Point Clear Wedding

My cousin Christina got married a few weeks ago.  Welcome to forever coupledom cuz!  It’s really great, nearly all the time.

Anyway, the party ceremony was in Point Clear, Alabama at a beautiful beach resort.  Although it was October, the weather down there was beautiful and Ike and I took every chance to be outside.

Here’s that handsome guy all dressed up for the outdoor nuptials.

All three of the most important men in the world to me.  As much trouble as they may be some times, they sure do clean up nice, I’m lucky to have every single one of them.

Oh, and I was there too!

Most importantly, Mr. and Mrs. Ferrell were there, stunning and beautiful among the most enchanting back drop I’ve ever seen.

During the service the pastor compared marriage to the beautiful open water behind them.  He said that it’s beauty and vast majesty were things to cherish, but it’s strength to withstand the occasional hurricane is what makes it last.

After the serious/official stuff and about a hundred dozen raw oysters later, it was time to party.  You don’t have to tell my crew twice.

Here’s Ike teaching Uncle Michael how to drop it low low low low.

And of course there was more touching moments like this one.

And all the Thompson women in one place, including the tiniest one still cooking in my belly.

I’m so happy that we were able to share this day with Christina and Wesley.  I’m glad they found each other and are wise enough to hold on tight, for ever and ever.

PS I’m glad I am that wise too.

 

San Diego Zoo

Last weekend we took a trip to San Diego.  It was Ike’s longest planeride yet.  It went OK, as in nothing too mortifying happened, I don’t think anyone complained about us, but I am not too keen on doing it again anytime soon.  Four and half hours is a LONG time to keep him occupied in a confined space.  Food helped.

We made it nevertheless and Ike got to hang out with his Dori and his west-coast family.

Isaac’s three cousins, two Aunts, and Uncle all live in the southern California area and were sharing a rental home in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.  They were all thrilled to hang out with Ike, he is such a little rock star.  We went to the zoo, while we were there, because it is San Diego and that is what you do there.  I am not particularly fond of the zoo, any zoo, but I have to say, if you are going to visit only one zoo, make it this one.  It was spectacular.

It was also incredibly crowded.  Ike was attached firmly to his leash when he wasn’t being carried or pushed in his stroller.  He was very thrilled about it.

There was every kind of animal you can imagine and a few that you probably can’t.  The exhibits are layed out in a most creative fashion.  My favorite was a cheetah cub and a puppy that shared a habitat because they had become friends as babies.  How sweet is that?

They also had Koala bears, which I challenge anyone to take more than a 2 second look at and not melt a little inside.  Bonus.  There was a baby Koala!  Perched safely inside his mother’s lap, I couldn’t even see him for a while.

This is what Ike though of the Koalas.  Maybe the baby koala told him he was thirsty?

Here’a all the family taking in some warthogs.  Ike had their greeting down pat and they loved it.  Sort of looks like he is trying to hop in there and join his clan.

And Thomas? Oh he’s fine.  Really.  San Diego is a walking kind of city and a little adjustment to us city-folks.  Several people shared the use of the wheelchair throughout the day.

Checking out the giraffes.  Ike is not interested in giraffes in California or Atlanta apparently.

Ike waving hello to the Rhinoceros.  Well, the Rhinoceros’s butt.  Maybe he was saying Bye.  I don’t remember.

Here’s a picture of a donkey named Sophia.  Despite persistent pleas from Alencia and Karlos, she refused to turn around, thereby validating everyone’s nickname of “Ass!”.

Again, I cannot recommend this zoo enough.  It’s a little pricey, but totally worth it.  It’s HUGE though, so spring for the rental strollers or wheelchairs if you are so inclined because there is a ton of walking.  There are also assorted food/refreshment stands to keep you strength up.  We bypassed the enormous elephant habitat to refuel at one of them.  Budget extra money for libations throughout the day, or pack your own if you’re into being thrifty and prepared (our family is not).

