It’s Actually Fall Y’all
Now that we are decidedly into the Fall season it’s time to take advantage of the lovely weather and get outside! As much as I love the summer, Fall in Middle Tennessee is truly a thing of beauty. The changing scenery and lovely weather encourage us to get outdoors for some Fall activities and that’s exactly what we did this weekend!
Travel Planning
If you are doing any traveling this fall, considering using my Ultimate Life Planner to help keep you organized with the Travel Planning section.
Build a travel itinerary, list out all the places you want to visit, or write a detailed packing list with multiple handy planning pages among a ton of other helpful pages!
Cane Creek Park
I’m always looking for affordable activities to do with my kid that are fun and interactive, so we decided to do something a little bit special and go to Cane Creek Park to see the ducks.
This was such a fun way to get outside and enjoy some nature and my toddler absolutely loved it.
We weren’t sure what to feed ducks at first, but we ended up getting a bag of duck feed from Tractor Supply before heading to the lake. Link is not affiliated, btw.
Feeding the Ducks
For only $7 it was a really cheap and fun little activity to go do together as a family. Her dad is into photography so he got some good shots while I just got some ok ones, but I think they turned out pretty good. We even saw a Goose and Blue Heron on the water.
My daughter would not stop until she threw the entire bag of feed to the ducks. And we sang the Duck Pond song from Peppa Pig the whole day IYKYK.
Fall Recipe: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Later that evening, I got a start on some baking for a local bake sale I was asked to participate in. I love to bake and I even got my toddler to help break the eggs which she enjoyed doing. I decided on this Pumpkin Cheesecake Bar recipe from Pinterest:
Now, slight critique, this wasn’t my favorite recipe that I’ve ever made. I feel like the measurements were off somehow. Maybe because I used gingersnaps instead of graham crackers, but 10 tablespoons of butter was WAY too much for my crust. So, I would say watch how much butter you’re using.
What I’d Do Differently
Another thing that is just personal preference, but I felt like the cheesecake part of the recipe made too much cheesecake and it was too sweet for my taste. Instead of using ¾ cup of sugar in it I’d probably just use ½ cup if I ever made this again in the future.
The proportions of the mixes also seemed a little off to me, I didn’t get a good swirl because I tried to use all of both mixes. If I were to make it again I would probably be a but more judicious with how much of the cheesecake mix I use!
But in any case, they came out really cute and they tasted good! Everyone seemed to like them, but they were pretty soft even after freezing for several hours so probably not the best for a bake sale. You never know unless you try though, right?
Amazin Acres
The next day we decided to go down to another local favorite: Mculley’s Amazin’ Acres. We had never been before but I heard great things about it so we wanted to give a try!
Now, I was a bad blogger and didn’t charge my phone beforehand. I didn’t get as many photos as I wanted to, but I was glad to spend the time with my family mostly unimpeded by technology.
Animal Feeding
My favorite part of the trip was getting to see and feed the animals! They had sheep, cows, and goats that you could feed. They also sell bags of feed for $2 a piece. We got one bag and that was plenty for us!
I’m pretty sure the animals get well fed because they barely ate from our hands lol. But it was a fun experience, nonetheless.
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere!
They were definitely giving fall vibes at Amazin’ Acres and there were pumpkins all over the place. We also let our daughter pick her own to take home. She wanted a little one and it was only $1. Can’t really beat that.
We spent a little less than $40 for my and my husband’s tickets but the kid got in free. I spent about $20 total in food I got barbecue fries, a Gatorade, a Caprisun for the kid, and Dippin Dots to share. The food wasn’t the best, I would probably recommend bringing something from home or eating afterward.
Overall, would we go back? Maybe when she’s a little older. I think she’s still a little young to really enjoy everything they had to offer but I’m glad we have something like this close to home!
Fun Weekend Finished!
So, that was it for our “partially budget friendly” fun filled Fall weekend! Hopefully this can inspire someone to get outside, try something new or bake some fall goodies this weekend!
What sorts of things do you guys like to do this time of year in Middle TN?
Until next time <3
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