Peachy

Just over a week ago, The Husband had to attend a training in Atlanta, GA. Since I didn't feel much like single-parenting for a week and a friend of mine told me that Atlanta was a super-family-friendly, happy, delightful town, we decided that we'd all go together.
I was envisioning a hotel in walking distance to, well, everything. I wanted to go see the zoo and the aquarium and perhaps check out some historical sites.
Turns out the training was about 14 miles north of downtown (where EVERYTHING is located), the hotel we were staying in was right next to the office park where they training was taking place, and we had decided not to rent a car (since that would have cost more than my flight ticket), so I was sort of stuck.
Our first day there, I ended up taking Noah out to walk to a nearby grocery store, ALDI, that recently expanded from Germany into North America and is so far only to be found on the Eastern side of the country. I was extremely excited about this store, not because it's actually an exciting store, but because it's like a little part of home, transplanted for my enjoyment. The store was eerily similar to its German counterparts - right down to the, uh, pretty linoleum flooring. ALDI was the big excitement of day 1.

The next morning, I braved a one-hour busride followed by a short subway ride to see the Georgia Aquarium. The busride was complicated by the fact that Noah was not allowed to sit in the stroller (which would have forced him to be buckled in, which would have made my life a lot easier because it would have cut out that whole delightful hour I spent making sure he didn't climb and/or fall off his seat/onto the seat in front of him/out of the window) and by the no-eating-on-the-bus rule, but we survived.*

The aquarium was a short walk away from the subway stop, so we actually got to see Centennial Olympic Park, which has all kinds of neat fountains, two playgrounds, and a huge grassy field.

I love aquariums. Love. There's just something about watching fish swim around happily... I can't quite put it into words. At any rate, I really enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium.

Noah was delighted to be allowed to run around, and we ended up going through the exhibits kind of fast, but after a quick lunch break, he fell asleep in the Ergo and I had the opportunity to sit down in the amphitheater-like room in front of the big fish tank. It's dark-ish and there is classical music playing softly on the PA... it was a nice treat for me in the middle of a long, exhausting day.
We spent our last day in Georgia recovering from our field trip, playing in the hotel pool, and walking to a book store where Noah played with the train table while I read a trashy magazine that had been left in the kids' section by a thoughtful parent.
Aside from a little snafu with our plane (they found a leak in the hydraulics at the last minute, so we had to change planes) and a ride on an airport shuttle that seemed to take forever to get us home, the return trip was uneventful.
It's fun to travel, but it's great to be home. :)

More photos are here!

*It was the ride home with a tired Mama and a tired Noah that was more or less unbearable. That hour was worse than the 4.5 hours we spent on the plane getting to Atlanta!

caterparty, part II

After considering and reconsidering several possibilities, I settled on making Noah's party a Very Hungry Caterpillar party. I spent a lot of time and effort on making the invitations. Brenda had the wonderful idea for making it an accordion-folded caterpillar, and I loved it, so I didn't mind slaving away cutting out ovals until the proverbial cows came home. As an added bonus, all the guests were extremely impressed with me for making these, and several families told me that their kids actually played with it. WIN!

I included two photos of Noah to show how far we've come in just one year. It's amazing how much growth and development happens in such a short time... I wish I could learn that many new and groundbreaking things in just one year!
The plan for the party was simple - we rented a local park with ample picnic benches and tables as well as a really neat wading pool for the kids to play in. A lovely place to cool off and entertainment for the kids? Check!

I made cupcakes:

Since it was so hot, I actually left in the middle of the party and picked the cupcakes up from home. Because I really didn't want the frosting to melt, I left them in the boxes for people to grab, though it would have been much cuter to arrange them more nicely:

(And yes, there was a second box. I made two big batches of cupcakes.)
I actually frosted the head of the caterpillar with home-made frosting dyed with boiled-down red peppers since I was/am a little paranoid about feeding my kid artificial colors. I can't recommend it... neither the color nor the consistency turned out very well (which was actually fine, since Noah didn't care and nobody else knew). The eyes and nose are made from banana slices and raisins. The cupcakes were probably the one thing I was the most freaked out about, but I am really happy with how they turned out in the end (thanks to Bethany's help and my own non-idiotic-ness).
For food, we had assemble-your-own sandwiches (which was inexpensive and very fitting with the theme, since the caterpillar eats through all sorts of sandwich-related stuff: cheese, salami, pickles, green leaves... you get the picture). We also had fresh fruits & veggies and some lollipops - basically most of the items the caterpillar eats through.
But you know me... I didn't stop there. I spent hours in the kitchen the morning of the party, using an apple corer and drinking straws to poke holes into our food. I know you guys get it, but I had to explain the holes to a few people later that day. :)

To keep our food cool, I used aluminum pans filled with ice cubes and set smaller aluminum pans inside. To make the food-choosing easier, I took more photos of the food from the book and pasted them onto the lids of the pans:

We simply used paper plates, napkins, and tablecloths in green, red, and yellow. For decorations, I made table tents with photos of Noah. These ended up making great party favors for the doting family members.
I also prepared a craft (making fingerprint-caterpillars on strips of cardstock as bookmarks), but the kids were so busy playing in the water that it went largely ignored (which is much better than not having something prepared for kids who are suddenly very bored).
There was a ton of gifts...

...and some delighted cupcake-eating/smearing.

In other words...

...successful party!