On the Road with Ike

How far we’ve come from the days when a 20 minute drive from our house to the doctor’s would send Ike and me both into a whirlwind of despair.  We seem to be on the go almost every weekend with extensive carseat time.

I owe most of our car-related stress relief to Raffi and other kids-centric music.  Ike’s latest craze? Old MacDonald or more affectionately known around our house…E-I-O?

We took a trip over to Birmingham this Friday to see my little cousin graduation with her Doctorate Degree in Nursing (very impressed is this lowly Bachelor’s degree holder by the way).  The trip was about 2 and half hours each way.  He slept most of the way home, but on the way there, I’m pretty sure we heard Old MacDonald at least 1,000 times.  Every time it ended we heard this from the back seat:

“Daddio?”

“Mama?”

“E-I-O?”

We played Old MacDonald from Raffi, from Dora, from Barney from EVERYONE!  Over and over and over. But I guess that’s better than hysterical screams from the backseat for two hours.

Here is Ike and me with the beautiful smart graduate, who is also getting married this fall.  What a year right?!  We are so proud.  This is about 30 minutes before Ike had a world class melt down and I was more or less shamed out of PF Changs, but let’s remember the good times shall we?

 

Prague, Czech Republic: the High Points

Truthfully, I spent most of my week in Prague inside of the Hilton hotel; in meetings, in symposiums, in hospitality suites.  In, in, in, in!  But on Thursday the conference ended around lunch and I was free for the afternoon with a flight first thing Friday morning.  I had to get out, out, out in a hurry!

I had about 5 hours time to visit/experience the important things in Prague. I did my best.

1. Took a boat tour ($12US).  The Vltava river flows directly through the city of Prague and many beautifully ancient bridges cross it.  The boat tour picked up about two blocks form my hotel. The tour provided a beautiful view of the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, and the metronome that marks the former location of the Stalin statue (imploded in 1962).

2. Caught the tram to Old Town Prague ($1US).  We took the tram just on the other side of our hotel into Prague’s “Old Town”.  I think it’s funny that this particular area has been deemed “old” because with the exception of a few modern buildings here and there the whole city is pretty old.  We saw the astronomical clock, the colorful Jewish Synagogue, a handful of torture museums (dude!), the State Opera, and an authentic Czech outdoor market (where I bought Ike an authentic handmade slingshot, $2US).

3. Ate Czech Beef Goulash ($14US).  I was told shortly after arriving in Prague that I’ve not had proper goulash until I had Czech Goulash, so obviously I had to make that happen.  And, after 5 days of nonstop Americanized hotel food (very good Americanized hotel food mind you) I was ready to have some authentic cuisine.  At the recommendation of a co-workers wife who had spent the week sightseeing while we were in meetings, we ate at a small, halfway underground restaurant/pub.  The goulash was AMAZING.  If you’ve never tried it, you should go to Prague and get some immediately.

 

Happy Goulash Girl right here.  By the way, Goulash is a traditionally Hungarian dish of stewed beef and vegetables seasoned with sweet paprika.  Mine was served with super savory potato cakes.

4. Shop for some crystal.  ($0US, if you don’t count the noncrystal souvenirs I picked out for the kids in the crystal shopping district). I didn’t know before I arrived, but Czech produced crystal is some of the finest in the world.  And buying it from a place as inexpensive as Prague makes it a very budget friendly shopping item.  There were endless shops selling crystal vases, glasses, jewelry and more along the streets in Old Town and downtown Prague.  If I had an extra day there, I would have spent some time trying to replace the various wine glasses that I’ve broken over the years.

While I would have loved to have more time to explore Prague, I feel content in seeing the major landmarks, and of course trying out the local food-fare.  I hope to go back again someday, the city is beautiful and the people are very nice and friendly and generally helpful.

