Discovery Place!

One of our all-time favorite  museums. It's got a little bit of everything science-based, and was a regular stop for us, especially when we first moved to Charlotte and only lived a few minute walk away. The rainforest has always been my favorite.

These kids just love anything they can touch/build/do.

And this trip was made especially good because they had a tyrannosaur special exhibit going on.

It was incredibly well done and the kids loved it.

Unlike other dinosaur "digs" we've played with, these boys are actually stuck in some sort of hard-packed sand that has to be chiseled away. Made the whole experience more real, especially when we had to leave long before they'd uncovered much of anything. It would have taken days to fully dig out the bones.

There was also this fun touch screen game where you hatch the eggs, get clues about the dinosaur, and then fit them into the family tree.

And an interactive screen where the dinosaurs invade the museum. The kids had a lot of fun playing around with this one.

Eventually, we had to leave so we could meet up with another friend and explore the rest of the museum. It was a long, fun day.

A live Angry Birds game--

we had so much fun with this one!

Stingrays!

One of the main bucket list items for this trip was to go back to swim practice. The forecasted storms made us wonder if we'd make it or not, but the rain, once again, held off until 5 minutes after we left the pool (and then it totally poured with thunder and lightning). Bug was happy to see his relay teams record still stands from his last year on the team.

And they hopped in when it was their age groups time for practice and had fun swimming with their former teammates.

I'm so glad that they got to see a few more friends this way, and got to hang out in the pool that was like a second home each summer. I was happy to get to hang out with some of my favorite swim team moms, too. I still really miss this aspect of our lives and swim team in CA just isn't the same for whatever reason. We love our Wellington Stingrays!

Uptown Walk

We spent an afternoon in Uptown Charlotte after dropping Daddy-o off for his 24 hours of pretending to be a Bank of America employee again. While he lunched with friends and played foosball, the kids and I went on a walk down memory lane.

We visited the typewriter outside the library,

and this book. Somewhere, I have pictures of them in all these places from other years, but I think these are on a different computer.

Then we had lunch at the French bakery, and the kids had to get macaroons, of course.

We walked down to The Green--and seriously, every where we look, there are trees and grass--this whole state is green.

Of all the Charlottes, we love this one best!

The mushroom seats were always one of the favorites of the kids.

Flashback to 2008--It's been 10 YEARS! 10 years since we moved here and these two itty bitty kids first explored the city with me!

Then we made a quick stop at Romare Bearden Park, which was a later addition, but even that has grown up a lot in the last couple years.

All the vegetation is so thick now.

I love hydrangeas.

And then back to Imaginon, which was a favorite spot of ours for years. It really is the best kids library I have ever seen.

The kids were so happy to see the trolley again.

Look how little they were that first summer!

We got so lucky. About 5 minutes after we got back to the library, where our car was parked in the underground garage, the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down. It's not summer in Charlotte if it doesn't rain a ton, but I'm so glad that it hasn't affected our plans too much.

Reunited!

So many reunions! First stop, the park where we had a lot of school friends come by to say hi. It was kind of hot and muggy, but that didn't slow these kids down too much, and it was so fun seeing them excitedly greet their friends, most of whom they hadn't seen in over a year and a half.

Then, it was back to the old 'hood. It's weird seeing our house, which still mostly looks the same from the outside, but there are strange cars in the driveway, and we don't get to go inside. We stayed just two doors up for the first couple nights, which was great because we love our neighbors, and we got to drop in and see a couple other neighbors. I, of course, completely botched the first greeting video because I really am not good and doing videos from my phone.

And then, Thursday morning was Corvian time. The kids, especially, Bean, were so excited to go to the schools and say hi to friends and former teachers. Bean went to the yearbook signing party with the 8th grade class (and I didn't think she'd want me following her around taking pictures so I had a friend who is an 8th grade teacher there send me a couple stealthy pics, haha.) She was on cloud 9 getting to hang out at the school for a couple hours, and I'll admit that when a couple of her close friends first saw her and came running to hug her, I got a little choked up. She has not found that yet in CA, and I miss hearing and seeing her and her friends be so excited just to be around each other.

While Bean was off doing her thing, Bug and Peanut and I wandered around the 5th grade classes to say hi to his old classmates, and the teachers. He was in a kind of weird spot where these were the kids he spent most of his time with, but then he'd skipped a grade right before we moved so he wasn't actually with these kids his last couple months at the school, but was instead with the now 6th grade class, and some of the kids were pretty confused when they saw him, wondering where he'd been and what was going on.

But they were happy to see him and excitedly asked him to join field day, so he jumped in and played for a little while until we had to go.

