Pickin' peaches

Today we joined my friend Ginny (who makes a habit of going on Wednesday morning excursions with her kids) for a fruit-picking trip to Hudson Farms. It was a hot but fun morning of peach- and blackberry-picking. I have fond memories of picking fruit with my family at U-pick orchards near Grand Junction, Colorado – and I’d like to make an annual tradition of it here.

Will and Creight enjoyed picking peaches side by side, while Owen explored the leaves of the trees from his seat in the backpack.

Will stopped to study each fruit and comment on it’s wonderful aroma. (I think he made me smell just about every peach he picked.)

And Millie snacked along the way, and had the blackberry stains to prove it.
Back at home, Will and I devoured a simple lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches (with homemade whole wheat bread and a tomato from our garden) and blackberries and peaches for dessert.

Go to PickYourOwn.org for links to fruit-picking farms near you.

Where do you go fruit- or vegetable-picking?

Roadtrip Snapshots: Part 2

And here's a few shots from our stay in Colorado, which was really not a "stay" at all since we were on the move most of the time -- attending (in spirit at least) two simultaneous weddings and visiting family and old friends (most of whom aren't even pictured here). It was the busiest trip of my life -- and great fun no less.

First, in Eagle (my hometown), an aproned Will plays waiter. He would later -- on our road trip back to Georgia -- purchase a ring pop with his tip money.
Boulder Canyon makes a picturesque wedding spot:My cousin Molly ties the knot:
In the audience, two of my favorite women in the world (at 90, "G.G." -- grandma to both Molly and me -- was a guest of honor. And she loved the celebration.)Dancing with Grammy to cousin Adam's bluegrass band:Sleeping with Daddy to cousin Adam's bluegrass band (3 hours past bedtime)At our friend Travis's post-wedding brunch, Owen develops an affection for sunglasses (with guidance from Priya). He's been swiping mine from me ever since: "Shopping" at REI with my friend (and eternal college roommate) Alicia and her two 2-year-old twins Henry and Clementine (who both have an intimate love for the Boulder city buses -- it made Henry sob desperately each time we had to deboard and watch one of the mighty mobiles drive away):
We met sweet 9-week-old Teagan, son #2 for my cousin Emily. (We are thinking of launching a 2-boys support group. Anyone want to join?)Hanging out with second cousins Max (elder brother to Teagan) and net-headed Jasper (who'd just survived his own family road trip from Seattle to Colorado).

Road trip snapshots: Part 1

We're back intact. As we played our road trip theme song (Little Country Giants' "Fields Are Burning") for the final time and pulled into our driveway last night, well past bedtime, I was already getting nostalgic about our little adventure with the boys. As we decompress, I'm going to take a few days to share snapshots from our two-week road trip to Colorado. So we'll start with the trip out:

Owen and Will befriend Evan and Eileen in the hotel where they'd been passing time until move-in date arrived for their new home in Russellville, Arkansas:

One of the more striking images in the windy hills of Kansas was this field of monstrous wind turbines, each of them swimming circles in the air like slow-and-steady-moving space-age creatures.

Portraits from a Kansas rest area (where we also chased a bunny rabbit and discovered a half-eaten Robin's egg).

Bathtime with cousin Wilson, whose parents live in one of the most enviro-/kid-friendly redevelopments in Denver. The old Stapleton airport is now a community of not-at-all-look-alike energy efficient homes with lots of greenspace and bike paths, a town center and a pool all in easy walking distance -- not to mention the most impressive playground I've ever seen (complete with mini mountains and rivers you can run around in):

Boys' trip

This weekend Rob and Will and Papa (Rob’s dad) went camping at FDR State Park. I love to camp, but this time I was glad to hold down the home fort, spend some quality time with just Owen (and some quality time with just myself when Owen was napping). We’re all thinking of making this boy’s trip an annual tradition. And I’ll get my camping fix in the fall.

I asked Will to describe the highlights of the trip for the blog. These are the moments he chose.