Keep a Young Toddler Busy on an Airplane

We kind of fly a lot.  Probably not as much as some people. but probably more than the average people.  Ike definitely travels more than the average one year old.  Typically we are fortunate enough to be given a middle seat between two strangers who just love little kids.  They NEVER ask to be reseated when they see us coming.  Never.  Ike and I make it our mission to change their minds about traveling with adjacent to kids.  In order to be successful in such an endeavor we have to have some tools.

Our “Tools for Success”

• Toys – Small toys, since the carry-on diaper bag will probably be packed with extra necessities, like all the milks, all the diapers, a ton of wipes for any and every spill that may happen, snacks, a change of clothes, etc.  The toys should also be somewhat quiet, so as not to disrupt our such welcoming neighbors.  A toy set with a ton of pieces is probably a no no, since they will inevitably end up in the seats in front of and behind you.  Our favs: soft books, toy phones (turned off), one or two Little People (Ike loves the super hero ones).
• Food – pack them lots of snacks!  Puffs, crackers, bananas, string cheese, cereal bars, whatever travels best for you.  Sometimes the chaos of parking the car, getting the bus, checking the bags, passing security, etc can take longer than expected.  While we may be able to hold off for a meal, a toddler definately can not, and they do not hesitate to let you know it.  Pack lots of snacks.
• Things already on the Plane – Part of what makes a kid so squirmy is the fact that they are in a new environment that begs to be explored.  Let them.  Within reason of course.
  • Those magazines in the back of every seat that say “take one, free”? Take it.  Let him tear it to shreds try to keep the shreds in your own seat), keeps them busy for at least 10-20 minutes.  Ignore the eye rolling when you hand over the ball of paper to the flight attendant (they said “ANYTHING you wish to discard”).
  • The tray table – figuring out whether to push, pull, turn, twist to get it to fall is a source of entertainment as well.
  • The window shade (if you are fortunate to have one) makes for an excellent game of peek a boo.
    Yep that’s the straw from my drink, we were playing seal.
  • Ask for an extra cup when the complimentary drink service begins, the fact that it isn’t a toy and isn’t given to them by a parent makes a huge difference.  A nice, pretty, blond, flight attendant could give my son garbage and he’d treat it like treasure because he is a giant flirty ham.
•  Hand Games – Itsy Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake, Where is Thumbkin?  Any, all, and over and over again.  These are particularly effective during landing when the patience of everyone is wearing thin.
• ScreenTime – I saved this one for last, because I know that screen time is a Big Bad Wolf for children under two, but, desperate times.  When all else fails get out the ipad or smartphone.  We have a few Baby First shows and two or three apps for emergencies or when we’ve run out of all our other distractions.

Or you can always hold out hope that this will happen.

Asleep in the most uncomfortable position. 

There are two main times on an aircraft where a toddler needs to be kept busy.

1. Taxi/Takeoff/Landing where the child needs to be seated and relatively still.  I usually distract with food, milk, a sippy cup, my phone during this time.

2. Cruising where we are afforded a little bit more freedom.  I let Ike down and he is happy to play on the floor for a while, and work on unpacking the diaper bag.  Sometimes we take an exciting walk to the lavatory to change his diaper.

 

How do you keep your kids busy on long flights or road trips?

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Runaway Bay

My husband requested that we celebrate his birthday with a family vacation this year.  His birthday is January 15th, so it usually falls near the MLK holiday.   This lends pretty well to quick getaways.

There is a resort that was recommended to me through a mother’s group recently, and it has been on my mind since hearing it several months back.  The resort is called Franklyn D Resorts and it is located in Runaway Bay, Jamaica.  We booked it about a week out and I was weary when they told me that I had to pay the full stay up front without any cancellation (no cancellation is generally no good for a nonrev traveller).  I booked it anyway and there ended up being somewhat of a comedy of errors in getting there and back.   But we all made it, both ways.

Back to the resort.  It was better than I could have imagined.  Is it new? Modern? Luxurious? No.  What it is, is homey, cozy, welcoming, and perfectly comfortable.  It’s not huge, but it’s also not cramped.

