cozyblue

checking in...

hi there!  i've been drowning in this pool of photos from our trip to atlanta last weekend, and i have finally sorted through them (there were over 650!) and uploaded a bunch onto flickr.

i highly recommend that you click here to view the slideshow!

we had a super-fun time.  mostly, it was great seeing papa and pippi (it had been waaay too long since we saw them last!).  we also had a bunch of fun things to see and do:  the amazing georgia aquarium, the atlanta zoo, the parks and playgrounds, seeing the downtown sights, and some quality pool time too.
it was wonderful to get out of town, and what better way to kick off summer vacation?!

this week has been a nice quiet week of being home together:  library outings, garden tending, crafting, reading, cooking, drawing and building, science experiments, swimming, and more.  griffin and adella (though they are driving each other batty at the moment) are SO happy to play and be together all day.  they are so sweet.  despite the usual sibling squabbles, they are keeping each other very busy...  they're outside in the yard (usually in pj's still) as soon as the sun comes up, and have been happily playing and hanging out together.  i love watching the games they make up and the way they cheer each other on!

i've got more to post, soon.  right now i've got to get these kiddos ready for a trip to the nature center!
happy thursday :)

we're back!

charleston was a blast.  we had SO much fun!  it was definitely not a quiet, relaxing, dreamy vacation - but filled with non-stop action and adventure.  and that was perfect for us right now.

the campground was awesome, the beach was great.  we are glad to be home, and are slowly easing back  into our regular routines.  (actually no, that's not true because stig is gone again, off to oregon with his band for six days.)  anyway, we took over 600 photos and you can see tons of them over on flickr.  go check them out and you can enjoy our vacation too!

super fun day

the four of us took a super-fun day trip to the greenville zoo today.  last week i mentioned to adella that we had a zoo trip in mind, and she's been going on and on about seeing the lemurs there.  now, the knoxville zoo, where we usually go, has a lot of animals, but i don't think they have lemurs.  so we checked the weather forecast (68 and sunny - perfect!), and then loaded up and drove to the greenville zoo.  

i think i've talked here before about how much i like this zoo.  it's pretty small and low on frills, and is such a nice manageable size for the little ones (and for me too).  and unlike the bigger zoos we usually visit, we don't leave feeling totally wiped out and exhausted.  and good thing, because the greenville zoo is adjascent to an amazing playground -  i'm talking super-fantastic playground.  not only is it crazy-big, it's got some really crazy-cool stuff to play on.  stig even said it was, "the coolest playground i've ever been to!" - where we ate our picnic lunch and played before returning home.

i think i took over 250 pictures today.  i've uploaded many of them here, if you want to check them out.  really, please do.  there's no way i can load them all to the blog.  there are some cute ones -- go see.

oh - and - check out adella is wearing the new dress i made for her this week.  i just love it!  i've been dying to use this cute mushroom fabric for months now (and i bought it with this exact dress design in mind).  happily, it turned out exactly as i planned and adella loves it.  i'm already planning to make her many more of these, with several different variations.  so sweet!

guess where we went?

yep - another trip to the zoo!  this time we tried to surprise adella by not telling her where we were headed.  when we got in the car, i wrote the word 'zoo' on her magnadoodle, thinking it would take her a while to read it.  silly me - she had that word figured out before we even backed out of the driveway!  no worries, though - she was still super excited and happy to go.  smarty pants.

adella was out official map reader, always leading us in the right direction.

we happened upon this bird show, which was pretty impressive, actually.  einstein, the talking bird was one of the stars, and has apparently visited jay leno, david letterman, and several other spotlights.  there were also lots of other talented feathered friends - i think my favorite was the barred owl.

a boat-billed heron nest

adella ID'd these birds right away - the roseate spoonbills (thank you, bird bingo game!)

some especially nice markings on this fellow

cooling off!

 

cranking out a meerkat penny

...and what trip to the zoo would be complete without a ride on the carousel?

****

we ended the trip with a nice car ride home, tuned in to WNCW, where stig's band was in Studio B for a live performance and interview! 

exciting stuff.  it was a long day, and though we were all exhausted, it was a very fun-filled day for everyone.  so it was a nice, full, happy kind of exhausted - the best kind. 

we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

we suprised adella with a trip to the zoo today - the greenville zoo, that is.  now that i think of it, we are really lucky to have several zoos nearby to asheville.  this one is a really nice smaller zoo - just perfect for an easy afternoon getaway.  adella was so excited!  all day she kept asking what the suprise was and of course we didn't tell her ("or it would ruin the suprise...") but once we pulled up, she saw the sign and immediately knew. "hey - we are at the ZOO!!!"

we took so many great pictures, but  here are a few of my favorites:

"don't worry mommy - it's not a real bear!"

can you spot griffin's little head poking out?

we all had a really fun time, and decided that the lemurs were our favorites - they were so friendly and looked like so much fun.  but really, i think that adella's favorites were these pigs:

the plastic pig family from the souvenier shop.  the whole way home, we heard, "i want to go home and take a bath with my new pigs!  i love my new pigs!  they are a family - and the mommy is shaped like a boat!  and the baby piglets can hop on her and sail away!"

and, after a stop at this giant playground, a bath is exactly what she got...

after adella's bath & stories, and her nightly snuggle with griffin

she's off to bed, and we're all ready to call it a night.

postcards from charleston - part 6

*****

is everyone sick of seeing all the vacation pics yet?  well, today is the last day.  regular blogging will return soon - i'd love to say i have a ton of great finished craft projects to show off, and gobs of cute adella pics, but i don't.  this blog break has been all about me being lazy - but i'll be back with something soon!

hope everyone is having a great weekend!

postcards from charleston - part 5

postcards from charleston - part 4

postcards from charleston - part 3

postcards from charleston - part 2