1) “That tree that was blocking the bridge.” (Will and Papa took a tiny hike and came to a bridge obstructed by a fallen tree. Will remains fascinated by the scene.)

2) “Burning up the fire” (this would be the campfire, into which Will enjoyed throwing sticks and over which they roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. And as you can see, Will can get pretty excited about a marshmallow.).
3) “When Daddy jumped to get wood for the fire.” (Rob jumped up so that he could pull a dead branch off a tree since fire wood pickings were slim. Will loves to jump as high as he can -- and to see his dad jumping high, and grabbing trees no less, was especially thrilling).

What about going fishing, I asked? (They’d rented a little boat at Callaway for some fishing – and did some shore fishing at the lake near their campsite too.)

4) “Yeah. Casting off. I was very good at that.” (And a good thing. Because Will was very bad at casting the line out when he first practiced in our front yard with his new kid’s fishing pole Saturday morning. He kept sending the line and hook straight behind him. Rob, Papa, Owen and I were all ducking, dodging and praying.

Footnote: Will didn’t even mention catching this fish as a trip highlight – perhaps because by the time they reeled the fish into the boat, Will was a little frightened of the thrashing fish-out-of-water. They were just fishing for sport, though, so the slightly tortured fish was soon back at home in the lake.

Callaway on foot

This week we’ve been enjoying a brief visit from my mom, who flew in from Colorado Sunday afternoon and will leave us again Thursday morning. The last time she was here without my dad she was slaving over dinners, scrubbing floors and counters for me (and everything in between) and accompanying me on power walks as we tried to prod overdue Owen out of my bulging belly. This time I’m doing the cooking and letting her get in as much play time as possible with Will and Owen (mostly because I love to work on a simple meal with no distractions while listening to the sweet sounds of grandma-grandkid conversations in the other room).

Yesterday we laid low but did the usual walk to Lakebottom Park, where Grammy and Will enjoyed swinging side by side.

And today we hit Callaway Gardens, where I realized that the next best way to see the Gardens when you can’t tour the whole place on a bike is to stroll down the bike path (which is pretty clear of bikes on a weekday) from one stop to the next. A good mom tip for those of you who live nearby and frequent Callaway: Stop the madness of loading kids back in the car at each tourist destination and park just a couple times – first at the Butterfly house and then somewhere like the Discovery Center –and make it a car-free stroller journey from there.
We took in a Bird’s of Prey Show (which had Owen shouting so loud in amazement that the crowd sometimes took their eyes off the owl or the peregrine falcon to crane their necks and get a look at squawking baby), fed some turtles, ate a lakeside lunch, strolled down the bike path where Will found nature objects for a “decoration” he was scheming about as he pushed his own stroller most of the way, wandered over bridges in the Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl and then looped back to the Sibley Horticultural Center, where Will tried his hand at nature photography for the first time. Here is one of his point-and-shoot masterpieces.

But the highlights were really the walks in between the sites. In the woods, away from the crowds, we stopped for several minutes to watch a great blue heron, who stood just 20 feet from us at the edge of the lake, while a bald Eagle soared in large loops over the lake.

Just before we headed back in the car, Owen nearly jumped out of the stroller when he saw these ducks.

"Working" with dad

Since Rob’s working this week, we’re spending Will’s spring break mostly at home. But yesterday we got to accompany Rob to one of his more pristine work places. He and other Nature Conservancy staffers had done a prescribed fire on Black Jack Crossing, a beautiful old longleaf pine plantation that is home to gopher tortoises and rare pitcher plants. Rob’s assignment yesterday was to go back and make sure nothing was still smoldering the day after the fire. So we came along and walked the outskirts of the burned section, which looked like this: (Here Rob and Will are examining an old gopher tortoise burrow)

Will was thrilled to just pretend he was driving this four-wheeler. (We didn't have the keys.)

Sandy roads and fire breaks became our hiking trail.

We collected pine cones for Will’s next show and tell.