We had a two bedroom suite which gave us an enormous amount of space to spread out.   All the rooms have a beautiful balcony to enjoy ocean noises and gorgeous sunsets.

There were three restaurants, all of which are open air, and also one grill near the pool that served food in between the main three meals.  There’s one bar, but there was never a long wait.   The food was delicious.  Nothing super fancy, but everything traditionally Jamaican.  Jerk Chicken, Patties, Broiled Oxtail, fried plantains, fresh caught fish, OMG!  The restaurants weren’t huge, but they were attended very well.  There was a hostess to greet us at each, even the poolside grill, there was a person to get us drinks from the bar, and there were waiters and bussers to keep everything moving.

The beach was beautiful.  A bit small, but sunny, calm, and clear.  They had towels and chairs that we could use as well as snorkeling gear (I passed because EW fish!) and some nonmotorized water activities.

But the best, most spectacular part of this tiny little slice of Jamaican heaven?  The Vacation Nanny.  Um yes, that is a real thing!  A VACATION NANNY! A person who let’s you (the parent) enjoy the vacation.  It’s amazing.  Every resort everywhere should do this!  No they shouldn’t.  Because I love FDR and I want to go there every year.

 

Our vacation nanny was Shavalenne, which I am sure I have mangled both in spelling and pronunciation.  But she was great, superb,  the best thing ever.  Ike just loved her, he lit up when she arrived in the morning.  She let him pretty much lead, and she followed and did whatever tickled his fancy.  But she was also firm and made sure that he didn’t get himself hurt; no eating peoples shoes, or launching himself into the pool, etc.

I’m not sure if we can give this credit to Shavalenne, but since we got to Jamaica Ike’s been a champion eater.  He’s a big eater, generally, sometimes, like when he feels like it, no more than once or twice a week.  But we’ve been home for a week now and he’s eating me out of house and home!  Whenever he felt like it, he and the nanny would belly up to the grill and get a bite to eat.  This was in addition to the breakfast, lunch, and dinner that we at with Ike.   I probably just jinxed the whole thing and Ike will refuse to even sit in his highchair tomorrow.

We went, we ate, we lounged on the beach, we enjoyed each other’s company.  We did Jamaica and we loved it.  I cannot wait to go back.  FDR is going to become a regular destination for us.

Happy Fall

This weekend we had a busy travel schedule.  Isaac, Ike, and I ended up on 4 planes in 4 days!  And Ike was a trooper! He did so good on our crazy travel long weekend.  Ok ok.  He MIGHT have torn up an entire free magazine and MAYBE he dumped over a full cup of lemonade (with ice) and POSSIBLY he had a bit of fun with a passenger or two in front of him, but all of the evidence is totally circumstantial.  Ike? Oh, he pleads the 5th.

Our flight schedule went like this.

Thursday 10/16/14 ATL-MSY 12:00pm

Friday 10/17/13 MSY-ATL 07:00pm

Saturday 10/18/14 ATL-SBN 08:0am

Sunday 10/19/14 SBN-ATL 5:00pm

We had to go home to New Orleans for a family funeral.  It was very sad.  But there was a little bit of light, we will be adding a member to the family sometime soon.  My cousin got engaged last week, I am so excited for her.  Isaac has already made himself at home in tormenting him along with all of my uncles.  How soon we do forget.

We were in New Orleans Thursday and Friday, came home unpacked and repacked for Indiana first thing Saturday morning (I forgot a bunch of stuff).  Isaac’s little cousin was in a folklorico recital.  It was so good!  And he was a natural at being the center of attention.

He did awesome! I was totally impressed.

Ike said “It’s too stinkin loud! Can’t a baby sleep around here?”

Ike got in some good fall outdoors time in Indiana with the beautiful changing leaves.  That happens here in Georgia too, but not in as spectacular of fashion.

Pics of fall from Indiana featuring baby Ike.

