Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Busy Weekends...

I really do have things to write about.  The trick lately is finding the time to write them down.  Fitzgerald said something clever about that, and he was totally right.  Anyway, a quick summary of what I've missed:
Two weeks ago, the girls and I went to Atlanta for a Mommy night out opportunity: My sister volunteers with March of Dimes down there, and had promised to fill a table at their first ever fund raising dinner and auction.   She was short a few seats, so we drove down to help her out by eating crazy good food and bidding on really cool stuff.  It was a real sacrifice... especially since the money was going to such a good cause...
Anyway, there was a silent auction while we all enjoyed wine and other adult beverages and some lovely cheeses.  I bid on a packaged that included tickets to a puppet show, zoo, and museum with IMAX because I thought Ela would enjoy it.  I actually won, too!  So that was pretty cool, and now I have lots of new reasons to visit my sister.
And the food, people, oh the food... March of Dimes had gotten four local chefs to each do one course using local materials.  I didn't think to start taking pictures until the third course because I rarely get the chance to eat food that is worth photographing.  As much as I'd like to be, I'm not really a foody.  Anway, the first course had eggplant croutons that were super good.  The second course had grits and a chicken croquette.  I don't even like grits, but these were amazing!  The chicken might have been my favorite part of the meal, except it was all too good to pick.  Here's course 3: duck, endive, and apple sauce with a pecan chip thingy (remember how I said I'm not a foody?).  Soooo good.
 
 The fourth course was dessert: a yam spice cake with carmel/chocolate mouse and a little bit of what turned out to be pear gelato I think (it wasn't on the description).  Tell me you aren't hungry just looking at it...
 The things they auctioned live were a little out of my price range unless I wanted to give Zack heart failure later, but it was fun to be there, eat and talk to other adults without trying to coax food into one child while trying to keep the other satisfied with the amount on her plate.  And let's not forget the super yummy food. 

Anyway... This weekend was equally busy, even though we actually stayed home for a change.  Friday, we took the girls to a little carnival.  I learned something very important: my girls LOVE rides.  We started them on this:
 The ponies rock and the carts go around the little track.  That's it.  Ela giggled so hysterically that I had to get video.  It was funny.  Lily didn't want to get out when the ride ended.  That was small beans, though.  From there, we hit a bouncy house, and then a rocket that also just went around and around.  Then Ela spotted The Hurler.  
The Hurler is one of those rides that spins in several directions at once, so you get super dizzy.  I actually like these rides, too.  It's fun to spin, right?  Anyway, Ela insisted she wanted to go on it.  I showed her that she was not yet the requisite 42 inches to get on.  But then I saw that kids 40 inches and up could go with an adult.
Uh Oh.
Ela is 40 inches.  Can you believe that?  I couldn't.  We got out our tickets and on we went.  I was terrified that she'd hate it and come out crying.  I hadn't been on a ride like that myself in 6 or 7 years, so I was also mildly worried I might be sick.  Good thing my stomach was empty.  But Ela loved it.  She laughed, squealed, and wanted to go again the minute it was over.  Lily, by the way, was totally offended that she couldn't go too.  Neither girl wanted to leave when we were done.  I made mental notes to not take them near an amusement park until they were both 42 inches tall.

Saturday, we took it a bit easy as I got ready for an afternoon 5k.  That's right, I ran a 5k.  I can hardly believe it myself.  The run was called the Pink Shamrock and took me around downtown Raleigh.  It started at 4:00, so I left Mom with the girls during quiet time and went down by myself.  They met me at the finish line when I was done.  I finished in 36 minutes 31.8 seconds precisely.  That works out to 11 minutes and 47 seconds per mile.  I was super proud!  Now that 8k on Thanksgiving doesn't look quite as scary...

Sunday we checked out the International Festival downtown again.  We timed it so we could eat dinner from around the world.  All Ela would eat was this:
 Which is Dutch, by the way.  I couldn't pronounce the name, but it had chocolate sprinkles, and that was all that mattered to her.  The rest of us had a much more balanced, if not entirely healthy, meal from the Phillipines, Columbia, France, Turkey and Vietnam.  Yum.  Ela decided to try the chocolate cake from France, too... Then we checked out the booths.  There were informative ones, such as this one on Columbia:
And also places where you could buy things.  All us adult girls got henna tattoos.  Ela got a balloon animal.  It was a good time all around. 

Next weekend, we're off to Ohio for a little family fun.  So there will be more to say, and I'll get better at carving out time to say it.