This week...

...Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast.  It was absolutely devastating in New York City and surrounding areas. Todd's family is safe and thankfully, their homes were not flooded.  Todd's mom and dad have been staying in south Jersey with his sister, Tonia, until their power returns.  Tonia's kids have been out of school, too, and will actually celebrate Trick or Treat on Monday, November 5th.  Here in Atlanta, we were getting strong winds from the storm and the power flickered. It's crazy to think that the same storm was having a (minor) impact down here.  Our hearts really go out to those affected -- especially those that are suffering a great loss of a loved one.  Also, it's hard to imagine your home being completely flattened and all of your possessions (like photos) washed away.  It will take years for the northeast to recover from Sandy's wrath.

Halloween went on here as planned. For Mercer's costume, he resoundingly wanted to be Spider Man. (I was a little bummed that we didn't make something - like last year)  Oh well... little guy knows what he wants now.  I went to his school's Halloween party the morning of, but noticed he was not wearing his costume.  The teacher said he was acting like Spider Man -- running all over the place -- so he had to take it off.  ~ha~

He really only wore his full costume for photos, though.  During the neighborhood Halloween party after school and while actually trick-or-treating he took his mask off.  Here's a shot of him in (partial) costume with a little girl that he must really like a lot.  This little girl, Edith, lives in our neighborhood, goes to our church, and is in his class at school.  They ran around the neighborhood party together, but it always takes him awhile to stop acting shy around her when we see her out of context of school. 

The weekend before Halloween, Todd carved a great Spider Man pumpkin.  Mercer and I made a Mr. Potato head (ish) pirate pumpkin.  He really got into where to stick everything & drawing extra features on the pumpkin too.  He was pretty proud of his "creation."

All-in-all, he had a great time. 
 

so much to blog about... so little time...

There's too much to blog about right now, so I'll have to create a series of posts to blog about soon regarding:

- our parent / teacher conference

- Mercer riding his bike

- going apple picking

- halloween (coming up in a couple of days)

Now... a post about T-ball:

Todd coached Mercer + five other 3-5 year olds through their first season of organized baseball.  There was one child who was really hard to control (the youngest) and a couple of others who didn't really ever seem to "get it."  But - the other 3 (including Mercer) did seem to understand the sport and actually showed a lot of progress since the first practice and first game.  Actually, one of the coaches from the other teams pulled Todd aside to talk to him about Mercer's abilities towards the end of the season.

 

Mercer was an anxious ball player, was quick to field the ball from almost any position he was playing (except first base... he learned to stay put when he was on 1st), he was getting pretty good at throwing, and could hit some of the balls from the live pitches.  Sometimes he seemed a little over-anxious as he wanted to control the ball during each play - but as someone told us - this is better than him not being that interested in making the play.

This level of game was perfect in that no score was kept.  All of the kids got to bat each inning. They actually got the chance to hit balls pitched.  If they didn't make it after a certain # of pitches, they would then be able to hit off of the tee.   If they got out, they stayed on base / stayed in the game.  

Some of my favorite memories of the season:

- one of the kids during a game hit the ball, then ran to first.  he didn't stop, however.

- once all of the kids hit, the team runs all of the bases to clear the field.  this same kid was on 2nd base & upon urging by "coach Todd" to run to home -- the kid made a diagonal from 2nd to home plate. Actually - this was quite smart as it was the shortest distance there~

- early in the season, Todd made up a very important rule:  no tackling your team-mates!  The youngest kid asked "but what about tickling your team-mates?"  

- the last couple of games, one of the little boys kept calling me "Mrs Coach" when he had a question (I was usually in the dugout with the kids trying to keep order, doling out water, and getting them out onto the field when it was their turn to bat.)

- the kids were more interested in snacks after the game and other kids outside the fence.    

- each practice, Todd gave away baseball cards to motivate the boys + on game days, one of them got the game ball.  the kids were perhaps more excited about who would get the game ball than they were about snacks.

 

Todd was happy to see how excited Mercer was about baseball -- always wanting to practice at home.  Todd was always rewarded by the improvement he saw in all of the players since the beginning of the season.  It was a lot of work, but he said that he enjoyed coaching more than he thought he would. I actually really enjoyed watching Todd interact with the kids.  He did a great job commanding their attention while making learning baseball rules and techniques fun. 