 

PS.  That little awesome person is 11 months old today!  His first birthday is going from a fun little planning activity in the far off future (i.e. Pinteresting random ideas during lunch) to a looming deadline that is happening in exactly one month!  Also, the invitations are out, so it is definitely going to happen PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT IT NOW!  I better get off my butt and do some work.  There are thousands of construction paper leaves to cut out!  Why? You’ll see next month!

Savannah and Tybee Island – Take 2

We went back to Savannah this weekend.  We just had such a lovely time on our impromptu trip a few weeks ago.  This time, we planned a long weekend, invited the family, and rented a condo on Tybee Island.  Of course it was a little too cool to call it perfect beach weather.  Boy three weeks can make a big difference!  The warm and inviting bathtub-esq waters on the beach were replaced with colder ones and the wind kicked up all the beautiful white sands.  Our shade tent for Ike had to do double duty as a wind shield for the two shorts outings to the beach.  Ike was not impressed by the changes.

Wah I want to go swimming!

Ivanal did build a sand castle, or mound, or whatever, it had a cool moat.

We missed the incredible Sophia Vergara by about 24hrs, but we ended up in the same square as she was the day before.  Ike paid homage to her fabulousness by copycatting her photo.  Ah the celeb life!

Now everybody knows that stars just don’t wake up to look like that.  It takes a team.  Ike’s entourage getting the shot just right.  One holder, one entertainer, and one photographer.

We hit Paula Deen’s The Lady and Sons this trip.  A staple of a Savannah visit, or so I am told.  To be honest, I was disappointed.  Or maybe it was the butter soaked guilt I experienced the moment I stepped through the doors to the overpowering smell of fried, indulgent, all-to-creamy southern buffet.  It was all-in-all an incredibly heavy meal, with two different kinds of butter-laden breads, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, cheese with some macaroni, and somehow slippery green beans.  Oh and the densest peach cobbler I’ve ever had.  Whew, I still feel like butter is seeping from my pores. We did it though, we came, we saw, we did not conqueror (probably for the best no cardiac visits to the Savannah hospital).

We had a much better meal, however still heavily buttered, the following night at the Crab Shack on Tybee Island.  We ordered the boil sampler for three.  And we ate until we couldn’t eat any more, and this was still left!

Isaac even got some golfing in while we were there.  Mini-golfing that is, with the most formidable opponents.

 

He beat me by one stroke, with a baby on my back.

I’m pretty satisfied though.  I probably could have caught up, but we had to suspend play due to the some showers in the area.

Isaac and Gabby took a ghost tour in downtown Savannah, and since I am a huge chicken, I passed and took Ike to the Forest Gump square with some candy from Savannah Candy Kitchen.  Because you know, life is like a box of chocolates.

MMM chocolate boxes.  Yumm.

 

Nola Visit

We went to New Orleans this weekend.  We haven’t been to visit in quite a while, and I missed my family and we all missed the food.  And we are out of blackened seasoning.

We only stayed on day, but we managed to cram all the important stuff in.  We didn’t make it up to Hammond to see my nieces and nephews because they were sick with strep throat, so I’ll have to wait again to see little Selena (pout).

I did however, finally catch up with my cousin Delina and her family this trip.  They had us over to the house and we chatted and ate some phenomenal barbecue from her husband Web.  I ate too much.  Then we went to dinner at Dragos.  Because, well, New Orleans.

Oh, also before we went to eat barbecue, we went to eat Beignets.  It was Ike’s first taste.  I do believe he is now hooked, like the rest of us.

After Beignets, Barbecue, and seafood, everyone was pretty beat, stuffed, in food comas.  We crashed at my dad’s and got up early to go to church.  Gabby was a little upset, I forgot to tell her we were going to church, and she only had a t-shirt to wear the next day.  I told her it was fine, that it was game day and everyone would be wearing jerseys anyway.  I was right.  I miss my Nola.

