Bellingrath Gardens

This weekend we headed to Bellingrath Gardens near Mobil, Alabama for an Easter weekend venture.   It was a beautiful day for a picnic and the gardens were in bloom.  We enjoyed the flowers, but the kids made several animal finds that made our trip more than memorable.  

Our first find included a frog chirping near our picnic site.  Initially the kids accused each other of flatulence, but quickly figured out the sound was coming from an amphibious guest.  

Their second find, included a water moccasin sighting in one of the ponds, not far from the Bellingrath mansion.  The water moccasin gave us quite a show by swimming the entire width of the pond, before hunkering down in some moss under the bridge on which we were standing.  Then, unfortunately, it had to endure some human torment as people started throwing some twigs its way to attempt to spark some more motion. 

 Avery's third find, several crawfish in a small pool at the bottom of a fountain.  Avery has eyes like his dad's.  Nature's camoflauge has nothing on him.  

To wrap up our day, we decided to hit the Asian gardens on our way out.  After the obligatory picture(s) of the kids in various backdrops, we let the kids wander and explore a bit.  As usually happens we lost sight of them for a few moments.  Suddenly, Shane and I heard a rather loud splash coming from the boardwalk along side the pond from where we just came and immediately heard a young man yell, "BABY DOWN!!!"  By then, we were already running to the sound as we were immediately suspicious.  By the time we were in sight of where the splash occurred, the lady companion of the young man was hoisting Audrey up out of the water.   Despite the pond only being 1.5 to 2 feet deep, any parent knows that depth can be quite dangerous for a young one and we were oh so grateful to this young couple.  After my hands stopped shaking and allowing our heart rates to return to sub 200 range, we decided to snap a picture of Audrey for our album/blog, which she was none to happy about...

Dying Easter Eggs

 Easter just wouldn't be Easter without dying eggs.  This was the first year all three kiddos enjoyed the activity with minimal help from mom or dad.   Additionally, we decided to dye our eggs one week early so we could eat the finished product before the actual holiday.  Some how Avery reveled in the idea of creating a semi life-like creature and then ripping it's shell off and eating it's insides.  I think our bedtime novel about pirates is getting to him.

Amelia, was genuinely into creating cute, little fuzzy creatures.  She even made an egg that looked like herself and refused to eat that egg as a snack. 

Audrey enjoyed all aspects of the process, but was especially proud of the egg that included a bunny tail on the back.  Audrey was indifferent to eating the eggs she created.  However, I found great humor in her mechanical attempts to actually eat her egg.  Anyone, remember Marcie from "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown?"  Like Marcie, Audrey attempted to eat the egg shell and all.  Avery kindly showed his sister how to peal the shell from an egg.  

  

St. Patty's Day 2013

This St. Patty's Day we feasted on shepherd's pie cooked by my three little leprechauns.  This was the first time Amelia received the green light to cut with a sharp knife.  She was pleased.  Avery has graduated to browning hamburger.  Audrey added the one ingredient that turned our shepherd's pie into a real Irish treat, dark beer!

Soccer Season 2013

It was a challenging soccer season full of highs and lows.  Our coach was a little emotional, the kids unskilled, and our team small as a whole.  Our biggest game to game accomplishment was kicking the ball in the right direction.  At times Avery appeared to be a one man show, playing 75% defense and 25% offense.  A substantial amount of his defense involved redirecting the ball from our own teammates' efforts (i.e. kicking it to the wrong goal).  In fact, defense became his specialty displaying some truly spectacular last minute goal saves.  Amelia along with her friend Sophia danced around the ball most of the season.  If the ball came in range Amelia would two step to the right, cha-cha to the left, and then mamba behind the ball only to have the opposing team sweep it away.  By the end of the season everyone was frustrated, especially Avery.  However, the toughest seasons are sometimes the best learning experiences.  For Amelia maybe next season she will make more contact with the ball and feel less timid.  For Avery, maybe he will enhance his dribbling and passing skills by playing with older more skilled players.  However frustrating the season may have been the kids all left with smiles on their faces.  

Ski Trip 2013

We just returned from what Shane and I hope continues to be an annual ski trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  The kids were so excited to go skiing, but they were most excited for snow.  In fact, when we arrived it was snowing and a gorgeous 34 degrees outside.  The slopes were covered with fresh powder making the runs a new ski experience for the kids and myself (last year the snow was sparse and the runs were icy).  Avery and Amelia spent the first couple of days at ski school and made great strides quickly.  At the end of day two Avery's instructor gave him the green light for an easy blue, and Amelia was ready for an inaugural run down a green.  I gasped when I heard Avery was ready for an easy blue, mostly because I still struggle with control down the challenging blues, and was relieved that his fatigue made us nix the blue and finish with a green.  With that being said he was still his daring self  taking on every little bump, mogul, and tree trail he could.  Being that it was Amelia's first time down a green slope she did awesome and showed great balance.  The best part, they had a great experience and begged the rest of our stay in Steamboat to go skiing. 

On our second night Mimi arranged a sleigh ride with dinner and entertainment.  The sleigh ride was an enchanting trip up the hills of Saddleback Ranch.  It wasn't too cold, nor the trip too long and the sun was setting about 3/4 through the trip leading us to the white lights of our destination at dusk.  It was picture perfect.

We feasted on the best meal and drinks of the trip at Saddleback Ranch.  It's the first time I've had hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey's and it certainly won't be my last...yummy.  After dinner one of the ranch hands showed us his roping skills and invited all guests to give it a try.  Avery was second in line and surpriseingly a little timid about the whole experience.  He was somewhat stiff and rigid while lassoing the rope in the air, requiring a few tries before roping the pseudo-bull.  It was fun watching Amelia because she had no expectations and truly enjoyed the roping experience.  Shane and Denny also gave it a go and roped the bull on their first tries.  We ended the evening with a dance.  Amelia and Shane made a great match country swinging to each song.  They took their dancing to new levels by throwing in a couple of flips.  

We ended our winter vacation with a new experience for all, by heading back to Saddleback Ranch for some tubing.  It was so much fun.  This was something for everyone involving the same thrill factor as skiing.  Avery went up and down the slope with lighting speed and Amelia enjoyed sitting in Mimi's lap for most trips.  Audrey also loved it and made every trip without hesitation.  This is definitely one to add to the "to do list" for next year.

We had a great time.