Mountain State Forest Festival - Elkins, WV

The first weekend of October is always the end of the Mountain State Forest Festival here in Elkins, West Virginia. The leaves are in the middle of changing into autumn colors, the kids are sick from the carnival rides and sweet carnival treats, and the parents are looking forward to another year before it comes back around. Just kidding, we enjoy our candy apples and funnel cakes, too. ;) I do actually enjoy festival time, and this year it has been especially fun because we don't have to find a place to park.....we live right near all of the action. We're about 3 blocks from the carnival and talent show stage, 2 blocks from the parade route, and about 2 1/2 blocks from the City Park displays and the crafts fair at the college. We were able to walk with our kids to all of these events and they loved it! The kids enjoyed the petting zoo in the park where Bethany spent about half an hour feeding a piglet a bottle of milk. Aunt Anita (Brad's sister) was helping Mallory take her turn with the piggy....these animals could be quite aggressive when hungry. I watched the sheep and goats surround children who held cups of grains. (Scary for us non-farm folks.) The air would cool in the evening and we'd wear our sweatshirts and jackets and coming home, to OUR home, would feel especially cozy. One of my favorite things about this weekend was that my brother and his wife and boys stayed at our house for the Festival...our first over-night guests in our home! I had motivation to finish the guest bedroom and office and some other things. Well, except for what is hiding back under the desktop and in the closets of the guest bedroom.....;) I'll get to that stuff soon, too. It was so fun to spend time with people we love in our own home....it's been a while since we could do that. The pretty young lady in the pictures above is our niece, Katie. She is 21 and in pharmacy school at WVU, and was a Forest Festival princess. Our girls love cousin Katie.