Next stop--the elementary school. We had a few very happy greetings there, too. We saw Ms. Annie and Ms. Kim, who had Bug for first grade and Peanut for the little bit of Kindergarten we were here for, and Mrs. G, who had Bug for second and third grades, and who is a favorite of ours there at the school. As we were leaving her, these guys who we knew from preschool saw us from their classroom and were getting out of their seats (and getting in trouble for not listening to the teacher who was trying to talk right then.) I quickly herded my crew down the hall, but a teacher followed us out and asked where we were going to be in 10 minutes because they had recess and she had a couple kids who apparently really wanted to see us. How can you turn down that invitation? So we joined them for recess after saying hi to a couple other teacher friends who we've known since the preschool days.

A end of the year day at Corvian wouldn't be complete without a stop at Rita's.

We met up with more friends there,

and the kids resumed their normal climbing behaviors as if they'd never been gone.

In a lot of ways, it feels completely normal to be back in the old neighborhood, driving these familiar streets, and seeing all the familiar faces. And then, its a little weird because it isn't normal, and it isn't our home anymore. But it is so fun and the kids are so happy.

10 Things I've Learned Living in the South

1. That we really can get used to anything. If you'd told me that first summer that I was going to not only get used to the hot, humid summers, but actually embrace them and get a little excited at that first feeling of tropical swamp when I step outside in the morning, I would have laughed. Sure, it's not fun to run in, or do yard work, but it makes hanging out at the pool pretty nice, and we don't need sweatshirts to go out in the evening.

2. There really are differences in food culture. BBQ and coleslaw are both better with a vinegar base. I'm a convert. And while we're at it, fried pickles are amazing. And they really do eat a lot of grits, and mac'n'cheese in the south.

3. As a group, Southern people really are more friendly. Yes, there are nice people everywhere, and we have had neighbors in other states who we got to know a little, but in the south, it's the majority, not a special few. People really do sit on their porches, they wave when they drive by, and say hi when out walking the dogs. In stores, its not unusual to chat with the people around you. There's a very neighborly feel to things.

4. Spring is the most incredible time of year. I've always been a summer fan, but that's because we didn't really have seasons in California, and summer was more like spring everywhere else. But spring in the south is it's own kind of special. It feels like everything bursts into bloom, one right after another--Bradford Pears, Dogwoods, Azaleas, and Crepe Myrtles. And even though winter isn't harsh, it's just enough to really appreciate how gorgeous all the flowers and green are.

5. There is an endless supply of new insects to discover, and some of them are REALLY big.

6. While I will always love west coast beaches, the Atlantic is so much more family friendly. The water gets warm, the waves are small, and the beaches are flat so you can wade out for a long way in shallow water. Our kids have been completely spoiled getting to spend their vacations at the beaches in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

7. When you can easily get to another state in 2 or 3 hours, and major cities aren't all that far from one another, many people consider 5 or 6 hours a full day of driving. Growing up where we would drive 8 hours and still be in the same state, we had to be road warriors and have driven many 12 hour days. Splitting an 8 hour day seems crazy, but plenty of people out here do it.

8. Neighborhood summer swim leagues are so fun! We didn't have these where I grew up (maybe had something to do with the fact that I'm pretty sure there was only one neighborhood with a community pool and we didn't live in it. And that may have been because the average high in June is 71 degrees.) But this has been one of our favorite things about where we live now.

9. Friends can become your family. Even though we'd never lived really close to most of our family, moving across the country from everyone really made it hard to see people these last 8 years. But, in the absence of family to spend holidays and long weekends with, we created traditions with our friends. Thanksgiving with a bunch of neighbors, birthdays and holiday cookouts or dinners with friends--we've had a lot of love and support over the years from people who feel a lot like family. And while we may be happy to be moving closer to family, we're going to miss all our friends as much as we've missed our family.

10. You can bloom where you're planted, wherever that may be. When we moved out here, three of us had never been to the state of NC, and Daddy-o had only spent one weekend in Charlotte, interviewing with Bank of America. Our knowledge of our new home city/state was pretty limited--I was expecting a SF-type city, since Charlotte's population is similar, and was a little underwhelmed by the few blocks of Uptown as we drove into the city. We knew a couple other families who were moving out here at the same time from the same MBA program, but otherwise had no connections to anyone for several hours in any direction. We had no idea what we getting ourselves into.

And then, we began to explore. We discovered all of the history that we'd only read about, fell in love with the beautiful natural habitats that are so different from the west coast, and started making friends. We created a community, from church, our neighborhood, preschool, and later, our charter school. We took vacations to explore all these new areas we had access to and fell in love with a new place every time. Charlotte became home incredibly quickly and has been just the right place for our family these last 8 years.

Bitter-Sweet

We've always suspected that this day would come, but there was a part of me that hoped it wouldn't because change is hard, and life has been good.

After almost 8 1/2 years in Charlotte, we're moving back to CA.

