Family Day of Hiking and Sushi

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for their {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} link-up today. Stop by and tell them hello :)

The Hubs surprised us by taking a day off from work last week just to have fun! And fun for us usually involves a hiking trail. We have a North Georgia trail guide book that we sometimes use and we never quite know what we're getting ourselves into. This trail was at the end of a long drive (approx 1.5 hrs), a very short hike (0.2 miles), and had a beautiful waterfall. It's called Minihaha Falls. The entrance to the trail is on the side of the road after driving through several miles of a community of lake houses (a windy road that almost did me in), and if you blinked you might have missed it. See Exhibit A.

{real}

Exhibit A - this was it for trail markings

The stairs are across the road from a "parking area", or a spot to pull off the road. The path was narrow with a pretty steep drop off, but Little Man handled it well. If you have a child who has no sense of boundaries/edges and does not stay with you well, this is not the trail for you. There were several tree roots sticking out of the ground which Little Man was timid about stepping over so he pretty much held my hand the whole time, which made me less nervous. The hike was pretty steep but of course short, and I was kind of bummed when it was over, until I saw the waterfall.

Mommy and Matthan at Minihaha Falls

I could have stayed there all day long. We stayed there for a long while. Little Man sat on the rock with me for a bit, ate some snacks, and then explored the area while Daddy stayed glued to his side (you know, rushing water and all that). He had been timid about walking around but as soon as I gave him my walking sticks he had no problem exploring the small area around the falls. See the video below for Little Man in action.

{funny}

Little Man with hiking sticks

{happy}

Family selfie in front of the falls

We have been to a couple waterfalls where Little Man could play in the water, but not only was this water very cold, it was moving really fast. He so desperately wanted to go in, so Daddy kept a good grip on him. It was a colder day than Tim had anticipated, so you'll have to excuse what he called the "unabomber look".

Splashing Daddy

{pretty}

Minihaha Falls

After eating lunch in Clayton, we stopped at a farm that I had seen advertised on billboards during our drive. It's still clearly the off season for them because there was only a couple people around. It ended up being a total tourist trap, but we enjoyed seeing the animals nonetheless. 

After a quick nap, we ended the day with sushi and ice-cream. It was a wonderful family day, hopefully to be repeated sooner rather than later.

Random and Not So Quick (7 QT's)

There really is no keeping up to date with this here bloggy blog because I plan and then the wee one doesn't nap and the big one comes home early from work, and let's be honest, I'd rather hang with the big one and the wee one instead of hang with the blog.  That's just how I roll.  So these pictures are from earlier this month.  (And let's remember that the artsy, fine-tuned pictures are from The Hubs on the "real" camera, and the slightly-out-of-focus-wonky pics are mine, 'kay?)  

~1~

If you are part of the 10 or so subscribers to my blog (i.e. my family or those of you on the e-mail list that can't figure out how to get yourselves off the e-mail list, muwahhahahaha), then you know that I've been trying my hand at gardening.  And you know how that's been going.  I've learned a lot.  I've killed many a plant.  But, I've learned a lot.  Mostly about myself.  

Somewhere in my genetic blueprint/temperament/personality/fibers of my being, is the innate hatred of long term projects.  Hated them in school.  They cause me great angst until said project is over.  I truly believed that completing my master's thesis was going to be the death of me.  You know what gardening is????  DO YOU???  A long term project with NO. END.  

Now, here you may laugh at my naivety.  I honestly (if not somewhat subconsciously) believed that once I weeded an area, it was then weeded until next year.  I mean, I had accepted that there would be some weeding to do every year, but I thought once an area had been stripped of these plants that I no longer desire to be there would cease to be there until next year.  I'll sit here why you have a "that's precious" and "bless her heart" moment.  

I told you about our squash plants that have been growing beautifully (because I did not plant them), and I had started to look up squash recipes.  Well... our squash plants...after some research...are ornamental gourds...i.e. inedible.  Sigh.  They came from some I bought in the fall as table decorations and then tossed into my compost pile when they ceased to be decorative.  And our pepper plants are doing...absolutely nothing.  And something ate my basil plant.  And my flower beds are covered in weeds, negating all previous work.

But Little Man likes to help me water the vegetable garden.  So... here's to long term projects.

~ 2 ~

Since the last "quick take" was little longer than quick.  Here's a picture...

~ 3 ~

... and a video.

~ 4 ~

There were several people in my life that I did not realize were actually not related to me until I was older.  I grew up with several "aunts and uncles".  I'm sure Matthan will be no less confused.  "Aunt" Chelsea came to visit and barely made it into the house before Matthan commandeered her for some "Go Dog.  Go."

