Atlanta Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

Ok - Jeff and I are apparently crazy but I blame Drew and my love for him for it. We decided to DRIVE the 10 hours to Atlanta last weekend to go to him and Rhiannon's wedding! So Jeff had a speaking engagement at a remediation conference on Thursday and Friday in Orlando last week, so I drove Tyndell and myself up there to meet him Thursday night and while he was finishing up Friday, Tyndell and I did SeaWorld for a couple of hours before we were on our way in the morning. We arrived in Roswell at about 8:30 Friday evening and stayed at our awesome buds, Brennan and Beth's house for the night. We had a blast taking a tour of their new beautiful home, eating and drinking good wine and beer, and even sat out by the hottub for a bit.

On Saturday, they made the most amazing Strawberry waffles (and bacon for those that like it) for a late lazy breakfast before we set out to go hiking at Vickery Park, which was beautiful. It was Tyndell's first real forest/hiking experience and it was wonderful watching her run through the paths and comment on all the leaves and the creek and explaining what acorns are. She was loving it. Even Brennan and Beth's pups came along! This will be the last time we see the B&B before Baby Sullivan is born in a few weeks! So excited! When we got done, it was time for us to get in the car and head to mid-town Atlanta for the first wedding event of the weekend - the "rehersal dinner," though there was no actual rehersal, but it was at a very cool spot called Ormsby's which had great food, cool VIP area that Drew reserved, and games. After the dinner, we headed up to Kennesaw to stay with the Ahrens' cousins, Marc and Joyce and Emma and Rebecca. It was awesome catching up with them and laughing tons Saturday night. Emma and Tyndell played with all the pets (3 dogs, 2 frogs, 1 turtle, 3 fish, and 2 guinea pigs) and colored while we hung out and Rebecca was at a school dance. After a good night sleep...and sleeping in, we had another awesome lazy breakfast of yummy yummy blueberry pancakes with all the fixins' before heading out to the wedding location at Serenbe Farm just southwest of Atlanta in Palmetto. Now...Serenbe....just google it PLEASE before you go any further because it is literally one of the most beautiful places. We luckily had a couple of hours to go into the community before the wedding was getting started so we could check-in, enjoy our room a little, and we drive out to the Blue-Eyed Daisy Bakery for soup and sandwiches and got to see all the beautiful little "green" houses that made up their cool culture.

Sunday late afternoon was the cutest wedding ever - it was very quick but perfect for Drew and Rhiannon - outside by the garden and in front of one of the farmhouses...great folk tunes and good people. Tyndell got invited to be flower girl with Stella Blue, and her brother, Jack Cash, was the 'ring bear." So adorable - in fact, I think I'm in love with these two kiddos - they are Rhiannon's neice and nephew (and now Drew's too!), and their parents are so fun - Ashley and Danny, who we had such a nice time talking to, as well as Rhi's other sister and hubby - Lauren and Neil. This wedding officially adds girls to the family which I am excited about - there haven't been enough of us my whole life haha! I've always been outnumbered. After the wedding, we ate at the Farmhouse Restaurant with everyone - yummy everything of course - goat cheese salads, cornbread, shrimp and grits with kale, and derby pie for dessert. Gosh I miss the South. Tyndell ran around with the kiddos and then everyone got comfy clothes on and sat by the barn fireplace, drank and munched all night, and a few of the boys played some tunes on guitars and banjos. Thanks Jeff and Danny! I have to say that Rhi's family puts quite a spread out for a party - talk about delicious wines and cheeses and other yummies - wow. Needless to say - it was a beautiful day with way too much love and joy to express on here. The next morning, we ate another lovely breakfast before our long drive home. We were totally dragging getting in the car...it was such a nice place to be and to leave was definitely sad. Oh gosh I miss the South...the real South. We may have to do something about that real soon. Congratulations Drew and Rhiannon! And thanks to the B&B and the other Ahrens' for being such lovely hosts on our whirlwind trip...we had such a wonderful weekend visiting, catching up, and celebrating.

Tyndell's 2011 Class Pictures

Well - here they are - the annual cheesy class pictures (sorry - we just prefer more candid pictures that actually look like Tyndell)! These pictures actually really make me laugh - they just seem so set up haha and when I look at them all I can see is a stream of potential Tyndell comments running through my inner monologue of what she must have been thinking while these were being taken. I'm not sure we'll have time for family pictures this fall like we normally do though, so these will have to due for now.

