perfectly copied everything I did all the way home. Saturday evening, Troy and I picked up pizza for everyone from Mellow Mushroom.
Sunday morning, Cyndi, Scout and Wolf ran to Bongo Java. Jude, Troy, J.P., Finn and I drove to Bongo Java and met them there. We ate breakfast inside, all 8 of us crammed in together around a small table. When we finished eating, we walked over to the soccer field at Belmont. First, we threw the frisbee again, then we played soccer. Finn and J.P. ran around the tennis courts, as Jude and Cyndi watched them. It's hard to explain, but it was a perfect morning. We had the soccer field to ourselves and it was so much fun to watch the kids play and to play with them.
We watched the first half of the Titans' game, made smoothies, then it was time to load the minivan and say goodbye. The weekend flew by, like it always does, and Jude and I were more than a little saddened by the silence in our house after we put J.P. down for a nap. Hurricane Baines roared into town, then just as quickly, it was gone.
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