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Father’s Day celebrations have been the order of the day.  We started out the day by getting up early to go to The Southern Skillet to get a big country breakfast.  Unfortunately it apparently closed for business sometime during the last week.  Matt was disappointed, but luckily for him the back-up plan of Dunkin’ Donuts was easy to execute since the two are in the same shopping center.  After breakfast it was present time.  Baby Girl gave Daddy some See’s chocolates.  Liam gave Daddy some photo albums and a footprint stepping stone.  I’m afraid that this tradition won’t last past Liam’s 5th birthday at this rate, because there won’t be room for his feet!

After present time was over, Liam and Matt re-inflated the big soccer ball and kicked it around with each other for a while in the backyard.

Soccer!

After playing for a while with the only full-sized ball we have in the house (that has an audible air leak and has for quite some time) we headed to the sporting goods store to pick up a new ball.  Liam was a maniac and spent the whole time sprinting through the store picking up balls of various ilks, playing with them for a few seconds, and then moving on to the next type.

After lunch, Liam and I took naps while Matt headed to Decatur to see Pop and watch soccer.  Gran and Granddaddy came to pick us up and take us to Smyrna where we picked blueberries and ate dinner.

Here’s Liam after we told him we were going to pick blueberries (which for him is something akin to finding out that money really does grow on trees):

Let the picking begin!

He got the hang of it pretty quickly and now we have about a pint of blueberries to show for it!

Showing off his spoils:

Father’s Day hug for Greatdaddy:

Waiting (semi) patiently for dinner:

Preparing himself for Mama’s first (homemade) carrot cake:

And now it’s time for everyone to get some sleep.

After Liam was born I began to covet my parents’ van.  I adore the control of a stick shift and there are many advantages to driving a small car.  The Civic had everything I needed in a vehicle and has served me well for almost a decade, so it was a strange feeling to know that a van was really the next best step for our family.

As of a couple of weeks ago, I covet no more.  We received an offer that we could not refuse from my generous parents, who offered us the you’re-giving-birth-to-a-second-grandchild-in-September-and-we-know-that-your-life-would-be-much-easier-if-you-were-to-own-a-van-by-the-time-that-happens offer that we absolutely could not refuse.

While not a complete shock to the system, it’s a pretty big leap to go from a 5-speed Civic to a minivan.  I can now get in and out of my vehicle without grunting or difficulty.  For the first time in my 16 years behind the wheel I have a cupholder that accommodates my Nalgene bottle.  The 6-disc CD changer means that I can load up Liam’s music and my music in equal quantities for easy retrieval when my passenger has lost his patience.  There is a nook for my sunglasses.  Matt and I can adjust the AC to our own preferences.  At the same time.  There is plenty of room for a Costco run that includes diapers, paper towels, toilet paper, and copious amounts of fruits and veggies.  At the same time.  There’s room to stash my purse and have a passenger.  At the same time.

I am beyond thrilled.

Luckily, Matt will be driving the Civic for at least the next few years, so I can drive down memory lane when the mood strikes, but this does mean that the Accord will be leaving us after a decade in the Woolf/Connolly family.  My mom began driving this car while I was still in college.  Sarah drove this car.  My parents (very generously) gave it to us when Matt and I got married.  We brought Liam home from the hospital in this car.  I know that most people probably don’t form the type of sentimental attachments that I do to cars.  I also know that most people don’t own cars for as long as my family tends to do.  Say what you will:  I’ll be glad to sell the Accord (fingers crossed that it happens soon) but there’s still a bit of me that’s going to mourn its passing from our lives.  It’s been there for some pretty major changes over the last decade.

Here’s our homage to the past and the future.

“MAMA!  What are you trying to do to me?”

“Oh, Geez!”

“And don’t you even think about tickling my neck to get me to smile!”

“Face it, Mama.  I win at this game every time.”

“Okay, I see how this is gonna work, Mama.  You’re using my love for playing in the van to try to manipulate me.”

“It’s not gonna work.”

“Ummm, I don’t think so, Mama.  I think I’ve won this match.”

“Oh, No!  Not the tickle trick!”

“I take it back, Mama.  You Win!  You Win!”

I hope the Accord carries its next owner through as many good times as it has carried us.

I’ve been too tired to post about our recent trips to the Gardens.  We met up with Jessica, Walker, and Olivia a couple of weeks ago and this morning we went on a family outing for Matt to see the new Canopy Walk for the first time.

If the weather this morning was any indication of things to come this summer, I’m either going to have to find a pool nearby that opens before noon or I’m going to need to find an inexpensive indoor play place of some sort, because we only made it for an hour and a half before it was completely intolerable.  I think I need to begin lobbying for an adult version of the flower water feature in the Children’s Garden.  Either that or they’re going to have to physically remove me from one of the spigots, where I will be parked until it’s time to go home.

Here are some pictures from both outings.

Liam enjoys the glass flowers in the new edible garden:

Excitement over “my rock that I found on the ground:”

He was very excited because prior to this he spent a considerable period of time getting really frustrated that the pebbles in the other walkways were combined with the cement, so when he found an entire portion of ground that was covered with loose rocks, it was like Christmas morning:

Chillin’ with Mr. Frog:

Canopy Walk:

He really loved the benches:

“Hey, Walker.  What’s taking you so long?”

Taking turns as leader:

“Hey Liam, you comin’?”

Liam shows Daddy the Canopy Walk:

Inside the tunnel (from which it is very very difficult to remove him, because he learned the last time we visited that his screams are echoed, which means all he wants to do is stand inside and scream…):

Like father, like son:

Liam and Matt demonstrate the impossibility of sliding down this slide when the air has been replaced by soup:

Into the mist…

Matt demonstrates for Liam how to stand in front of the height chart:

Liam was completely uncooperative and Matt had to resort to mild manhandling:

Matt strikes a pose with Bessie, but not even manhandling convinced Liam to go for it, this time:

Checking out the hive in Bee Cove:

This bee is much more my speed:

Bullfrog:

Checking out the giant tadpoles:

Of all the wonderful things in the new edible garden, Liam’s favorite is the glass fruit:

Completely indicative of Liam’s current developmental stage, this is what happened when I asked him to run to his Daddy:

Real apple tree, glass apples:

My kind of manhole cover:

Liam decides to play tether ball with the string on the table umbrella:

The release:

The catch attempt:

This face says: “For the love of all that is holy and good in this world, how can it possibly be this hot?” (and was captured (with great gusto) by Matt who has an incredible ability to take pictures of me at the worst possible moment):

Like son, like father:

The End.