Beginning of fall in north Georgia

We snagged a deal on one of those group coupon websites to get BOGO tickets for a corn maze up in north Georgia.  This one is touted as the largest one in the state -- at 7 acres of corn field (and 3 miles of trails).  One thing that was interesting about this one:  they had 6 stations throughout the maze that you tried to get to and stamp your card to "prove" you were at all 6 stations.  I know we didn't cover all 3 miles of trails, but we did walk for awhile & get outdoors.

We ran into some kids that go to Mercer's daycare about mid-way through.  We were all close to the edge of the maze, so we all stepped out for a few minutes to converse with some cows that were as curious about us as we were of them.  The boys were enthralled with the udders hanging down, the cows drooling, and going to the bathroom!  It was hard to peel them away, but cool that they were so interested in the bovines!  (Isn't this gorgeous rolling farm land?!)


A couple of highlights of the walk through the maze include Mercer playing "corn cob soccer" and giving a yellow flower to the little sister of his daycare buddy.  

(He originally picked two flowers & gave them to me.  He then took one of them back & ran to the little girl to give one to her instead.  It was so cute!)  We learned that he also draws pictures for her at daycare and gives them to her too.  hmmmm.....

After we all made it out of the maze, we hung out for a little longer at the farm -- taking a short hay ride & watching Mercer burn a ton of energy in the hay bale jumping area.  Honestly, he had SO MUCH fun doing this -- and it was so great because it's so low-tech!  There are so many terrific shots that Todd took of Mercer playing in the hay bale jumping area... here are only a few of the photos.

 

We went to lunch afterwards.  We ate at a local burger join that had a walk-up window and an outdoor dining area.  It was a little chilly to sit outside, but it overlooked a neighboring horse farm, so of course we had to eat outdoors.




 

We decided to take a more scenic route home and try to find a letterbox that had high marks for beautiful scenery.  Hmmmm... a hike along a river with rapids... ruins... sounds like the perfect afternoon activity for us!  We literally may have driven over this bridge and looked over the edge as we passed and said "that's nice, a river." 

But - the letterbox prompted us to get out of our car / know that there are trails and a boardwalk along the edge of the river / and give us a little history about the place:  the ruins in the foreground were for an old logging road covered bridge.... that this part of the Amicalola River was coined as the "edge of the world" by kayakers who brave this class IV rapids because the river seems to literally drop off over this bank of rocks seen... and that there's a place that you can walk out to / sit on some large rocks in the middle of the rapids. 

 

Spending the day together as a family and being surrounded by the beautiful scenery all around was absolutely fantastic... we made great memories this day.

 

 

 



We went to the fair for the first time...

... and Mercer had a great time! 

The very first thing that Mercer wanted to do... go to the TALLEST ride:  the Ferris Wheel!

We rode it and scouted out what all was scattered across the park. Mercer was not afraid at all.  I wasn't afraid, per se, but he did wriggle around a bit when we were up in the air & I was afraid that there were no safety harnesses or seat belts in the carriage~

We wandered around for a bit & stumbled across the kids area - where he could tackle a bunch of rides on his own. He "flew," he rode a motorcycle, he rode on a catepillar.   The last one he wanted to tackle I didn't want him to do on his own:  the lady-bug tea-cups.  He wouldn't have been able to spin the car as much on his own (or known to have spin).  So - he and I took a ride on that as well & had a lot of fun doing so.

Not to worry:  Todd got in on some action too.  He & Mercer went "fishing" for a prize. (two little stuffed animals that M has slept with each night since - of course).

One of the things that Todd & I thought was kind of cool:  this obstacle course / series of climbs & ramps.  He worked his way to the top, then he was rewarded:  he got to go down a HUGE slide.  Mercer was grinning & clasping his hands the whole time he descended.

