I Think I Got It Backwards

{View from our front porch the night before we left NC}

It was snowing in Utah when we landed last night and again this morning.

Most people go on vacation in search of better weather than what they have at home.

Our weather in NC right now is about the best part of the year.

I am afraid that when we return at the end of the month my beautiful azaleas will be done blooming, and full-blown summer will be right around the corner. (Azalea season is arguably by favorite 2 weeks of the year-)

The company is so worth it.

p.s. But seriously, I think I need to remind myself not to to travel in April. I actually miss my azaleas.

February in the Carolinas

This is what late February looks like in NC. A high of 78, and a trip down to the greenway on Saturday. I felt like a good mom for several reasons. For one, I am prone to want to stay inside all the time, but my kids, not so much. 

So Good Mom Reason Number 1:  I chose to let my kids out of doors.

Good Mom Reason 2: I had to lift our super-heavy garage door that is broken and does not open anymore. Have you ever lifted a broken automatic garage door? Very heavy. So I lifted it, braced it on my shoulder, and used my feet to kick out the girl's bikes before closing it again. (Trying to gently let it down before I lost control and it fell with a loud clang and a shudder, narrowly missing my toes.)

(Fiona has the sweetest tricycle in existence. It is a Schwinn roadster.)

Bella, although a bit reticent, did well on her new bigger bike. Much taller than her old one.

Good Mom Reason Number 3: Fiona didn't last too long and I had to carry her tricycle. The whole time.

Good Mom Reason Number 4: After biking on the greenway, I let them play in the creek. 

Bella calls it the riverbank, which I love, but it's really just Clark's Creek. I love it though, and it runs all through the extensive greenway giving us several bridges and many opportunities for wading, skipping, and general exploring.

Good Mom Reason Number 5: I let them get muddy and wet.

(Yes, I made her clip for Valentine's Day...upside down.)

(I love this particular spot. Some other family was there catching crayfish.) 

Good Mom Reason Number 5: I let them go to the playground afterwards. And I still carried her tricycle the whole way home. It's all metal, including metal fenders, and pretty friggin' heavy for a tricycle.

I fully realize that these are pretty average accomplishments for the average mom and their kids, but I am a little slow on the parenting learning curve. Like I said, I am happy to stay indoors, but this is just another learning and growth opportunity that parenting provides. 

And best of all, Fiona took a nap that day.

I love living in the Carolinas. I love the beauty, the trees, the greenway and playground at the end of my street, and a 78 degree day in February.

My Neighborhood

At 7:26 this morning my phone rang as I was making sure the kids had their shoes on to leave for the bus. Wondering who would be calling so early, I answered to hear the voice of a woman I know and like from the bus stop. She said: 'I was wonderin' if you wanted me to pick up Bella since it's pourin' outside.' (She has a sweet Southern accent.) I had no idea it was raining, but I would have figured it out quickly when we had to walk to the bus stop in the rain and then stand there for 10 minutes until the bus came, Fiona in tow. Even with an umbrella we would have been soaked without a car to wait in. I leapt at her offer, thrilled. I was so touched that she would remember us, that I didn't have a car, and that we would be waiting in the rain. If the situation were reversed I don't think I would have been so considerate. A small gesture, but I was moved. 

Such are the people in the South, in my neighborhood.

A couple of weeks ago the people on her block organized a block party and Rick invited us, even though we are kitty-corner to their street and not technically on their block. They rented a bounce house for the kids and set up a little station for them with toys and chalk.

I was smitten by these weathered, love-worn old wooden toys. I adore and greatly value handmade toys, and these were obviously well-made and well-loved. It turns out that Rick made them, which didn't surprise me. Everyone in the neighborhood knows Rick. He has an old beat up red truck that is often found all over the neighborhood, parked outside the people's homes he is working on at the time. He is a general all-around handyman and good guy.

 

He's a sweet grandpa who loves my children. Of course Fiona loves him, and seeks comfort and solace in his arms. During the party, I would look over and find Fiona starting to fuss. Before I could even make a decision of what to do, Rick was there sweeping her up in his arms. He proceeded to hold her and dance with her for about a half an hour. When I decided it was time to go, he walked us back to our house, holding Fiona the whole way.

After admiring the handiwork of his toys he took me into his basement to show me his enviable shop and the toys he makes. He skillfully makes trucks, cars, trains, and pendulum cradles- all without nails and screws, beautifully constructed with dowels. He makes all of these toys and goes to the hospital a couple of times a year where he donates them to the pediatric cancer patients. Somehow I was not surprised.

 

{Fiona cramping Truman's style}

Last weekend was our neighborhood Fall Festival. There were organized crafts, games, lunch and snacks. It was held down by the pool and the playground. I love that I can let my kids play as I watch from a distance. Fiona was wanting to swing (as always) and again, before I could even approach, some neighborhhood girls had placed her in the swing and were dutifully pushing her. They even know her by name. The same happened at the block party, when another girl picked Fiona up in the bounce house, jumping with her to keep her safe.

