Atlanta edition

We had a fun weekend in Atlanta with my parents. Saw the Braves play on Saturday, and went to Zoo Atlanta on Sunday.
Also, in case you can't tell, I got a new Flip video camera last week. It is fabulous--so easy to use, and the picture quality is great. We used a small fraction of our credit card reward points to "buy" it, and it was well worth it!

Favorite thing AM did this week
AM was very well-behaved at the Braves game, and even did the tomahawk chop several times. Of course, seeing that it was a Red Sox game, the Boston fans outnumbered the Braves fans by about 2 to 1. And they were very insistent on doing their "Let's go Red Sox!" chant, over and over, and AM tried to join in with that as well. I have a video of it here, enjoy!

Favorite thing I read this week

I am almost done with Lesley Kagen's Whistling in the Dark, and I must say it is a wondeful book. It's part mystery, part coming-of-age, and part comedy, with a little bit of drama as well. It's told from the perspective of ten-year old Sally O'Malley, and takes place during the summer of 1959 in her wacky Milwaukee neighborhood. I only have about 50 pages left, and I can already tell this is going to be one of those books where I will really miss the characters (especially Sally) when I am finished.

Favorite thing I watched this week

At Zoo Atlanta they have a great exhibit, featuring their family of Giant Pandas. We headed there first yesterday when we got to the zoo. This turned out to be a good move, because two out of the three pandas (the mom and the one-year old baby) were very active. AM loved watching them, and it was neat to see the two animals not only lumbering around, but also interacting with each other. Here's a video:

AM wears her sunglasses at night, and at restaurants, and at the store...

Favorite thing AM did this week
AM loves her sunglasses. Anytime she sees them, she begs to put them on, and then usually proceeds to wear them for at least an hour. This is great when we're out in the sunshine. But when we're at indoor places (including home, see above), it's just funny. Today she wore them through most of Father's Day lunch. Last week we went to Publix, and she insisted on wearing them throughout our extended shopping visit. Of course, it was a Sunday and super-crowded, so naturally we had seen 4 people we knew before we even left the produce department. I am not sure how many times I had to explain, "She won't take them off," before we left the store!

Favorite thing I read this week
There was a nice little commentary piece in our local paper today written by a man from here who was at the Holocaust Museum when that nut went on a shooting spree. The writer had his 9-year-old son with him, trying to teach the unfortunate lesson of human hate. You can all appreciate the horrible irony yourselves, but read Brock Brinkerhoff's piece anyway (scan down to the final story on this linked page) http://www.al.com/opinion/birmingham/.

Favorite thing I saw this week
On a MUCH lighter note...without a doubt, the Indigo Girls' show at Birmingham's City Stages music festival on Friday was the best thing I saw this week. I've seen the Indigo Girls at least 7 times over the last 17 years, and they sound just as good, if not better, than they always have. We had great VIP passes too (thanks, Ann Dial M.), and side-stage / "meet & great"access, which only made the show better, because of the excellent view (and free drinks). I would have gotten the chance to meet the IGs too, but unfortuntely they cancelled their "meet & great." Oh well, what would I have said to them, anyway? "Nice to meet ya. Please play 'Galileo'"? Lame.

AND Happy Father's Day to all, and to all a good night.

Summer is here...

The summer semester is in full-swing, summer Mother's Day Out is up and running, and the HEAT has arrived, so it's safe to say that the summer is officially upon us. We spent this weekend at Lake Wehapa--lots of good food, good company, and good croquet.

Favorite thing AM did this week

Matthew got home from work one day this week, and was greeting AM as she played puzzles in her room. She looked up at him and said, "How's work?" Pretty cute of her, and just another reminder that our 22 month-old is hearing (and repeating!) everything we say these days!

Speaking of AM, she had a great time at the lake--she had friends there to play with, and she loved watching the crazy thunderstorms come across the water. The LOUD thunder didn't scare her too much at all. Here some photos of the aforementioned storms, and some of AM and company AM enjoying the croquet tournament.

AM, Jay, and Jake had their own "croquet" game going while the grown-ups played on the adjacent grass.

Favorite thing I read this week

In honor of summer term starting, I will give a little student anecdote...I have my Art History 101 students do a short assignment at the beginning of the term in which they choose a work of art from the textbook and write about what elements of art and design principles the artist used (i.e. line, color, shape, perspective, etc.). For extra credit they can also choose a work of art NOT in their textbook to write about. I didn't give them any parameters beyond that, and inevitably, one kid wrote about a painting of dogs playing poker, more specifically dogs cheating at poker. I had to give him full credit--it is a "work of art not in the textbook." I look forward to this kid's term paper on Velvet Elvis.

Favorite thing I saw this week

The first time I visted mymessymonkeys.com, I thought their fabulous prices on adorable kids' clothes were part of a special, end-of-the-spring sale. I was wrong! Last month I paid $50 (total) for 3 great smocked dresses for AM. I perused the site again today, and not only is there new merchandise up, but the prices are still remarkably low--most dresses are between $12 & $20. Moms, aunts, grandmommies, and anyone else who shops for kids should definitely visit this site. Plus, it's a Bham business, and I love to support the locals!

Back in a routine

My summer class started this week, as did AM's summer Mother's Day Out program, so we are back into a somewhat normal routine. Definitely cannot complain about that.

Favorite thing AM did this week

AM loves the dollhouse that my parents gave her for Christmas. (If anyone is in the market for a dollhouse for a 1 - 3 year old, I highly recommend the Fisher Price "My First Dollhouse.") Her latest discovery within the dollhouse is the "doorbell." It doesn't actually ring, but that doesn't stop her from pushing it multiple times, and yelling at the top of her lungs, "Niiiing-noooong," which must be toddler-ese for ding-dong.

The dollhouse doesn't provide good angles for photos, but here are 2 shots of "ning-nong" in progress.

Favorite thing I read this week

Most of my reading this week consisted of reviewing lectures for the week's classes, and reading ahead for the next few month's classes. In a nutshell, not very exciting.

However, I suppose this counts as reading...we had a poker tournament here on Friday night, and reading my cards when I had a 4-of-a-kind was pretty great. We were down to just 2 players, and I think that hand gave me the edge, and I ended up winning the whole thing. Watch out, Annie Duke.

Favorite thing I watched/saw this week

Leading this category all week was Conan's first night on "The Tonight Show," but that was easily overtaken by the hilarious movie, The Hangover (playing now at a theatre near you). It is raunchy and crude, as a bachelor-party movie should be, but I cannot tell you how many times it had me and my friend Kristi laughing out loud. I told Matthew I would even go see it again--in a theatre. That's big-time funny.