More than 50 days + Spring Break + Easter

More than 50 days later... the Ukrainians are STILL fighting strong!  I hate to see ALL OF THIS DESSIMATION and DESTRUCTION. The amount of war-torn imagery is overwhelming. I cannot imagine the feeling of hearing sirens, shots in the background, bombs going off, sheltering day after day after day.  Night after night after night. There have been thousands of Ukranian military that have died and 1000 - 1500 civilians that have died as well.  Supposedly more Russian soldiers have died than Ukranians in all of this, although, it's hard to know for sure. 

World leaders are sending military equipment and weapons.  (I saw a thing on the news however how there will need to be training so they know how to use some of the things we're sending!)  "You Sunk My Battleship!" is the theme for this week - as Ukraine was credited with sinking a Russian war ship that was headed their way.  

(that part of the blog - above - was started about 2 weeks ago / never finished / never published)

On to more uplifting stuff!  

We had spring break in early April.  We did not do much (catching up on stuff / dr's appointments / etc.)  Isabella did have 3 partial days of gymnastics camp while I worked on things around the house.  The highlight, however, was by-far our tip to Savannah.  We went to fulfill the last part of Mercer's 14th birthday present:  check out a Savannah Bananas baseball game.  

This particular game was a "Harlem Globetrotters" sort of game -- a showcase game with teams made up for their tour.  The Savannah Bananas are a part of the collegiate wood bat league (that we went to a game in NC last 4th of July).  But - since it's April - the college students are still in school.  But, the franchise apparently pulled together a temporary team to drum up PR / drum up excitement for the season.  The game was A LOT of fun... it was in the middle of the 2nd inning and I asked Todd -- "oh - they've already started playing??!!"  There was just so much else going on that it was hard to focus on the game.

They have alternate rules during this showcase game.  If a guest in the stands catches a foul ball - it's an out.  (So DON'T catch the Banana's foul balls... just the other team's fouls.)  One rule said that walks are boring.  So - when ball 4 is thrown to a batter... instead of walking... they RUN as fast as they can to see how far they can get while the team on the field has to throw the ball to EACH player before trying to tag the runner out.  There are marching bands milling through the stands.  There are all sorts of things going on the sidelines.

  

Before the game, they had a "dad bod squad" tryout -- the bigger the belly the better.  They had a performance with the dancing grannies.  There was a wedding proposal.  The 3rd base coach for the "Party Animals" (the visiting team) had a dog on the field.  The 3rd base coach for the Bananas was wearing baseball pants and a fur leopard skin yellow coat with no shirt under.  They brought out a 75 year old hall-of-famer to bat one inning.  Between innings there were silly antics / announcements.  It was just WILD.

Mercer caught a stress ball that was tossed in the stands.   Todd caught a dead game ball that was tossed into the stands.  Mercer was able to get the owner (who was wearing a yellow tux) to get the hall-of-famer's signature on the ball.  (Bill "Space-man" Lee)  Todd said he was "really out there" when he was playing.... a strange bird.  But, thinks the guy may live close by because it seems that the Banana's feature him from time-to-time at games.

Later, Mercer got his signature on the bright yellow jersey we got him... as well as a bunch of other people's signatures.  Isabella had a foam hand and got "Princess Potassium" to sign it + some other players.   We ran into someone we went to college with who told us about a new development on Riverstreet that we would then visit the next day.

All-in-all it was a GREAT night!  (We're going to be in the area in about 1 1/2 months and will also catch a (real) Banana's game on our way back home.  We'll see how it compares to the showcase game.  Still sounds like the real games are pretty wild!

(Here's a tired little girl in our quirky "garden" apartment that we rented for a few days.)

The next day we went to a well-known bookstore (while Isabella sought out each of the cats that lived in the store).  Then, we went to the candy shop / sampled pralines / let the kids pick out some things.  

Next, we took a carriage tour around the city.  But.... we were not prepared for how COLD it was!!  The content was just OK.  (Can cross that off our list).  We did get over to that new development on River Street that our classmate told us about.

  

At the East side of River Street - maybe 10 years ago, there was land that was "created" by dredging the river/ moving the solids to a specific area.  

