Botanical Gardens

My girls and the Earth Goddess. Or as my girls insist, Te Fiti from Moana.

We took advantage of a truly beautiful fall-ish day to visit one of our favorite places in Atlanta, the Botanical Gardens. We have a membership pass, but the middle of the summer is always so hot, it makes it hard to even want to go. But mid-70s on a sunny Saturday in September? Yes, please! 

Adulting

It's one of our favorite traditions that every summer, we take the girls to "Camp Grandma" and "Camp Mimi". The kids get to spend several days bouncing from location to location, spending the night in one place, going to the pool at the other place, meeting up for joint playdates and meals, then splitting off again for one-on-one time with the each set of grandparents. It's fantastic and they look forward to it every year.

As do we.

For while the kids are away, the adults can play. Sometimes we have various house projects we work on, like the time we transformed Violet's room from guest room to "big girl" room to make way for Annie's nursery. Or the time we painted our bedroom. Or was it the dining room? But this summer, without any big projects on the must-do list, we just took the time out to relax.

Sushi. Almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

First up, we went out to sushi. Why waste it on kids who won't appreciate it, right? Although Violet shows signs of being a sushi-lover. There is a delicious sushi place called Mori House not far from where we live and we basically just tell the sushi chefs to hit us with their best shot. We sat at the bar this time and as they crafted this masterpiece I was silently jealous of whoever lucky customer ordered it, until they handed over and I realized that lucky customer was me. The attention to detail, the plating... it tasted as good as it looked.

The next day, we headed up to Chateau Elon, the Georgia winery and resort. We were meeting another couple here for a overnight date-night night-golf event. While the rain ended up cancelling our night golf plans, I wasn't overly broken-hearted about it. We enjoyed the pool, headed over to the winery for a wine tasting, indulged at the buffet dinner, and took a morning nature hike.

Pretty!

My hot date.

Thanks for inviting us, Joyce!

We had some generous pours during this wine tasting.

Scenes from our nature walk the next morning! A beautiful day!

The next day, the plan was to go on a 2.5 hour canoeing adventure with the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Alas, the event got cancelled due to poor water quality (again with the cancelled events! Mother Nature was not playing nicely!) But we rebounded quickly with a trip to the "quiet pool" in our neighborhood. We have lived here eight years and I had never once been to this adults-only saltwater pool. See those trees? Just beyond them lies the family pool, full of yelling, splashing kids. But here, do you see that? Just peace and tranquility. We followed this up with a trip to the movie theater to see Baby Driver. Dumb name, great movie! Go see it! So fun!

Ah, the quiet pool.

Shh. I'm at the quiet pool.

The next day we cooked ourselves a breakfast scramble that featured tomatoes, peppers and basil sourced from our own garden (Mother Nature and I were back on speaking terms) and then headed to the race expo to pick up our Peachtree Road Race numbers. We finished our day with a last dip in the quiet pool and then dinner next door with good friends, before turning in early to get ready for The Race! Ah, adulting. It's so nice.

San Francisco - Day 4

On our last day in San Francisco, we needed to find something to do that would allow us to get back to our house (and luggage) in time to make it to the airport for our red-eye. We decided to head back to Golden Gate Park, a spot we noticed our first day while on our double-decker sight-seeing bus.

Golden Gate Park is a long, narrow park in the city with lakes, fields, a science museum, segway tours, you name it. It also has a Japanese Tea Garden, which we stumbled into. It was a delightful little getaway. It reminded me a lot of when Matt and I happened into the United States Botanic Garden while killing time before our tour of the Capital... who knew there could be such tranquility in the middle of the hustle and bustle?

Man, our weather this trip was terrible... all that fog...!

This land is your land, this land is my land...

One last family picture...

After wandering around the Japanese Tea Garden, we swung by the Arboretum because it was "get in free Thursday" - how convenient! Then we caught a bus to the other end of the park, situated right on the Pacific Ocean. We grabbed lunch at an ocean-view table, then headed home to grab our suitcases, say our goodbyes and try to grab whatever sleep we could. What a great trip!

The Arboretum... check out that baby pineapple!

A little beach in my hand.

Couldn't leave without stopping by the Pacific Ocean!

Halloween!

