It's St. Patrick's Day, baby!

Twenty years ago today, on the heels of the Snowpocalypse of '93 (and more than 24 hours without power), this happened.

Thirteen days before her due date and after 21 hours of labor, as the anesthesiologist said, we had our little "leprechaun."  She's been delighting us with her magical charm ever since.
Happy Birthday, McKenzie!  We love you.  

Spring Break

It's Spring Break week in Texas and we've just returned from a few days on the gulf coast of Florida (the most spectacular sand and surf anywhere in the continental U.S., no doubt).  Sadly, as has been our misfortune over the years, our spring break trip was marred by terribly cold, overcast and windy weather, effectively negating the wonder of our vacation, excepting the view from our condominium window.  

We consoled ourselves with thoughts of dinners out, books absorbed, quality time spent together and that illusive goal of relaxation. Still the weather was nothing less than miserable.  
All this had me thinking about some of our past spring breaks - many of them impaired by less than ideal weather, but part educational, part restful, while others merely represented the need for a change of scenery.  
Two thousand and one marked our first ever trip to Disney's Vero Beach resort.  It was cold then too. Still, we got to see Dodgers' Spring Training; were delighted by a surprise viewing of a Space Shuttle launch and spent a day at Disney World.
The next year, daring to tempt fate, we spent a second freezing Spring Break in Vero using the cold weather as an excuse to travel to see the Kennedy Space Center and the Piper Airplane Factory.

With the space shuttle in the background.

In 2005, we settled on an educational theme for our spring break (and a chance to visit some family as well). We began in Jamestown and Williamsburg, then traveled to see my alma mater as well as Thomas Jefferson's home, then on to Washington, D.C. for a couple of days.  Again, it was mostly freezing during our travels and was a hectic trip that was everything but restful.

What's Williamsburg without a tri-cornered hat?

In front of UVA's Rotunda 

Two years ago, we made the trip to Texas during Spring Break (to figure out if this was where we should make our home).  It was windy and sunny (as spring is here).  We then ventured to coastal Alabama, which just like Florida this week, was cold and overcast.
Finally last year, we traveled to California, both Los Angeles and San Diego. This combined the best of all vacations, sightseeing (Hollywood, DisneyLand - hard as we try, seems we can't get away from Mickey, and the San Diego Zoo); education (shout out to the Reagan and awesome Nixon libraries); and relaxation (Hotel Del Coronado, for the win!).  

A Disney Cruise (wow, in hindsight it seemed  we had a thing for "the Mouse") was warm and wonderful in 2004.

In 2009, we endeavored to see the world (or at least a corner of it) in 6 short days.  A trip to England and France was very enjoyable.  

P.S. Today is National Pi Day and yesterday the Cardinals elected a new Pope. I was a great fan of John Paul II. I even have a coffee table book in my living room about him. Tate and I were gathered around the tv for the announcement (my daughter texted me that she was watching the live stream in her computer at college)! You might have thought there was something in it for us Protestants, we were all so excited! Congratulations to Catholics everywhere!    

Snow Day . . . er, Ice Day 3

A rare occurrence of snow is initially cause for celebration at our house.  But the truth is, the south is just not prepared to deal with the conditions that render  driveways, side streets, secondary roads and even interstates impossible to drive on for days.

Our icy driveway.

So while precipitation of the frozen variety was fun on Day 1, and Day 2 was enjoyable, it's now Day 3 and Day 4 looms with little promise of change. We've grown kind of weary of the cold and ice, the limited groceries and even the no school. 


In the last 72 hours, one or more of us has done a few things not normally part of our routine, including, but not limited to:

worked on a Science Fair project

baked brownies

shoveled the deck and sidewalk

done several loads of laundry

figured out On Demand and watched Other Guys (we give it a 5)

reorganized the laundry room

gone sledding

finished our thank you notes

taken naps

Work begins in earnest on the Science Fair project.

Looks like a winner to me!

With any luck and some assistance from Mr. Sun and the DOT, we'll be back to our standard operating procedure by Friday.

A Snow Event - Postscript

A view out our front door

We  had about 4 inches of snow overnight - not a record breaking event, but still beautiful, also a bit inconvenient and treacherous, but beautiful nonetheless.

We're all at home enjoying  the view from the warm indoors, except for the occasional venture outside (for necessary business). 

Fortunately, she loves it.

A Snow Event

We’re preparing for a winter snow storm at our house. The meteorologists are calling for a snow event of monumental proportion tonight.  That’s an alarming 4 to 7 inches in Atlanta.  Lest you scoff, the greatest snowfall ever recorded in Atlanta was just 8.31 inches which  fell on January  23, 1940.  Also of note, six inches of snow fell on January 30, 1936; about 8 inches fell on March 24, 1983;  and five inches fell on January 18, 1992.

In my snow memory bank (pun intended), two events stand out.

Snow blankets our front yard in the Super Storm of 1993.

The first occurred the weekend  before our daughter's birth -- the Super Storm of '93.  Amid snow, ice and wind, we lost power and were forced to sleep on a mattress we'd dragged in front of our gas-log fireplace. Sounds fun, right?  Perhaps, unless you're eight and a half months pregnant and on doctor ordered bed rest.  We managed to make the best of it though  and our baby girl was born on a cool, sunny day just 2 days later.

My husband with our St. Patrick's Day baby.

Flash forward three and half years.  There was no snow the day our son was born. But 48 hours later, just as we were  released from the hospital, the biggest, whitest flakes of snow began to fall.  The tiny dressing gown he wore home from the hospital had little blue snowflakes embroidered on the collar.  It was perfect -- just like him.

In his "snow" outfit, wrapped in a blanket knitted by my grandmother.

So while it  doesn't snow often in Atlanta, when it does, it's often remarkable.