Mission: Summer Break!

We have had a lot of fun 3 weeks into summer break. The girls have enjoyed a puppet show, a few water days, outdoor festivals and picnics. I had a bright idea today... I should note every fun activity that the girls and I do week by week, just in case someone else needs some inspiration. I have found that my days go alot smoother when I have a schedule of activities and lots of interesting opportunities to learn something new.

So this week fresh off of Memorial day, we stuffed ourselves with an impromptu Pizza Picnic on Wednesday. The weather on Thursday called for hot weather and high humidity translation: Find some water to get into! Our first stop was story time and crafts at the library. Next, we headed over to Centennial Park for a music during the Music @ Noon series and then the girls cooled off by jump in and through the Fountain of Rings. I plan on keeping this outing in my back pocket, in case I run out of ideas or fall behind schedule for another event.

After all of my errands were complete, I rewarded the girls for good behavior with a free donut in honor of National Donut Day from Krispy Kreme. Believe it or not, we were able to pick whatever doughnut we wanted, not just one of the original glazed. We loaded back into the car and headed to the library so that Makenie and Payon could turn in their reading logs for a prize as part of the Clayton County Dream Big - Read! program.

Stay tuned for our next installation of Mission: Summer Break!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

These are a few of my favorite things.... As I type this post, I am humming the words from the Sound of Music. On really rough days, this list comes in handy and thank goodness all items are accessible. The only difference between my list of favorite things and Oprah's is this.... There is no giveaway involved. LOL! I'll start with 10 favorites. Feel free to tell me how you feel about my list.

1. My pink and white polka dot Snoozies. It's like wrapping my feet in cloud and hanging out around the house.
2. A Grilled Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam sandwich. Two words: Delicious and addictive. I saw Bobby Flay make one on his show and I had to try it. Of course, I am using my homemade Strawberry Jam.
3. Banana Pudding Milkshakes from Chick-fil-a. I hate that the shake is always for a limited time. At least, I have some to look forward to each Spring.
4. Coupons, need I say more?
5. My Oster 10 speed blender comes in handy when my sweet tooth is attempting to over power my will. I throw some fruit in the blender and make a quick fruit smoothie to end the battle.
6. My Kindle. No matter where I go, I always have entertainment or motivation right at my fingertips.
7. Wet Wipes. I have yet to find a stain that couldn't be tamed by a wipe!
8. Ivory Body Wash I have tried several body washes and most leave me too greasy, too dry or with too much residue. Oddly enough, I can't use the Ivory soap bar because it makes me itch.
9. C.O. Bigelow Moisturizing lip shine. I CAN'T concentrate with dry, ashy lips. This seems to be the only lip balm that doesn't just sit on the top of my lips like an oil slick. It actually moisturizes.
10. California Burger at Steak-n-Shake because its the closest thing to an In-n-Out Burger on this side of the Mississippi!

I've been to the mountaintop

Previously I mentioned that we were going to dive head first into everything that Georgia has to offer as far as state parks, museums, culture and history. Our latest installment of "All things GA" takes us to a hike at Panola Mountain located in Stockbridge, GA.

It has been on my list for a while but seemingly bothersome minute things like strollers, potty training, pregnancy and bed rest always got in the way of fun. Now that none of that above applies, the crew and I rose early (for a Saturday anyway) and headed for that giant beacon of granite. We walked the smaller self-guided hike that was just a little over a mile long instead of the 2.5 hour guided tour with a Ranger because our girls are still a little too young endure the terrain and the distance of a longer hike. My girls handled the 1+ mile hike like champs because that's part of our weekly workout anyway at a neighborhood park.



I love my hat because it is practical...



The weather was perfect. It was sunny with a few clouds and a gentle breeze, that was a relief when in the shade the tree's understory. The view from the summit was very pretty and I could have stayed longer to enjoy the view but I was starting to get hungry. Tonya + Hunger simply doesn't mix well and should be avoided at all cost. My girls most enjoyed watching the animals in their natural environment. Payton couldn't understand why the lizards kept running from her... that child is fearless and I like it!

After lunch we enjoyed another light trek around Alexander Lake. We watched the turtles sun bathe on a log in the center of the log. My husband was so excited that he scared the turtles back into the water to safety. Mike was convinced that he would capture a turtle and bring it home with us... Good thing for me that the turtles returned back to water in time. I am not interested in having a turtle. That's just one more thing to clean up after. No, thanks!

Next stop... Georgia's Little Grand Canyon!

My light green thumb

My girls and I are trying once again to produce veggies and fruit from seeds. My thumb is a little greened since the last time I tried to plant any fruits or veggies. My previous attempt in growing a small garden was not a success. I only yielded a small watermelon about the size of an apple!

We are hoping for some good results. We are growing, watermelons, yellow squash, carrots and pumpkins. Here is my little farmer Payton hard at work planting our seedlings:

Great photo op!

Filling each container with soil.

Water + sunshine= yum!

Now we wait...

UPDATE: Ten days later

Watermelon seedlings

Squash seedlings

Forty Days plus days later, we have a few squash plants growing on the vines. Everyone was excited!



One of the yellow squash
growing on the vine.



Ahh... Sweet Destin....

This past weekend we spent 4 days in beautiful Destin, FL, where the water of the color blue only found in jewels. Gorgeous!