There's a big Marriott on that end now that didn't used to be there.  At the other end (the West side) there was an old power plant that was off-limits to the public.   Several years ago, it was decommissioned.  

A developer bought it and converted the warehouse like spaces to a giant lobby FULL of fossils and a replica dinosaur hanging from the ceiling.  They infilled with hotel rooms on either side of the warehouse space and really transformed that end of River Street as well.

 

The fossils were SOOOO impressive.  And - it was interactive.  Old switches from the original power company were affixed in a display as well as some history / info about the original power station.

This sounds like a weird phrase, but it was a really really nice lobby!!

(we were playing with light & photo exposures)

Savannah also has a new 10,000 seat arena that opened this year.  It's on land beyond our old architecture building which was mainly abandoned warehouses.  SO MUCH HAS CHANGED!  

We also visited another spot that was sort-of recently developed.  We've been to other things in this area outside of downtown, but 1st time we went to the food truck container ship development... Starland Yards. 

It was a fun evening too.

Here are some more random photos from this whirl-wind trip: 

The photobooth at Starland.... um... they forgot to change the settings.  Apparently the booth was just at a Bar Mitzvah!

Historic jail peeking out over the back of the cemetery.

Coffee and a cathedral.

This is where I spent my mornings when I woke up before everyone else.  Pulled a wood chair into the kitchen and worked 'til they stirred.

Eichberg Hall now has a new name 

($$ courtesy of a big donor $$)

But our "home" where we spent 5 years of our life will FOREVER BE EICHBERG!  

Cool light fixtures at the comic book store....

No sprinklers spotted in the Greek restaurant in a really really old building on River Street!!  

Opa!

The BEST gas station of all time... Parker's downtown!

And my favorite random picture from Savannah:  1st day there - Isabella grooving to MY "vintage" I-pod... developed wayyy before she was born.  She is an I-pod listening girl in the city!

Todd's college roommate, Bob - who grew up in middle Georgia / now lives in California - was visiting home for a family wedding.  He messaged Todd while we were in Savannah and we made plans to stop by on our way back home.  We were there for a long time, but it was great catching up!  

The youngest girls had never met each other.  (Mercer and their oldest daughter, Zoe, had met / they came to town once with both were little.)  Isabella had fun decorating cookies and playing with Bob's mom's dogs.

Easter was the following weekend.  My mom was going to come down, however, since we didn't have any time off from school (no Good Friday / no Easter Monday) -- she did not.  Todd woke up with a wrenched back... so we had a very low-key day.  

I had ordered a ham and cooked it.  + rolls and asparagus.  Nothing fancy.  We went to church online.  We had talked about going on a hike, but because of his back... we did not.  We also did not get to decorate eggs.  (it was tax day the following day and.... unfortunately, part of Easter day was put into finishing our taxes.)

We were going to have a little egg hunt in our yard for our kids / started prepping eggs... 

When..... some neighbor kids knocked on the door and asked if Isabella could come over for an egg hunt ! 

These neighbors have moved away for a year while their own house is being completely overhauled, but their grandma just moved in on the street close to our house. 

They were visiting her and she set up the egg hunt.  It was nice to meet the grandma / meet a new neighbor... but it was also great to get these kids together.  (She REALLY LOVES their dogs... that would have been the icing on the cake if they brought them!)  I offered for the girls to come to our house for a 2nd egg hunt... plus... we also invited some other kids over too.

Love it when impromptu things happen!  

One other thing happened that weekend.... it was Isabella's 9th adoption day on Easter.  The day before, we took her to a "trick dog" show.   

Mercer did not go with us - he had some alone time at home.  He wouldn't have liked it anyways.  (it was a little cheesy.... definitely geared towards younger kids)

She loved it however.  It was perfect for her!

We met for pizza and cupcakes after the dog show with the boy & girl (in Easter ears above) for dinner that night after the dog show.

Easter evening, we celebrated (on her actual adoption day) with left-over cupcakes from the previous evening and some presents.  The theme for the gifts:  stuff for her lizard.  It got a sleeping bag, a backdrop for the cage, and..... wings.  Yep.  a leash that was outfitted with wings!  ha.  

Being low-key... we still did some good stuff!

Tired.

Grateful.