My friend told me Halloween night at Prestonwood (Baptist Church) previous years, but we never went because my husband feels it’s important to go around our own neighborhood even though not many kids (almost none) go around Trick or Treatin’ around here. She said there are rides and games and it’s really fun for kids. We’re likely going to go for other reasons, but you can check out the website for more info here.

There’s also a site that lists things to do for Halloween around Dallas.

It’s kind of sad because Halloween seem to be so different from what I remember when I was a kid. We use to be able to go out (by ourselves) and just have fun. Now everything has changed and it’s all so scary (not in the Halloween sense) and parents go with the kids and also goes to other neighborhood intead of their own.

So the Texas State Fair is here again. It will be from September 28th - October 21st at Fair Park, Dallas. I’ve been there once. I remember it was HOT. I didn’t mean Big Tex was hot, he was actually a little bit…(I’ll be nice) not so hot looking. This is what I remember about the fair - CORN DOGS!!! Why of course. I also remember animals and corn. We even got a picture of someone with big hair!

The good thing is - there’s so much to do for kids this time of year. The bad thing is - there’s so much to do for kids this time of year. Haha, well it’s tiresome as a parent to take the kids to all the events. It’s worth it of course for the kids to enjoy all these outdoor events rather than staying at home or playing games or watching tv (no tv for our kids…until they are 18 =)

Just check out the site yourself and see what else to expect at the State Fair. I’m still tired from the Plano Balloon Festival.

Ready or not, the pumpkins are already at the Dallas Arboretum. Starting now until October 31th, the Arboretum will have daily activities and also weekend activities. We’ve been there before and kids really enjoy the Pumpkin patch and Hay Maze. I like seeing pumpkins because it does mean Autumn is around the corner and hopefully we won’t have the heat and mosquitos anymore:

DAILY ACTIVITIES

Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin House
Hay Bale Maze
Hay Rides ($3 per person/ per ride)*
Piano Music on the Pergola
*10:30am - 3:30pm (weather permitting)

EVERY WEEKEND

Costume Parade - 1pm
Pumpkin Decorating Demonstrations - Noon, 2pm and 4pm
Face-painting - Saturdays: 11am - 4pm; Sundays: Noon - 4pm
Crafts - Saturdays: 11am - 4pm; Sundays: Noon - 4pm
Performances on the Martin Rutchik Concert Stage: Noon - 4pm

Check out the Dallas Arboretum Website for more information.

I just saw on Good Morning Texas a segment on the 12 years old jewelry designer, Kelly Alexandra. She custom designs and creates her own jewelry. You can check out her website at The Art Addict. The pricing of her peices range from $100-$300.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall on various Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys Due to Lead Poisoning Hazard. These were sold nationwide from January 2005 through June 2007 for $10-$70. It was manufactured in China.

“China by far leads the list of countries making products that are recalled in the United States, accounting for 65 percent of all the recalled products in this country this year, according to CPSC. In 2006, China accounted for 233 product recalls — nearly double the rate from the previous year, with lead a recurring cause among the recalls.” —-abcnews.go.com

“Made in China” usually has a negative feeling for some people and I was “Made in China” too, but I’m not THAT defected =). I actually do think that made in china = cheap. Oh wait, no I’m not cheap…no really! haha. I don’t think that everything from China is cheap or in bad quality. The reason of course is because the big companies want cheap labor and cheap material, so they mass produce it in China. Some things like the old antiques and things that were made not to satisfy big companies can be good. Basically if you think about it, the quality of homes in terms of material and thought put into a home in the U.S. has also suffered because of big developers coming in to make homes as quick and low cost as possible. This causes currently suburban homes to be not as good in quality and causes them all to look almost the same!

One more thing about China that I thought was funny but sad at the same time. I was watching Discovery Channel about Pandas. It said that if a Panda were to have two babies, it will have to abandon one. My husband was like, “see the one child policy effects pandas too”.

Speaking of the one child policy, it doesn’t seem to be implemented that well. The thing is that it seem that people are still having more than one. It’s just that if they have girls, they give it up for adoption. There was a segment on tv about how the boys who grew up since the start of this policy is having trouble finding girls and how some girls are taken/kidnapped to the villages for the guys. No duh, if you take away all the girls or let them all be adopted, then of course it’s gonna be a problem.

I’m not sure why Tuesday is THE day, but I just noticed a couple of places that offers kids free meal on tuesdays. One being Central Market on Coit - they sometimes have some children entertainment provided by Team Family on Tuesdays from around 5-8pm as well. So far, seem like everytime we go, they are there. Oh yes, back to the free meal. They have free meal for kids on Tuesdays. The other place was Cafe Brazil which is almost right next door to Central Market. They have pretty decent food. Better than I expected, but I do always order the French Toast with Seasonal Fruit on top along with the Peach italian cream soda…yum yum…So, why Tuesdays??