We rented a beach villa on a golf resort with 2 other families called Sandestin Beach and Golf Resort. I started my trip with the objective of enjoying the weather, the view and being around friends. I achieved all my goals and even got a little shopping in at the Silver Sands Factory Stores (not without my coupons handy).

One the first evening there, we went to eat a family fun center called Fat Daddy's Pizza because everyone was in the mood for really good pizza outside of standard delivery! The bright neon signs, flashing lights and kids running around with arms full of tickets and tokens was not a great indicator of what I would consider to be a place that serve gourmet pizza as the ad noted!! I will be the first to admit that the pizza at this establishment was hands down in my top 3 favorite pizza places. After one bite, I was in love and seeing fireworks! I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. Added bonus, you get to feed live alligators as well out on the deck.

So over the next 4 days, we gave to kids a chance to splash in the pool and dig sand castles to their hearts content. What a great weekend!

I love to bake, so I did my best to satiate everyone's sweet tooth by crafting a Red Velvet cake and a Banana Pudding Cheesecake to handle the task. Both were a success.

Red Velvet Cake

Here are some pictures from the trip enjoy!

P.S. On our way down to Destin, FL, we had to drive through many small towns to reach our destination. There was one town in particular that tickled me deeply by the name of Brundidge, AL. What appealed to me most was the sweet, adorable downtown area with quaint flower boxes overflowing with petunias on the top of each trash receptacle down the main drag. That attention to delightful detail is what stuck out to me the most. Simple things like that bring a smile to my face the older I get.

Ciao!

Who knew a rooster could be so friendly...

Petting the miniature horse.

Last weekend, my daughters and and I enjoyed the Sheep to Shawl event at the Atlanta History Center. During a prior visit to the museum, one of the docents convinced me that it would be a great event for the family but I had no idea what to REALLY expect. I had no idea how hands-on the event would truly be. I really enjoyed myself! Makenzie took a few of the items that she made to school to show her classmates. The event is only once a year, so mark your calendars for next time.

She didn't want to just pet the rooster she wanted to hold it!

 

 

Since we are members, we had the opportunity to preview the petting zoo earlier than others, which was cool. As we walked through the petting zoo, in my mind I had already guessed which animals both of my girls would be excited about independently based on their personalities. For Payton, I knew she would enjoy the miniature pony and the rooster. Makenzie is a big fan of rabbits and cows, that is exactly where she spent most of her time. Mak would love a pet rabbit but our dog, Coco Chanel, is too territorial for another pet to come into our home. After all we have had Coco for almost 9 years and I can respect that.

The wool was very smelly!

After enjoying the petting zoo, we moved on the main event... the sheep shearing. The whole purpose of the exhibition is to learn how about all the steps involved from cultivating the wool from the sheep and the by-products of the wool on a plantation. So we gather around the barn to watch the shearing of the wool from the sheep. I have a new respect for my wool clothing items. The process is very labor intensive. The farmer sheared the sheep then he passed out the wool to the children in the audience. At this point, we took the wool to washing and carding station where we met women dressed in clothing from the 1890's. Remainder: the wool is fresh off the back of a live sheep. Translation: this stuff is smelly! There were several basins to wash, rinse and card the wool.

Payton carding the wool.

Carding the wool involves two large brushes that we used to soften the wool and remove any matting and twigs. Then from there the wool is spun using a spindle. We didn't actually do the spinning but the was a demonstation of how it is done. The final fibers can either be dyed to whatever color and then used by the lady of the house to create a shawl, towels or blankets.


 

One candle after 9 dunks in wax and water.

The girls also had an opportunity to enjoy making pottery and candles. Let me talk a little about the whole candle making process.... So considering that there wasn't electricity during this time, plantation families had to make their own candles using animal fat. The docent tells the crowd before we make our own candles that the family would make all the candles that they needed for the YEAR in ONE day! That figures roughly includes 400 candles so that is just about 1 candle or so per day. Here is the punchline, to create one candle, the wick has to dipped in the wax and water 400 times. Huh?! My girls only dunked their candles in the wax and then water a total of 9 times and they were worked up because the candles was as thin as PJ's pinky finger. Thank you Edison and I won't complain about the GA Power rate hike again.

What am I going to do with all these plastics eggs???

That's a good question! I am going to make some wreaths!!!!

For the first one I used the plastic eggs and the pink basket filler. I purchased a wire wreath frame and wrapped with a wide pink ribbon. Next, I glued the plastic eggs to the covered frame with my handy dandy glue gun. I didn't put the eggs on in any particular, so that I wouldn't obsess over it. I did use large eggs and miniature eggs just to give the wreath more texture. So just glued them on the frame and move on. To fill in some of the gaps between the eggs, I stuffed the plastic streamers into any crevice I could find on the wreath. Once every nook and cranny was with the stringy filler, I added a wooden decorative egg to the center of the wreath suspended from jewelry wire beaded with glass bead.

My second wreath has a grapevine frame. I purchased a bag of adorable pastel speckled eggs that look pretty realistic. I loosely wrapped sheer green ribbon around the wreath and secured it with glue. Next I attached the eggs to the bottom of the wreath and use floral moss to fill in any gaps between the eggs. I found that adding the floral moss makes the eggs look like they are resting in a nest. Once the foundation is set, I added a few silk daisies randomly around the eggs and the moss. I added a glittery rabbit ornament to the center of the wreath suspended from jewelry wire beaded with wooden painted beads and added a handmade bow on the top. 

Voila!