It's a good move, for good reasons. Daddy-o gets to make a career change and has an opportunity waiting for him that sounds like his dream job, running a conglomerate of small family businesses. We get to live within a day's drive of all of our siblings and parents (some are a long day, but still way closer than the other side of the country) and will see so much more of them. We will be living about 30 minutes from where I grew up, where I still have friends from high school, where there are so many places I love. We will be closer to the coast, to beaches, to big mountains, to good snowboarding, to where they grow almost every food imaginable. It really is a good thing.

But I am so sad.

I have loved living here. This is our family home. We moved around so much the first few years of our marriage, and those first few years with babies and business school were so stressful and exhausting, but then, we came here, and we were at a good spot and I have so many positive associations with living here (and I think I've totally blocked out the 8 months of awful that were my pregnancy here). It hasn't been perfect, but it has been amazing.

This is the only place our kids really remember as home. This is where all their friends are. We're in a good place with school these days, we have a beautiful home we love, we have lots of traditions and places we visit and places we still have made it to. Life is good here and having to say goodbye to all of this is going to be awful.

The problem is having our hearts attached to more than one place, especially when they are 2700 miles apart. Wherever we are, we're missing something. We have roots where we grew up, roots in San Diego, and some pretty solid roots in Charlotte that are going to hurt when we pull them up.

Every day, as I walk away from the school after dropping Peanut off, I have tears in my eyes because I am so sad to leave behind this community of people who have been so supportive of our kids. Every time I hear the kids laughing with their friends and watch them playing some elaborate, complicated game they have invented, speaking their own language (sometimes literally), I wonder if they will find the same types of friends again. I walk the dog, saying hi to the same fellow dog walkers I have seen regularly for years now, and miss them already. When we got an offer on our house, and I am grateful it happened so quickly, part of me wanted to turn it down because I am jealous that this new family is going to get to live in this house that we love. It's hard to imagine that there won't be any more trips to warm beaches, or Charleston, or Savannah, or our favorite apple orchard in the fall. Even thinking that I won't ever see my favorite cashiers at Trader Joes, or farmer at Latta Plantation makes me sad.

But I am grateful that we have lived somewhere we have loved so completely. We've had amazing experiences, made life-long friends, learned incredible lessons and we get to take all the memories with us. And I know we have new adventures waiting for us. We'll make new traditions, find new favorite places, and make new friends. It's just hard to embrace change.

Coming Together

 

Last week was Activity Days Camp--where I got to spend the week with these adventurous, creative, kind, funny girls. All the weeks of planning and preparations came together in 5 days of being World Explorers. And I'm not going to lie, it was a lot of work putting this together, but after spending the week getting to know the girls better, watching them form friendships with new people, and seeing their excitement with each new activity or adventure, it was worth it. There were a few bumps along the way, a few lessons learned for next time, but overall, everything went really well and I think it was a positive experience for everyone involved.

Day 1:

 First step to becoming world explorers--getting a passport! They filled out the personal info and then I took pictures of each of them.

 

It's easy to tell that my two children are related.

 

This was the unprompted face I got when I first told them I was going to take a quick passport photo.

 

Meanwhile, one of the other leaders got them going on a self portrait "I AM" project.

 

I love how unique each of these turned out, just like the kids they represent.

 

 Some used the preprinted faces, some drew their own. Some painted a lot, some left things as more of a sketch. Some added lots of things to the "I AM", some only had a couple. 

 

After lunch, we did a little service project. We split into two groups and then went to visit two of the older women from our church congregation who don't get out of the house much these days. We sang a song, asked them some questions about their childhood, and just talked with them.

 

We were even able to do a little watering for one of the women, which the girls really enjoyed. Work can be fun!

 

Finally, back at the church, we talked about our first country we were visiting--Switzerland. After sharing a few facts, one of the leaders taught the girls a couple of games that kids in Switzerland like to play.

 

It was a good first day activity because it helped the girls connect with each other. Our group live spread over such a large area, with kids in about 10 different schools, so they don't really see much of each other besides Sundays and our twice a month activities. This week was great for getting to know each other.

 

We also had 3 girls who aren't in our regular group. We were so glad that Ms. V. wanted to come back after doing camp with us last year, too.

 

The chocolate game was a huge hit, of course. And what says Switzerland better than some good chocolate?

Day 2:

 The second day took us to France, and on a search for art, history, music, fine food, and a little city exploring. The passports served as a record of each day, with a "stamp" representing the country we explored, and then a couple other stamps that could remind them of what activities we did that day.

 

We may not have been able to travel to Paris, but Uptown Charlotte offers plenty of cultural opportunities.

 

We found the queen our city was named for.

 

explored the history of one of Charlotte's banks,

 

made our own money,

 

found art work all over the city,

 

and spent the day with friends.