Ah, Halloween! Not my favorite holiday of the year, but I'll go along with it. This year we headed back to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (thanks to the annual pass Matt got for his birthday) to celebrate at Goblins in the Garden. It was a rough start - the parking deck was full, leaving us to look for street parking in the neighborhoods across the street and then endure a half-mile trek just to get to the entrance... and again, the heat. Stupid fall. But we persevered (and perspired) and eventually gained entrance. It was super crowded but we had fun decorating pumpkins, building in the Home Depot kids workshop area, and just generally running around.

Decorating pumpkins at Goblins in the Garden

Not-so-scary black cat

And can you say yay to the easiest Halloween costumes ever?! The girls decided early on to be black cats, and surprisingly never wavered from their decision. A trip to Party City for ears and tails, then another stop at Target for black shirts, pants, and skirts, and boom. The least stressful Halloween costumes were complete. And they can actually wear these things again.

I love how Annie always checks to see what her big sister is doing when it comes to posing for pictures.

Halloween was on Monday this year (oh the horror). I hosted our usual neighborhood meal share, everyone jumped into their costumes, we gathered the rest of the troops, and set off to get our loot. Usually the boys opt for gross, creepy costumes, but this year was fairly tame (baseball player, pink unicorn, etc). I don't think the fake blood even made an appearance! Matt surprised us all by participating in his work costume party and nailed his look as Men in Black/Secret Service agent. I wore my token witch hat and called it a day.

Our Halloween crew!

Happy Halloween!

Wondering how this Halloween compares?
Halloween 2015
Halloween 2014
Halloween 2013
Halloween 2012
Halloween 2011
Halloween 2010

Pumpkin Patch!

We made our annual trek to a pumpkin patch. We headed back to Kinsey Family Farm this year. It's a little more low-key - no corn shooters or mazes. There was a lovely tractor ride, however, and so many pumpkins to pick from. It has been the warmed fall I remember in a long time... we wore long sleeves more for the effect than anything else. (It's just wrong to wear shorts to an October pumpkin patch, but that's Georgia for you.) Happy fall, y'all!

Hay ride!

Ladybugs in the Garden

Violet's Daisy troop had a ladybug release! They used some of their cookie money to buy ladybugs to contribute to our elementary school's garden. Ladybugs are my classroom theme, so of course I had to get in on the action. We even got to take a few home that were too reluctant to initially leave the bag - hopefully they will make a happy home in my vegetable garden.

Be Overwhelmed

Usually being overwhelmed has a negative association. It is easy for me to feel overwhelmed this time of year. I'm overwhelmed by the mountain of tasks I have left to accomplish with my students, even as the calendar ticks steadily down through these last 20 school days. I'm overwhelmed by the end-of-year parties to plan, teacher gifts to buy, volunteer presents to make, boxes to pack. The garden needs maintaining, the pantry has still not started stocking itself. My children inexplicably continue to need snacks and baths and books at bedtime.

But overwhelmed can be flipped over, taken out of its defeatist connotation. It can also mean to affect strongly. And affect in a good way. You can be overwhelmed with love, overwhelmed with joy. Perhaps not when doing the snacks-bath-books dance for the 471st time, but it is possible. It requires a bit more intention. You have to pay attention, look down and really notice what is around you. Allow it to affect you instead of just brushing past it on your way through the to-do list.

At church we've been going through a series on joy.  We can find joy in adversity. We can find joy in knowing God is with us, taking care of us, shepherding us daily through the valley of the shadow. And we are also called to take joy in his creation. Psalm 148 says "Let every created thing give praise to the Lord." We can find His joy in everything: twinkling stars, wind and weather, scurrying animals, even children. The challenge is in creating the space to do so, making the time to look down and notice, look up and marvel. 

I've been doing my best to find at least one small moment every day that has allowed me to take a breath, look around and marvel, be still and know. It's ironic when your to-do list includes "be overwhelmed by God's glory" but sometimes I have to be that intentional about it. And you know, once I start looking for it, it's always there. Sometimes I see it in Violet's face - that unadulterated joy of peddling through a tunnel of green light. Other times I steal a moment to wander away while the children play within earshot and their happy giggles become a fitting soundtrack as I spot that first ripe strawberry.

The Bible says "let everything that has breath praise the Lord." And God, in His infinite wisdom, created our bodies to do just that. In Hebrew, God's name is Yahweh, but it is written without the vowels. And the consonants that are left are the sounds we make as we breathe in and breathe out. The very act of breathing is to say God's name. It is the first thing we do when we enter into life on this earth; it is the last thing we will ever do before we see God's glory in death. We speak God's name. Our bodies, our very beings, praise Him. And if that's not cause to be overwhelmed, I don't know what it.