We also got to hang out with Aunt Chelsea at Ikea (along with two other moms and their less-than-one-year olds).  I've been decluttering and moving towards the dark side a more minimalist lifestyle, however Ikea challenges my want of fewer things.  As well as my wanting-to-buy-my-child-all-the-awesome-things side.  So, I let Matthan play in the tunnel, instead of buying it.

But then caved and bought him cookware and utensils (real, but child sized.  Isn't that awesome?)

No worries, Puppy was the sous chef, not the menu

And settled on a wanted bud vase for our family altar, and a mail organizer (to help with the decluttering of course).

~ 5 ~

Matthan learned that the "music car" has ice-cream.  I sent a this pic in a text to The Hubs saying that the music car came by, and his response was,

"I'm going to pretend it was Matthan running out the door for the ice-cream and not you."

Rude.

~ 6 ~

A picture of contentedness.  Daddy snuggles, books, and cereal.  What more could a kid need?

A giant box with drums in it to play with Daddy, of course.

~ 7 ~

We went to Hurricane Shoals Park.  We did not plan well.  We went at a bad time.  We didn't have lunch with us.  We walked around for about 25 minutes in the blazing heat.  And went home.

We will plan better next time.

And because this wasn't long enough, you get a bonus video!





Now head on over to Conversion Diary to see Jen and others with 7 Quick Takes posts that are actually quick.

Ode to a Fountain - A Poem

Another awesome weekend:  Farmer's market, bike ride, burgers and fries, followed by playing in the fountain.  Here is how the latter went.

He wasn't so sure.  In fact, he ran the other way.

But his momma tried to convince him,

the water, it's really ok.

Momma showed him 

how to splish, how to splash,

He started to giggle,

and many smiles did he flash.

He learned that the fountain,

really wasn't so bad. 

So he stuck his hand in,

just a little, just a tad.

And then! Oh then!
The boy started to run.

And decided exploding water,
was really oh so much fun.

And when the time was done,

it was time to go.

Momma tried to scoop him up,

and Pooter, he said "NO!"

Bulldawgs and Seahawks

This weekend, on a whim, Tim suggested heading to A-town, our old, college stomping grounds of Athens, GA.  Go Bulldawgs!  Saying no was not really an option since Athens is pretty much one of my favorite places to eat.  We headed to some stores that we don't have near us like the tool store that Tim likes and of course Trader Joe's (why oh why is there not one near us?  I miss you TJ's!), and Earthfare.  

Tim and "Tiny Tim"

Then, for lunch, we headed to Cali'n'titos, the Latin American restaurant with the best fish tacos ever, hands down.  The maduros were incredible as always too.  The picture below does not do the place justice.  The decor is eclectic to say the least and they're always playing great music that makes you want to salsa like you're not a white-kid.  

from Google Images

This came out a little creepy, but he had a great time.

After lunch, we headed to the UGA Catholic Center to visit one of our favorite priests.  Fr. Tom has kept up with us over the years.  I'm kicking myself now for not getting a picture of him and Little Man.

Fr. Tom's mother passed away a few years ago and there now stands a memorial garden to her on the property.  I thought the memorial was beautiful and thoughtful.

Then we headed to Memorial Park.  This park is special to us and we went there a lot in college.  It is where we took the picture that was the inspiration for the painting that I made for Tim as a gift.  Besides being free and having a cool lake and playground, it also has a free "zoo".  The zoo is a small collection of rehabilitated animals that cannot go back into the wild for various reasons.

The animals there include beavers, bobcats, deer, alligators, turtles, vultures, owls, and...

turkeys

bald eagles

and bears.  Oh My!

For dinner we went to my very most favoritist restaurant of all time, Utage.  And I did not remember to take a picture because I was scarfing down my sushi.  Little Man slept through the entire dinner so we kind of had a date.  It was a really nice finish to a really fun day.


We finished off the weekend with homemade burgers and coleslaw and watched the Seahawks win the Superbowl!  Go Seahawks!

I'll end this with an unrelated (except for I recorded it this weekend) video of the cuteness we get to see and hear every day.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 4): Snail Mail, Scary Soda Cans, and Making a Difference

--- 1 ---

My Little Man loves "reading" books, and he's so cute while he's doing it.

--- 2 ---

I've started a new painting [deep breath].  It's still in the drafting/sketching/rough draft phase.  When it is finished, it will be hung above our bed.

In the spirit of iconography  (the artist is supposed to pray while they "write" the icon), I am going to try to pray while I paint.  If you have any prayer requests, e-mail me (see e-mail address in #3) or leave them in the comments.

--- 3 ---

Remember the envelopes I made?  I sent one as a thank you note to my grandma and one is going to a friend in a care package.