He said he would like to go back again.  (we did not have a doubt that he would)

Over the weekend, we also went to a Braves / Mets game.  It was the last regular season game & the last of a few games that we got to go to courtesy of my company tickets 14 rows behind home plate.  Perhaps because Mercer is a little older or because he's now playing ball -- he did a much better job this season of watching the game.  (Of course he did spend a bit of time running around in the kid's zone, but not as much as before.)  It's now football season and he has started watching a little bit (maybe 5 minutes -- as long as his attention span will allow -- of any game)

This coming weekend won't be as jam-packed, but I'm sure we'll do something fun.

forgot to mention about camping + T-ball photos

The campsite we stayed at in southeast Georgia was nice overall... there were some parts of it with some very scenic views.  But - one thing we had never experienced:  RV camp sites.  wow.  It was a very different culture!!  People had welcome mats & little yard flags outside / bird feeders hanging off of the awnings of their vehicles / flat screen TVs inside / some people with golf carts to get around the campsite / and of course Christmas lights hanging up from the awnings or covered porches.  The group next to us even had a projector and sound-system.  They had movie nights each night.  Then... the place was quiet.  (well, except for the ever-so-slight humming of air conditioning)

Everyone was locked up in their air-conditioned RV.  One other family on our side of the campground was staying in a tent, but they had an air conditioning unit rigged up to the side of their tent.  NO LIE.  We were the only "campers" out there!  We have to admit - it was nice having power & water right at our camp site.  We did go buy an oscillating fan to put in the tent after our first night (it was south Georgia, after all at the end of summer!).  Also being able to wash our hands without having to walk down to the bath house was nice too.

On the first night out there, Mercer asked if we were going to sleep here.  I said yes.  He kissed me on the cheek and said "thank you."  And - on our way out, we were greeted by a gopher tortoise.  He came to say bye~  Those are a couple of my favorite memories about the actual campsite.  Oh yeah -  eating s'mores, sitting by the fire, and looking up at the constellations every night was nice too!

On the drive home, we introduced Mercer to the ABC car game.  He's been wanting to play it ever since (even on short drives around town).  When getting high up in the alphabet, he'd have to go through the whole thing to get to the next letter.  "What's after R?" we'd ask.  He'd say "A, B, C, D... Q, R. S!"  He'd have to count up to the next letter each time.  It was kind of funny, but made for a really long game.  

We made it back to Marietta just in the nick of time to change clothes, grab water, grab the T-ball bag, and for Todd to grab his roster. We rolled into town around 6:20 and had to leave the house by about 6:40.  It was pretty crazy timing, but we made it.  Todd agreed to be the coach for Mercer's T-ball team.  He had attended a coach training one afternoon a few weeks prior to starting.  He picked up a lot of good tips, but I had no idea how GREAT he was going to be with the kids. 

He's been stern, but fun.  Helpful with tips for the kids in ways they'd understand - likening moves to bulldozer hands.... and alligator chomps to clamp down your hand on the glove & keep a ball from popping out.  After the first practice & the first game (noticing that ALL of the kids would leave their posts / go chase the ball & pile-up trying to wrangle it from one another) Todd said "no tackling your team mates."  Then one kids asked "but can we tickle our team mates?"  Priceless! 

(Here's a shot of Mercer trying to get the ball from his team mate so that HE can make the play.  ~oy!)

Before the season started, the head of the organization said that they only had enough league t-shirts for 6 of the 7 teams.  The only other set of t-shirts that was left was the Mets / would anyone be willing to take it?  Todd responded right away!  So -- not only does he get to shape Mercer's future in baseball... he gets to do it all while M is wearing the jersey of his favorite team.    (Until the Mets opportunity came up, Todd was thinking of calling the team "Herding Cats".... because it really is hard work corralling these little guys who don't have much of an attention span & who don't know anything about the game.)  Also - in the top photo, you'll see a lot of parents out on the field.  There's 3 parents for the fielding team + a parent at 1st & 3rd for the opposing team.  It really does take 5 adults out there with the 12 - 15 kids to keep the game moving!

There's no score.  Everyone hits each inning.  And - when a kid is tagged out, they still stay on base.  We've had one kid run past first and keep running all the way 'til he reached the back fence.   At another game, that same kid ran from 2nd diagonally across the field to home plate!  This is the good stuff we'll remember! Many games have to stop because there are melt-downs on the field.  The most recent game even stopped once because a puppy ran onto the field!  Thank goodness it's not serious yet!