Tyndell's New Favorite Friend

This post is way late in the making...a couple of weeks ago...or uh..three...our great friend, Jason, just happened to be in Fort Lauderdale for one night and we got to have dinner with him. Jason was one of my teammates when we were in the Peace Corps in Mali - his village was about 10km outside Sikasso where Jeff and I lived so we worked with/hung out with him tons during our stint there. He got me through a lot of hard days there for sure. Jason is also one of my favorite people - he is hilarious and scary smart and probably one of the most passionate people I've ever met about improving livelihoods around the world. It is inspiring to know him. If fact, Jason still works for the Peace Corps but as a health sector director for volunteers...he is a "patron-ba" if you ask me - so he still lives and works in Africa and so, we never get to see him obviously. It was such a nice surprise that between his move from Malawi to Liberia that he had some time off to visit family near us, so hooray! It was so great catching up and Tyndell also adored him. In fact, I've NEVER EVER seen Tyndell crawl into someone's arms and talk/play with them so easily and quickly as she did with Jason. She must know how cool he is. If Tyndell were a Malian, she'd say "Seydou...you're cool!" Aww - Jason - I miss you already and best of luck in your ventures in Liberia. Thanks for sharing your short time in Florida with us. xoxox

Tyndell Bell and the Pumpkin Patch

So at Disney World the other weekend, Tyndell finally settled on being Tinker Bell for Halloween, so last Friday night, I took her to the Disney store after school to get the one she had been talking about with wings and all. She has pretty much put that costume on everyday ever since Friday (which makes me feel better about the amount it cost by the way...hehehe). It glows in the dark and the wings light up actually! On Sunday morning, Jeff needed to work, so I also took her out to this farm nearby that has a pumpkin patch, because I wanted to take cheesy pictures of her near pumpkins. I know, I know...totally dumb...but she looks great next to orange. Ok - I know it's not a real pumpkin patch, but it's about the closest you can get in Florida! We picked out a few little ones to put in her room and we've been talking about trick-or-treating and reading some fall-themed books the last few days which is fun. She has this one book that my friend Cecily gave her and she always wants to look at it now and see the 'mummy.' Anyway - we are having fun gearing up for Halloween this year which will be Tyndell's first real dress up and go trick-or-treating year. I'm so glad she settled on a Florida appropriate costume instead of the more common furry, sweaty, hot costumes you see that are made for regular Fall climates. Much improved over last year's Elmo choice. And unfortunately (or fortunately) the vampire pacifier has been destroyed by the garbage disposal so it will not be making an appearance this Halloween (ssshhh don't tell Tyndell that) either.

First Trip to Disney World!

So it's been a pretty Disney-obsessed year for us...between going to Disneyland on our CA trip earlier this year and all the 'family movie nights,' Tyndell has definitely developed Disney fever. So needless to say, when my parents found an awesome deal for a long weekend condo/villa up in Orlando, we figured we should all do Disney World. Having a kid and living so close to Orlando has its advantages for sure because it's definitely nice to do a long weekend up there to get some park time and shopping in, and not have to take much time off of work or worry about crowds. So the other weekend, we took of Thursday and Friday, and met my parents up in Orlando. We did some shopping at Downtown Disney when we arrived (had to scope out Tyndell's birthday and Christmas gifts....this is a plan that started development back in February when we realized how awesome the toy store is up there) on Thursday, Magic Kingdom on Friday, and Epcot on Saturday. Then Sunday, Jeff and I went back to Downtown Disney to get all the cute things that Tyndell kept asking for on Thursday to get our December completely taken care of (yessssss) before we drove home. So before I get into Magic Kingdom, let me just say that Jeff has been psyching Tyndell up for this trip for months so that she kept saying, "let's go to Septembers" all the time haha since she knew we were going to Disney in September. When we got to Magic Kingdom, Tyndell immediately wanted the Peter Pan ride and then we spent a good portion of time in Fantasyland (note to Disney lovers: they are expanding Fantasyland right now and building ALL the princess castles and even though I'm not a big princesses fan, it looks totally cool) before lunch, and then got some Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise in. Tyndell rode 'It's a Small World' twice of course and I'm sure it's still it's her favorite. Jeff got to experience the Hall of Presidents at his sole leisure and Tyndell took a nap in the 'Carousel of Progress' to his dismay. It was a blast and Tyndell was pretty starstruck. I was never a big fan of Magic Kingdom when I was a kid, but I have to say that experiencing it through Tyndell makes me love it. The next day, we did Epcot and definitely got to hit all the hot spots on our list - the land boats, Soarin' (awesome IMAX ride), Figment, and the return of Captain EO! We ate lunch at the Mexico restaurant and then Jeff, Tyndell, and I managed to stroll through the world circus before a storm hit that evening. We were super lucky with weather up there - we missed all the little storms while waiting in lines inside for the most part. Anyway - it was a great time and I'm pretty sure Tyndell's love for Toy Story and Tinker Bell has been solidified. Thanks Mom and Dad for inviting us on a great mini-cation!