That leaves me with four remaining pretty envelopes.  Who doesn't love receiving snail mail?  If you would like to receive a real piece of mail from me along with your weekly junk mail, leave your name in the comments, then e-mail me your address at lostbutholdinghands at gmail dot com (with the appropriate symbols of course)*.  The first four will receive a handwritten note encased in a pretty envelope.

It would be super-fan-tabulous if you had a blog and posted a picture of yourself with the piece of mail/pretty envelope and linked back here, but this is definitely not a requirement.

--- 4 ---

Did you know that you can take your kids to a fire station and get a tour for free?  My sister did it this week and her kids LOVED IT!!

--- 5 ---

Would you drink this?

--- 6 ---

Little Man and I went to have lunch with Daddy this week -

- and on the lunch room bulletin board, I spotted this little gem...

--- 7 ---

This week, I am supporting my brother-in-law's efforts to make a difference in his community.  I've mentioned it here and here already, but it bears repeating.

My brother-in-law, Dave, will be running the Atlanta Marathon for the second time on October 27th, and this time he is running it in honor of the amazing students at The Joseph Sams School (where my sister works).  To raise funds for the school, he is asking people to donate $26, one dollar for every mile, or any amount that you can spare.  Here is a video about the school: 

Please support Dave's efforts in supporting this amazing school by visiting www.josephsamsschool.org and clicking on "DONATE" in the bottom left of the page.  All the money goes directly to the school and no amount is too small.  Thank you!

*(From #3) If you're one of the family members or friends that receive my blog posts via e-mail, and you'd like to be a recipient of the snail mail, click on the link at the bottom of the e-mail that you receive to go to my blog.  Leave your name in the comments section.  You can assume that I have your address unless I tell you otherwise.*

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Outdoor Adventure Day

A few weeks ago, while The Hubs was shopping for his birthday fishing pole, I found a flyer and snapped a picture of it on a whim.  I'm totally thrilled that I did.  The flyer was for an outdoor adventure  day at Unicoi State Park for this weekend that included free fly fishing casting lessons, fly tying, wildlife shows, skeet shooting, air soft gun shooting, archery, trout fishing, hay rides, and raffles.  Did I mention it was ALL FREE!!! My kind of price!  This is an annual event, so mark your calendars for next year.  

The Hubs receiving a fly casting lesson

The weather was perfect!  And beautiful!  Can't you tell?

My first fly casting attempts

I didn't do too shabby considering I had never touched a fly rod before.  I was only a little spazz-tic.

Pooter chilling and watching the lessons

I had a few offers from some strangers to take Matthan home with them (I didn't take any of them up on this, case you were worried).  Mr. Paul was one of them.  He just scooped Matthan out of my arms and had him smiling in seconds.  He looked like a pro.  Then I found out he has 13 grandchildren.  Yeah...I'd say that's a pro.  

Mr. Paul and Matthan

For my kid who doesn't like grass, he sure adapted quickly.  While Daddy was learning to tie flies, Matthan crawled all over the ground, even played with some dirt.  I'm so proud.  I found a bunch of key chains on a table and gave him one and he was oh-so-entertained.  He continued to crawl all around with the key chain in his hand.  I have a bazillion pictures from his adventures and it was so hard to narrow them down.

Love that face!

They stocked the stream with trout that morning, but despite that, The Hubs didn't catch anything.  He had fun trying though.  He's getting pretty good...at casting...he's still working on catching.

Daddy fishing for trout and testing out the flies we made

I pushed Matthan around until he fell asleep, and so he napped while Daddy fished.  I wanted to crawl in there and cuddle and nap with him.

Pooter took a nap while Daddy fished

After the raffle, where we didn't win anything, we head over so I could shoot some arrows.  Don't I look intimidating?

Unloaded, case you were worried.

So, I found out that I am double jointed in my elbow.  The instructor told me this after I snapped my arm a couple times with the bow.  Can I just tell you, that HURTS LIKE THE DICKENS!!!  I still have bruises.  Anyway, my double jointed-ness put my arm at risk for getting whacked, so the instructor helped me adjust to avoid this.  Bless him.  (Click on the picture below to see my mad skillz).

Check out my sweet archery skills

We traipsed up the hill to shoot some skeet and I was all prepared for Matthan to freak out, but he didn't!  I shot first.  Yep, that's right, yours truly shot a shotgun.  The instructor laughed at me because of the noise I made the first time the gun went off.  It was something like Grrhhoommppff!  I thought I hit 2 out of seven but The Hubs says I hit more than that.  Whatever!  I hit some!  That was more that I expected.

The Hubs shooting some skeet

The Hubs did really well.  That's because he had so much cuteness cheering him on :)

Smiles even when guns are going off around him