Things Big and Small

Sorry about the crazy eyes, Tatum! Thanks for the party!

We recently had the joy of celebrating the marriage of some good friends at a rocking party. (All weddings should take place at distilleries... it makes for a rather good vibe.) And at this said wedding, I had the great pleasure of meeting a lovely new lady whom I hope will become a very good friend. I'm already intimidated charmed by her grace, resilience, thoughtfulness, humor...

Lukas and this lady (who shall remain nameless until given permission to publish.)

Tatum, the groom and my brother-from-another-mother, gifted us this book at the wedding as a thank you. Not only are the illustrations delightful, it is spot-on when it comes to explaining the nearly-religious experience of the Swedish coffee break known as fika. There are many things the Swedes get right - Ikea, paid family leave, candy... but fika might just top the list (although 18 months paid maternity leave is hard to beat!)

Drink up, people!

 Post-wedding, pre-back to real life in the 'burbs with our kids, we decided to brunch. After many recommendations, both from locals and the internets, we decided on the Silver Skillet based on its proximity to our hotel and (more importantly), the fact that it came highly regarded by Matt's food idol, Alton Brown. As we stand there in line, I kid you not, who gets in line behind us? Yep, Alton himself. Oh, we tried to play it cool. We totally did not get a third cup of coffee hoping to time our departure to his. We definitely did not linger in the parking lot hoping he would walk our way. But the stars in our eyes aligned when he did indeed come our way and I basically accosted him with a request for a quick picture. He was clearly in a rush but graciously obliged. Oh, and we totally brought home a whole lemon ice box pie. And then hid it from the kids so we didn't have to share.

Where do I know that guy from...?

We wrapped up our weekend by planted our garden, finally. The kids might be slightly obsessed with digging in the dirt now.

The garden is back!

Twinkle Lights

Enjoying the lights (and the fact that I have a firm grip on both children). 

Every year we try to plan a little something fun to do when Matt's family is in town. In the past, we've visited the High Museum, the World of Coke, had fancy dinners downtown... but the age of my children has put a damper on sophisticated outings and forced us to look for something a little more family friendly. We figured seeing the Botanical Gardens all lit up might do the trick.

Several things I did not anticipate, however. It was really dark. (Okay, I knew it would be going in, but still.) It was REALLY crowded. It was two days post-Christmas, but I guess everyone wanted to take one last shot at the holiday spirit. Plus, it was such a mild night and actually NOT raining, so the entire city of Atlanta probably wanted to seize the opportunity to get some fresh air. But the crowds were seriously Disney World caliber. And finally, the third part of the disaster trifecta, was Annie's determination to not set butt in her stroller. Oh no, my friends, this child was going to walk. And run. Squeezing through people's legs and darting through my fingertips and running into the vast, uncontained spaces of the Garden. I was so busy keeping my eyes on her, it was hard to look up and actually admire the lights. It was enough to make me want to cancel our figurative future trip to Disney. When we finally forcibly strapped her into her stroller, Annie spent the rest of the visit straining at the straps and demanding "let me out!" to anyone in earshot.

So fun!

Haha. 

But really, it was nice to be outside. And it was very pretty. And sending the kids home with Grandma and Grandpa so we could have a calm, adult dinner made it worth it.

The reflection of a tree in a dark pool... very trippy.

The actual tree, against the dark night sky.

This mesmerizing display of lights set to music kept Annie still for a good three minutes - win!

And to Live by the Girl Scout Law

Getting pinned.

I'm really digging our Daisy Troop. On Friday the girls learned a new song, said their Girl Scout promise, and planted a little garden that they will be responsible for watering and caring for the rest of the year. (I'm also digging our awesome troop leader who is way more organized than I could ever be or hope to be. So thankful she is giving our girls such an awesome experience. I basically just show up and sing along!)

Planting the seeds.

At each meeting, every girl has a different role to play. Even with five-year-olds, the meetings get to be "girl-led". Violet was in charge of watering the plants on Friday; other girls got to help with line leading, clean up, starting the pledge, etc. I really like that they are getting a sense of responsibility. As they get older in the program, they will take on more and more of the leadership roles and make decisions about what activities take place. For our little Daisies, they got to decide when to eat snack (first, obviously) but I can see how even the little things are laying the groundwork for bigger things ahead.

Caring for the plants.

We earned some patches!