We could have stayed all day at this little rocky hillside, which was the perfect playground for Will, who collected rocks and explored minor canyons…

and Owen, who reminds me every day that even little things like broken leaves are miraculous.

Weekend in review -- on Wednesday

I'm finally going through photos from our long weekend in North Georgia. Here are some highlights: Hanging out with Great Grandpa in Marietta

Rob took the boys and I on our first ever drive up Toccoa's crown jewel, Currahee Mountian, which is adorned with graffiti and four mega radio/tv towers. Obviously this scenic locale gets visited by high school partiers more than nature lovers. Rob remembers a high school gathering or two up there himself. I was almost tempted to go on a beer can pick-up hike with Will, but thought better of it.

We enjoyed our picnic spot nonetheless -- Will most of all because he got to throw rocks off a minor cliff. Although, here I guess Owen tops Will on exuberance.

Then we drove down to the bottom of the mountain and hiked back up. It was the steepest hike Will's ever tackled, so by the time we got to the top he was pooped. And Rob was stuck carrying him like this for nearly the entire trip home. (We'll never force our young kids to hike -- too scared we'll turn them off to a pastime we love.)

Papa reads Brer Rabbit to Will, but calls him "Burr" Rabbit every time.

Will discovers the best-ever pastime for kids in the car. He used his teeth to slowly peel an apple, and collected the shavings in a toy dumpster. I challenge you to suggest a pastime that will engross a kid in a car for as long as this. If we do take that road trip to Colorado, I'm packing the dumpster and several apples.

On our way home, we stopped at Ella's 5-year birthday party and Will and friends frolicked for a couple hours on one of those giant inflatable jumpy, bouncy slide things.

Road trips -- big and small

Yesterday we made a simple car trip from Columbus up to Marietta to have dinner with Rob’s grandparents before heading up to Rob’s parents house in Toccoa while the boys caught the first hours of their nighttime sleep. The first leg of the trip up to Marietta took over three hours instead of the expected two because as we encountered delays in domino-effect.

First after about five minutes on the road I made the mistake of mentioning to Will to remember to give us some forewarning if he needed to pee so we’d have time to find a proper place for him to relieve himself.

“I need to pee!” he announced immediately after I’d issued the reminder.

So we pulled off at the next exit, which featured no gas stations or restrooms, and let him pee in the grass beside the off ramp. All he could produce was a one-second-long trickle. Rob and I rolled our eyes at each other as the cars whizzed by.

About a minute later, back on the interstate, Will made a new proclamation: “I need to poop!”

“Are you sure?” Rob asked, having just enjoyed a father-son hotdog lunch featuring chili-smothered hot dogs at Will’s pre-school. “Maybe it’s just gas.”

Will was sure. So we pulled off at the next exit, which thankfully did feature a gas station. Rob pumped gas while Will and I ran in hand in hand. The women’s restroom was locked. I didn’t even hesitate before trying the men’s. Locked.
So Will jumped around while we waited for an open restroom. Then as I held him on that toilet-paper covered public toilet, Will made some chili-dog inspired bodily noises, produced nothing to flush, and announced with a shrug: "I guess it was just gas." And it was up with the underwear and back to road.

Then we trudged through construction traffic around Newnan, Georgia. And by the time we’d hit Atlanta traffic our scheme to beat the rush hour had been thwarted so we sat in more stalled traffic after first pulling off to nurse crying Owen beside some mega parking deck.

Which brought us to a looming question. We’ll be heading out to Colorado in June for my cousin’s wedding and for some general fun in the mountains. And we’re considering skipping the plane tickets and rental cars and making a road trip of it instead.

“Are you sure we want to do 48 hours of this?” I asked Rob yesterday as we waded through the rush-hour traffic and I fought off some minor nausea I’d given my car-sick prone self by turning around too often to hand toys or cheerios to Owen.

But really Will was a trooper and Owen was semi-easy to keep content with a parade of toys and sufficient nursing. So we’re still considering it. And I’m still wondering if we’re insane.