 Teenage girls volunteered to man most of the stations at the festival, helping the children with whatever they needed.

I love my neighborhood. I love that it feels like a community. I love that for the most part, people look out for each other. Most people wave to one another. Last summer our next door neighbor Dan mowed our lawn when we were in Utah for 3 weeks. He frequently edges our lawn around our house and mailbox because we don't have an edger. All of these things are done unrequested, and often without recognition. People have parties, we stop and talk on the street, people patiently let my girls pet their dogs, they know their neighbors. Whether it's the South, or North Carolina, or Charlotte, or just my neighborhood, I love it.

I am really grateful for my neighbors.

County Fair

Saturday night, a photographic review:

It was fun. And awful.

Okay, it's been exactly a month today since I have blogged. Blame it on summer:vacation, visiting family, visiting Timm on his business trip, and now preparing to send Bella to school next week! Ack! But every one of those is a post in itself, so in an attempt to catch up I am just starting where I am. Little by little, I'll catch up. With everything.

On Friday night we drove up to Durham to get Timm at Duke where he was teaching a training course for 2 weeks. We are down to one car (another post) so we had to drop him off and pick him up. We decided to go a day early, stay the night at the hotel and take some detours on the way home. We stopped at a fabric store for me, the Woodworker's Supply for Timm, and the zoo for the kids. I had seen signs for the 'North Carolina Zoological Park' before and wondered what that was. Maybe I'm just slow, but it didn't occur to me that it was just a zoo.

But to be fair, does this look like the typical setting of a zoo? I think not. After seeing this I realized why they call it a 'zoological park' rather than just a 'zoo'. In total, it is 5 miles of trails, which they recommend setting aside about 5 hours to peruse. You walk along paved trails through the woods and boardwalks over marshlands, making it feel very much like a park with animal habitats interspersed between.

I loved these elephant statues that greet you as you enter the park.

Okay, seriously? A record length of 19 feet?! That scares me and fascinates me at the same time. Can you even fathom meeting up with a 19 foot long alligator?

Thanks for the view, Bella.

 Seals and Sea Lions, those perennial entertainers did not let us down. You could watch them for hours!

This sea lion had a great gimmick down pat. He loved to soar around a corner where he was invisible to onlookers, and would pop into view, surprising you every time. He would appear inches from Fiona's face and every time she would shriek and exclaim with joy and surprise. That made the trip worth it. The memory of her face and squeals would be necessary to sustain us shortly afterward...

Both girls were delighted with their turn on the carousel and Fiona threw one of her charming crowd- attracting, stare-inducing tantrums when I literally had to pry her off and carry her away kicking and screaming. That's my girl.

Not too long afterward however, she was placated to ride on Timm's shoulders, acting out various arm motions such as the airplane motion shown above.

Fiona was delighted by the elephants, demonstrated by her trumpeting as we approached the enclosure.

Things had started to unravel by this point, so it is nothing short of miraculous to have captured this shot. Fights about who got to sit in the front, accompanied by tantrums over being pried from the statue...Did I mention it was 5 miles of trails? And I have a (very wimpy) 5-year old and a not-yet 2 year old? Are you aware that I live in North Carolina, which during the summer can approximate jungle-like conditions? Right.

About halfway through we were plotting our most efficient course, which exhibits we could bypass, how we could distract Bella from the heat, her foot forming a blister, the miles of trails, our lack of ice cream or Icee stein that everyone else seemed to be enjoying...

We got to the end Tram stop which would mercifully take us back to the beginning, through all 5 miles, where we could exit the albeit beautiful, but tiresome park. We got in line, and waited among the throngs of people for almost an hour. It was a long hour, punctuated by the complaints of everyone around us, wondering about the location of the trams and their efficiency. I tried to stay positive by listing all of the ways it could be worse, but Timm was not amused. Among them, I was glad I wasn't pregnant (that makes everything worse and is often a present fear in the forefront of my mind), that I didn't have a prosthetic leg, that I wasn't on crutches because your armpits would really hurt, that I wasn't morbidly obese, that I didn't have more children to manage, or that I was not the Mexican mother who let her child wander into the road, causing a park employee to hold said child up in the air to be claimed for over a minute before the mother came ambling forward from the back of the line, apparently unconcerned and unaware of the location of her toddler.

While we were in line Timm speculated that this would be a great activity when our kids were at least 10, and that perhaps we were trying to do too much too soon with our kids. I replied that other parents did this all the time, and that I saw a mother carrying a newborn with a bottle. His reply was a genuinely mystified, 'But, why??' I don't know. I tried to determine whether Bella would think on the experience as tiresome and torturesome, or fun on the whole.

So, like I said, it was fun.And awful.