Although, Mercer does look serious as he's rounding home in this shot. 

We're just a few weeks into the 2 month long season. Each week, the players get a little bit better & seem to understand the game a little more.  It will be interesting to see how they all progress & how they all play as a team in the end.  Maybe by the end of the season, they'll be more concerned about how they play & less concerned about snacks after the game!

Our Labor Day weekend get-away, Part II

On Labor Day, we had to hustle and make it over to the neighboring town, St. Mary's.  We had a 9 am ferry to catch!  We had our back packs loaded up for the day with all sorts of things we'd use to play and explore Cumberland Island.  

The boat pulled up at the first dock and we began our journey.  The mosquitoes and a pack of 6 wild horses greeted everyone as soon as we got off the boat.  We tried to hurry to our first destination so that we could get ahead of a large group who were looking at the horses... we had a secret mission to accomplish.  We spent quite a bit of time on the grounds of the ruins on the south side of the island. 

There's an estate - called Dungeness - built there in the late 1800s by the Carnegie family.  Other structures around the island were also built by the family, but we have not been to those (yet).  We'll make it back sometime & explore different parts of the island.

While we were hanging out at the grounds of the Dungeness ruins, we took some time to eat a snack, mingle (from a distance) with a pack of 10 horses, and explored a couple of areas off the beaten path.  We were looking for a spot to hide a letterbox stamp!  This is the first time we carved and planted a box.  The inspiration for the carve:  the patterns we saw on our first trip out.  I find a great deal of beauty in patterns that nature has created... such as in the spiral of a shell or the ripples that the water makes on the sand.  (tried to convey both in this one stamp - which - may be a little clunky compared to some of the hand-carved stamps we've seen in our past hunts, but I'm happy with it overall)


It was surprising that a letterbox has not been planted on the island previously, so we had to reward letter-boxing community with a "hidden treasure" for visiting the island.  (One of the rules of the island:  whatever you pack in... you're supposed to also pack out.  We technically should not have left this behind.)  Who knows how long it will stay?  If it's discovered by someone who works on the island, it will likely be confiscated.  That's part of the journey -- tracking the activities associated with the box.  If interested in seeing the clue and/or following the activities in the future, it is accessible through this link:     http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=206102 Also - this photo of the outdoor "structure" offers a little clue as to where the letterbox is hidden nearby.  There's another clue on the AtlasQuest website.

Once the letterbox planting was completed, we continued our exploration on the island - heading east towards the beach.  We took a little detour along the way, however, and walked through the edge of the salt marsh along a boardwalk.  We did not see as much wildlife in this area as on our first trip, but it's such a beautiful ecosystem that I'm happy we walked through.  The boardwalk took us to the dunes that are a buffer between the mainland of the island and the beach.  We saw 4 more horses on a rolling hill on the opposite end of the dunes and continued on to the beach.  

The beach was the main reason we headed to coastal Georgia... we wanted to stick our toes in the water for our long weekend getaway.  We played in the water for quite some time, dug in the sand with some of the beach toys we had packed, ate lunch on a blanket (and fended off some gulls), and searched for shells.  It was the perfect temperature.  At times, we would see others who rode over on the ferry with us, but for the most part, it felt like our own private beach.  Our previous trip to Cumberland was in February 2008 -- we had a lot of very different experiences on that visit, but there was no playing in the water then.  Perhaps Mercer's favorite thing - jumping waves.  He did it over and over and over and over again!  It was a lot of fun and we plan to spend more time at "our private beach" there in the future.  

We walked up the beach until we reached a boardwalk that went back over the dunes and carried us inland.  This path took us through "Sea Camp" where we camped on our previous trip.  Mercer said he would like to camp there sometime. 

Late in the afternoon, we reached the Visitor's Center.  We were pretty worn out after our 3 1/2+ mile trek across the island and frolicking / playing on the beach.  We saw a large variety of things, but there is so much more to see and do there.  As mentioned several times on this post... we will definitely go back!