So it’s time for another poll:

Would you drive with an 11-month old and a nearly 4-year-old from Columbus, Georgia to Eagle, Colorado?
	Not for a million dollars.
	Why not -- road trips make for great adventures and it'll be character building.
	Have you lost your mind? Absolutely not for MY family. But I think you should do it so we can laugh as you recount the agony of it all.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Will's weekend away -- and ours

This weekend Rob hauled Will up to his sister’s house in Atlanta for a weekend with Aunt Alicia so that we could then haul ourselves down to the beach for a nearly kid-free weekend with our friends Carey and Brant (nursing Owen comes with the package on this adult).
At two nights, this was our longest separation from Will to date – and I will admit two things: 1) Saturday, which was so miraculously warm on the beach that we could sunbathe in shorts and T-shirts and even brave the water for a minutes-long swim, was the most relaxing, renewing day I’ve enjoyed since Owen was born; and 2) By the end of it, I was missing Will with a quiet ferocity. I just really, really wanted to be able to give him a tight-squeezing goodnight hug. (This is probably a sign that we need to send him off for a weekend or longer more often – for my own detachment work if not for his.)
Today when Rob and Will came in from their rainy drive back from Aunt Alicia’s, I finally gave Will that big hug and told him how much I’d missed him, how glad I was he’d had such a good time. (Aunt Alicia turned her house into a kingdom of toys, towed Will to Barnes and Noble one day for some book shopping and to the Georgia Aquarium the next day for some marine encounters and generally kept Will highly entertained every hour of his time away).
And soon enough, Will had crumpled in my arms, and was crying and crying about how tired he was. I chalked it up to some leftover exhaustion after some nightmares had apparently kept him up a good bit of the night Friday night. Or maybe he’d missed Rob and me that much? But no. Once he’d recovered he suddenly announced his own realization that he was really crying because he missed Aunt Alicia.
I couldn’t help but think, well you might be justified in those tears because tomorrow I’ll be distracted by grocery shopping, piles of laundry and other mundane chores and you’ll have to readjust to life as a self-entertainer. And I suddenly wanted a whole weekend to direct all of my attention to Will – it’s something I haven’t managed to do since well before Owen was born. Probably I’ve never done it as fully as Aunt Alicia did this weekend.
And as a mom, it is good that Will and I are not constant playmates. I have my work; he has his play, which is of course his work – and we work well side by side in that context.
But I do think that I’d like to eventually institute a little trip-taking schedule with the boys like my parents used to do with my brother and I. Here and there we’d enjoy a weekend together just two of us: My mom and I would take a trip to Santa Fe while my brother and my dad stayed home; my dad and I would take a springtime college-visiting trip while my mom and my brother stayed home; my brother and my dad would go on a camping trip to Yellowstone for part of the time that my mom and I were backpacking in Europe. And for just a brief little span of days we’d have some one-on-one time. One day in the future I’d like to have a little adventure – just Will and I …. and another one, just Owen and I, with Rob doing the same of course. Because even with just two kids, it’s nice to take time out to focus on one of them from time to time.
I felt that even this weekend as Owen and I explored the beach together and read more books and shared more pat-a-cakes and itsy-bitsy spider songs than we normally get in over the course of an entire week.
In the meantime, we’ll be hitting Aunt Alicia up for weekends with Will with a tad more regularity. He’s already ready to go back.

Weekend in pictures

It was my kind of weekend. Balmy for early February and no big plans so on one day we triked to the park
and had a picnic lunch by the creek, while Will took nature photographs with a baby food jar.And the next day, Owen went on his first real hike on Pine Mountain

which inspired Will to want a backpack ride too

until he realized walking is more fun
especially when you can stop and shoot moss with your "woodpecker finder gun." We heard a woodpecker but failed to see it -- all of which prompted Will to invent this tool.
We admired the occasional longleaf pine seedling still trying to make it in an under-burned forest of oaksand Will got chummy with FDR.