That's where Mercer was born. We hooked up with Kyle that first week while we were out there (pictured on the blog in early March 2008). Kyle was passing through Atlanta and hung out with Todd / Mercer on Friday as they attended a Thanksgiving program at daycare. Kyle said that he had fun watching the kids -- although attending a daycare Thanksgiving program can't be at the top of his list of things to do while in Atlanta for the day!! The older kids sang songs. Some kids did karate demonstrations and ballet demonstrations (these are extracurricular things that they do at the daycare in after-school care). 
The guys had a Thanksgiving lunch and chased Mercer across the church gymnasium where the event was located. The daycare asked that everyone bring in a white t-shirt so they could make shredded tie-dyed t-shirts so the kids look like Indians. (In case you're wonder what Mercer is wearing over his sweater!) Todd caught Mercer "running in the wind?!" He's not sure what he was doing, but thought it was funny. 
Saturday, Mercer and Todd got to spend more time together while I was working on some things here at the house. They went to the Botanical Gardens to visit a train exhibition. It appears that it was captivating for Mercer and the other toddlers there. The Botanical Gardens also had a ride-on train that Mercer had fun climbing on & playing with. 
Mercer is trying out new facial expressions as well as doing other things that makes us wonder about his personality. Will he be a shy kid (NOPE)? Will he be a ham and call to the center of attention (PROBABLY)? He can crinkle his mouth up - sort of snarl. He can pull his cheeks in and pucker like a fish. 
He can pull he mouth into a tight circle when he's surprised and say "ohhhhh." (Probably what he's saying in this picture below) He also has a devious look already. Yikes! Sometimes he struts when he walks. He has no inhibitions when it comes to dancing in public... or blowing kisses to ladies when we are leaving a store or a restaurant. His personality is definitely coming through! I think I've already mentioned how he turns his palms in the air when he says "where?" That cracks us up and I think he does it to egg us on. My step-mother's sister, Judy, passed away this weekend. My memories of her are of a vibrant, fun-loving, spunky lady. I wish we would have gotten the chance to see her this week while we're down in Florida for Thanksgiving... and introduce her to Mercer. I'm glad that we're going to be down there this week so that Mercer can bring a ray of sunshine to their family... as they'll need it right now. I was talking with someone recently about how happy Mercer makes Todd and me (of course!) but also how much we love watching other people's reactions to him / how he can bring joy to others.
Monday night, Todd and I went to a lecture downtown at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue to see Nobel Peace Prize and Academy Award Winner - Vice President Al Gore. He is promoting a new book called "Our Choice" and - although I'm in the green building business - I learned of some of the background / history that has been leading up to the climate issue. I've heard about over-population before... but did not know that our population has quadrupled in the past 100 years. We're over 6 billion now, but trends indicate that population growth will top off around 9 billion due to education of women across the world / careers / improvement in healthcare (where 100 years ago - infant and child mortality was high so people had larger families to counteract this).He talked about how 100 years ago, ores were being smelted to make metals -- but now with technology, materials are being created at the molecular level (many contain chemicals that are not natural to the earth). He talked about the amount of fuel that is used to power our country (energy consumption for buildings being higher than that of automobiles -- which I knew through my work) and how the burning of coal - the primary energy source - emits more CO2 emissions than any other type of fuel.
It was interesting to learn that installing 100 square miles (10 miles X 10 miles) of solar panels in the middle of the desert would meet the needs of the entire country. Obviously getting those panels out there and getting a super energy grid to serve that is a huge under-taking... but it would allow our country clean energy for powering buildings into infinitum. There was a pretty simple opening statement made by Eizenstat (who hosted the lecture and introduced VP Gore)... we're borrowing money from China to buy fuel from the Middle East so that we can burn it here in the US - creating emissions and CO2. It is a little mind-boggling thinking about the subsidies that make (unclean) fuel and energy so cheap and prohibits us from implementing the clean energy systems. Speaking of China (and India)... those countries "strive" to live the life of what we have here in the US -- which is frightening due to their population levels. (We were recently surpassed as the most consumptive / polluting country by China.) But he said that China is actually putting into place the structure to be the largest solar and wind-power consumer within their 5-year plan. They've planted 2.5 X the number of trees as all of the other countries in the rest of the world combined. They realize that they are having a huge impact and are doing more than I realized to counteract that impact.
Finally, he talked about nuclear energy and how much "cleaner" it is during production -- but the problem of "what to do with the waste" hasn't been solved yet. I thought I'd close with that because as I've shamelessly put photos of Mercer throughout this whole recounting of the lecture, I am reminded that I don't want to leave it up to him and his generation to figure out how to clean up after our generation! Instead - consider reducing your energy consumption in your homes and buildings. VP Gore said that all Americans should weatherize their homes as a starting point. If interested, my company has a huge resource of weatherization tips (for free) at http://www.southface.org/web/resources&services/publications/factsheets/sf_factsheet-menu.htm that you can check out & implement in your homes... many of the strategies, Todd & I did on our own home, but there's still more we can do. We're chipping away at it. I know most of you come to the blog to see pics of our little guy, but, sometimes I'm energized or moved by something I've recently learned. I really don't want to be preachy - rather share what I've learned to those who may be interested. 
It's not a political issue... it's a global issue that we're in with the other large countries... and it's not about us - it's about all of the little guys just like Mercer! Have a Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving holiday! We are thankful for YOU all.
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