When I was a kid, 11am mass would always be cut short on Sundays that the Saints played at noon.  Because if the priest wasn’t done by 11:45, pretty much everyone left.

After church we went to our favorite breakfast spot.  And had the most phenomenal breakfast as always.  And also, libations.  The one with the straw is Ike’s.

 

Short trip, but splendid to see everyone. I hope we can find the time to visit again soon, and finally meet baby Selena!

 

Ike on the way home.  Well, until people came and took away our spare seats.

The Unplanned Stay-cation

**Or this could also be titled “The one in which I posted entirely too many photos”

The plan was to head to Minneapolis for the long Labor Day weekend.  The state fair was going on and I’ve never been.  Also, Ike hasn’t visited his buddy Vincent in ages and we miss that little ginger snap.   Well, Saturday came and we got up early, due to our un-snoozeable alarm clock which can also double as a large heating pad, and we checked flights.  They were all full of standbys with apparently the exact same idea as us, older ones with much more seniority.  Boo! I wanted deep-fried oreos and snickers and turkey legs and cheese curds, plus funnel cake! And I think there are probably rides and stuff too.

Time to reevaluate our now overly freed up weekend.  Hmm.  What to do.  What to do.  What to do that doesn’t involve the airport.  What is there to do in Georgia for fun?  Yeah I have no idea.

Saturday we spent the day at Stone Mountain.  I’ve been there twice before, but Isaac and Gabby and of course Ike had never been.  We rode the train, and the cable cars, and wandered around the museum and the little shopping area.  We enjoyed the view from the top of the mountain, although Ike was not a huge fan of the cable car itself.  He kept it together though, just gripped whoever was holding him tightly.

The train was totally Ike’s favorite part. Obvi.

And then this.

Stone Mountain was fun, although maybe not the level of entertaining we were looking for.  So, on Sunday we packed up and headed East, to Savannah.   I have lived in Atlanta for 8 years now, and Savannah is all of 3.5 hours away, and yet I have never been.  Probably because 3.5 hours by car is about  3 hours longer than I’d normally like to be in a car.  I will however spend 12+ hours in an airport to avoid driving someplace.  Anyway, I digress.  We drove to Savannah.  Ike was superbly well behaved in the car given is past history with road rage.  I think it helps that he can somewhat entertain himself with toys now.

Savannah is beautiful! And now I love it.  And I am planning a more organized trip for the end of the month.   It was just a little bit hot, maybe it will have cooled down a little.  Ike didn’t really like to wear his sun hat.

This hat makes me look like a dork mom.  

There’s moss covered oak trees, just like New Orleans.

And there’s little park squares all throughout downtown.

And I love the iron balconies.

And Riverstreet is gorgeous and there’s a paddleboat and a ferry and it’s just the cutest little town ever!  Oh and there’s a candy shop that I definately need to hit up again very soon!

Also, Ike now loves ice cream, um oops?

Mmmm this is the best stuff evers.

I’ll have ummm, both of these.

We had a phenomenal fresh seafood dinner at a restaurant called Tubby’s, on the patio that overlooked the river.  Fresh caught Mahi Mahi, shrimp, and crab cakes all around.  Ike now loves mahi as well now.  Aside: Ike HATES jarred babyfood, so mommy is awesome and will be continuing to make his delicous baby food.

We stayed in an adorable boutique hotel by Marriott called Mansion on Forsyth Park.  Ike ordered bottle service immediately upon arrival.

Hey girls, come on over to my room, I got extra bottles!  Onesies are optional!

On Monday we drove the extra half hour to Tybee Island.  It is a cute little lazy beach town and reminded me of my college days that I spent working in Fort Walton beach.  When we go back we are definately staying on the island and laying about the beach most days.

So apparently there is a wealth of enjoyable activities right here in our own backyard.  Not that we will be scaling back the airplane trips any time soon, but it’s good to know there are excellent alternatives for weekends like this when everybody and their uncle, sister, cousin, brother are trying to get places.