 

We had a picnic in the park where a saxophonist was playing (and the shade barely offered relief from the insane heat.)

 After lunch, we had one final stop--a local french bakery. One of the bakers talked with us a little about their place, the girls got to watch them making pastries, and then we had some macaroons. This was a popular stop for the day.

Day 3:

We moved on to Saudi Arabia, where the hot, dusty horse arena seemed just about right.

 

This was the day most of the girls were really looking forward to.

 

Some had experience riding and were excited to get back on a horse. 

 

Most of these kids had never been on a horse without someone leading them, so this was a whole new thing.  

Others had never been on a horse at all, and when they first got on and realized how high up they were, weren't sure they wanted to do this. But we were able to encourage them to stay on long enough to fall in love with it.

And watching their smiles when they realized that they COULD do hard things was pretty fun. I was proud of them for not giving in to their fears.

I think the experience lived up to the anticipation.

 

They were a happy group at the end of the morning.

 

We finished things off with a hot hayride, and then retreated to the air-conditioned church for the rest of the day.

 

We talked about Saudi Arabian art, including the mosaic designs they use to decorate buildings, and made our own paper mosaics. We also talked about how their dress reflects their environment and sampled some traditional foods--dates and tabbouleh. I was actually really surprised and impressed with how much they all liked the food.

Day 4:

Our day in Columbia started with a short presentations from a family who are from Columbia. 

 

They showed us traditional clothing, jewelry, and art, as well as letting us try some delicious empanadas, which the girls, one again, absolutely loved.

 

Then, we delved into a little botany. Thank goodness for having a friend who is a naturalist, and always excited to share her wealth of information with others.

 

Sandra helped the girls make their own hydroponic growing systems to take home with them. 

 

This was such a great combination of nature and biology, with a little tech thrown in. And she encouraged them to experiment with different plants, seeds, etc. . . at home, so hopefully the lesson will continue.

 

We took a break for lunch,

 

and some of them even played a plant-based board game to keep with our nature theme.

 

Then we went on a little nature walk to collect plants. Sandra had planned to also make plant presses with the girls, but there just wasn't enough time, so we stuck with learning how to sustainably gather items for further study.

 

Sandra lives right next to the historic Rural Hill farm, so our hike took us past some fun sights.

 

We peeked in at the medicinal garden and talked a little about the plants there and spent a few minutes exploring the area.

 

 

I think more than a few of the kids were a little surprised at how much they loved this day. Before camp, everyone was talking about the horseback riding and the pool party, but there were a couple who told me Thursday was their favorite day out of the whole week.

 

This group really was so much fun this week. For the most part, they were all agreeable and open to trying new things and we had very little drama. It made it a lot of fun and gave us a chance to really get to know each other.

And that brings us to Day 5--our final adventure:

Austrailia (which we really did very little with the actual country, but there's a lot of water there, and our afternoon was spent at the pool.) 

 

We began with a lesson on physical health and encouraged the girls to choose some activities that they enjoy and then to exercise each day for the next month. Then, we played some games and did a few fun relays because exercise should be fun!

 

Along with watching the kids have fun together, I also liked seeing how gentle and helpful they were with the leaders' little kids who came to play with us. 

 

They were so patient and inclusive and really demonstrated some good leadership skills.

 

And then came the second most anticipated activity of the week--the pool party.

 

They splashed and swam and made up games to play for almost 3 hours.

 

It was a great end to a great week.

What did we learn? 

1. Always better to have more chaperones than you think you'll need. We didn't really run into chaperoning issues, just a couple transportation issues. But there was some stress because of leaders' schedules and activities taking a little longer than we'd planned. In the future, I'd just plan to have at least one parent signed up for each day, or 1/2 day. Plus, it would be fun for the parents to get to see a little of what we do.

2. Speaking of parents seeing what's going on for the week, I followed the example of the cubscout leaders from Bug's camp last month and tried to post pictures each day, as well as sending out a short email each night. The parents really liked having a glimpse into our days.

3. Also in the idea of keeping the parents informed, it would have been helpful to have had a couple parent meetings in the months before camp, just to hand out and collect all the permission forms and waivers, as well as give them a loose overview and answer questions.

4. Over-planning is good. We never ran out of activities (and even had several that we didn't get to), and while there were small pockets of free time, it was better to keep the girls busy so we didn't have to worry about them running wild through the church and making messes.

5. They get really hungry! We should have planned a morning snack each day because it was just too long until lunch for a lot of them. And they really loved the food samples from the countries we visited, so incorporating food into the week would be good.

6. Working with this age group is really fun. Sure, there is a pretty big span of abilities and interests when you get a group of 8-12 year olds together, and some personalities will always be challenging, but these kids are so open to life and excited about everything that it can be really enjoyable to do just about anything with them.