A Weekend with Meega at Callaway Gardens

This year, La Leche League of Georgia held their annual breastfeeding and parenting conference at the beautiful Callaway Gardens Resort in Pine Mountain, GA. I asked Allen's mom (known to the grandkids as Meega) if she would like to join me and Natalie for the weekend. I figured she would enjoy spending some one-on-one time with Natalie as well as the familiar setting of a LLL conference. She attended plenty when she was a LLL leader for many years. And then of course it was nice for me to be able to enjoy the conference sessions without having to chase a busy toddler around! This year's keynote speaker was Sharifa Oppenheimer, an author and Waldorf educator. It was fascinating listening to her speak about child brain development and what we as parents can do to create home environments that promote the fullest whole-brain development.

Before the conference started on Friday, we had a few hours to explore some of Callaway's attractions. We took a stroll through the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center and then through Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden. It was a wonderful weekend and, Meega, I appreciate your company and help!!

Meega and Natalie at the entrance to the vegetable garden.

Checking out all the interesting veggies.

Why can't my yard look like this?

Or this?

Feeding the koi in the butterfly center.

Butterflies everywhere!

Hungry little buggers. You can see them drinking the juice from the orange slices with their proboscis. (Yes, I had to look that up. I was going to call it the feeding tube thingy.)

This butterfly landed on my shoulder.

Cocoons and newly hatched butterflies on display.

A Visit to the Chattahoochee Nature Center

My Aunt Betty forwarded me an email from the Chattahoochee Nature Center about an Infant Walk that they do several times a year. Natalie really loves to be outside these days, so I thought it would be fun. It is beautiful over there! Now I'm wondering how it's possible that I've lived in the Atlanta area for 13 years and never been there before! We enjoyed the guided walk and then strolled through the gardens, checking out flowers and butterflies.

Let's go!! So much to see and so little time!

Pretty mystery plant #1.

Pretty mystery plant #2.

Pretty lilypads. No frogs though, boooo.

Jewelweed aka Touch-me-nots. We learned 2 very cool things about this plant on our walk: 1 - it has skin-healing properties and can be used for poison ivy and other rashes. And 2 - If you barely touch or squeeze the little seed pods that you see, they pop open. I got much more of a kick out of this than Natalie.

One of many butterflies in the flower garden.

PDK Park

Living near the Peachtree-Dekalb Airport, we see our fair share of aircraft, from big to small. Natalie has recently taken an interest in the planes and helicopters. We point them out as they fly over, trying to spot them through the trees. Now she also points to the sky whenever she hears one. She's right about 90% of the time. The other 10% includes neighbors using leaf blowers and chainsaws.

A friend of ours mentioned that there is a playground at the airport, so one cloudy afternoon the three of us decided to check it out. It is literally right next to the runways and is a great vantage point for watching all the different types of aircraft take off and land. Natalie got a big kick out of seeing the planes up close. There isn't really any shade, so I wouldn't recommend going during the dog days of summer, but now that cooler weather has arrived, we'll definitely be returning.

Allen holds Natalie up so that she can see better and wave to the plane. You can't really tell from the pic, but the one on the right is heading towards the runway to take off.

A MetLife blimp. Sadly it stayed put while we were there. That would have been cool to see.

A family portrait - - too bad Natalie wasn't smiling. We are standing on a small stadium next to the playground that was built just for watching the planes.

Wow, there goes another plane!

Love this kid, crazy hair and all.

Happy Belated September Birthdays!

We have quite a few people on both sides of our family with September birthdays. There are at least nine, and I am sure that I'm missing a few cousins, aunts, or uncles whose birthdays I don't know. Every other month of the year has birthdays sprinkled here and there. So what's up with September? Too much eggnog around the holidays or champagne on New Year's Eve? Really cold winters? Does anybody else have this phenomenon in their family with September or another month of the year? This is all beside the point...

Without further ado, I'd like to wish a VERY belated birthday to all of our family members with September birthdays. We have yet to schedule a celebration for the peeps on Allen's side - - so that makes me feel a little better about that fact that none of them have received their birthday cards or gifts yet. Oops. I'll blame it on the stress of having a not-really-new-anymore baby. Or did that excuse expire on her first birthday?

Here are some pics from the birthday get-together we had with my side of the family back in September at Great Aunt Betty Jo Bob's house.

Birthday girl Mema, her cupcakes, and a very serious-looking Granddaddy.


Seriously, how yummy do these cupcakes look?

Birthday girl Karen and her traditional Bailey's cake.

Birthday girl Lyndsey with her colorful cake. I'm in complete and utter denial that she turned TEN this year!

I couldn't put up a post without a picture of Natalie. Here she is trying on AJ's jeans for size.

"Our" Park

We recently discovered a park that is just over a mile away from our house. Besides only being a few minutes away, there are two other fantastic things about this park: 1 - it's mostly shaded, and 2 - it's almost always completely deserted. It's like having our own private playground without having to buy all of the expensive equipment!!

Natalie is starting to climb on everything like a big kid and even goes down the baby slide by herself! It's fun (and scary!) to watch her confidence and agility improve with every visit to "our" park.

Soaking in all the wildlife. OK, they were just ants. But we also saw butterflies, dogs, and squirrels today.

Very smug after conquering the baby slide.

Watching the airplane fly by with crazy static hair.

Did you notice that my mommy didn't tell you where our park is?

Cute to the Max

Not that I'm biased or anything, but how stinking cute is Natalie in her little maxi dress? It will definitely be packed when we leave for our cruise a month from tomorrow. Maybe I can find a big, tropical flower to stick behind her ear. I don't know if that's a good idea though. I might not be able to withstand the cuteness overload!

A Future Chef?

Natalie figured out how to get into the spice drawer today. Who am I to stifle her culinary exploration?

Hmmm...What if we combined garlic salt and garam masala?

Eureka! Garam masala and vanilla bean!!

Here Baxter, try some marjoram.

Yes, your breath smells much better now.