Oh, July

Why do the days of July just seem to slide off the calendar?  They're not any less busy than the days of any other month.  In fact, our calendar seems to be packed with much more exciting "to do's" in July than in any other month.  But instead of being ripped away and swooped up in a tornado of get-it-done-now-ness, the days of July just slip quietly away and flutter to the floor.  Mmmmm, summer.  I'm in heaven.

*sigh*

Anyway, I realized tonight as I rocked my sweet baby to sleep (okay, she was already asleep and I just had to rock her anyway, since this time is so precious and it will be over after I finish this next blink) - I realized that I have way too many pictures and updates waiting to be posted, so I forced myself to put the baby down and hit the blog.  Here you go!

Fourth of July was a wonderful blur.  We spent a lazy afternoon out at my Dad's house, playing with them while they got ready for their own picnic that evening.  Sylvia played on the floor with John and Evan while Sylvain and I tried Sally's signature drink she concocted for that evening, some sort of pink lemonade and vodka delight that I would have had ten more of had we stayed there for the picnic and had I not been breastfeeding a three month old baby - darn it!

After lunch at Dad's we headed to cousin Charlie's birthday party!  He turned ONE YEAR OLD and I cannot believe it.  I was reminded that this time last year Sylvia was nothing but a twinkle in her Daddy's eye!  Oh, what a difference a year makes.  I didn't take pictures there because Mom was snapping photos left and right and she has some good ones, but I don't have them to post, so just imagine the cutest red-headed boy with Matt's face tearing into a giant piece of cake and smearing it all over himself.  There, that's the highlight.  It was FUN!!

Now, on the fifth of July, the three Fasciottos packed up the ol' Toyota Corolla and hit the road for Hotlanta, Georgia!  Let me tell you, we had a BLAST.  Sylvia was made for road trips.  She slept and ate and played by herself in the backseat like it was her job.  She slept in the pack-n-play at the hotel almost better than she sleeps at home.  While Sylvain went to teachery workshops all day, Sylvia and I hit the city's best family-friendly sights.  Here are the highlights:

On Tuesday I took Sylvia to the Zoo (she didn't really care about anything there, but she had a good time cruising in her stroller) and the Aquarium.  Georgia has the largest Aquarium in the world and let me tell you something, that place is a WONDERLAND for three month old babies!  All the lights in the tanks...and the fish swimming in their pattern-like schools...and the soft, slow, watery music.  This girl was in heaven.  I've never seen her stare like that before!  If you've never been there, it's totally worth the trip and the outrageous entrance fee ($27!!?? for some FISH.  That's not even including the special exhibits.)

The next day, we headed downtown to the Center for Puppetry Arts where we saw a Puppet Show!!!  I found this place when I got lost on my way home from the Aquarium and I'm so glad I did.  It was opened in 1974 and Jim Henson cut the red ribbon with Kermit the Frog to honor the Center's goal - keeping the puppet arts alive and well in the south!  They had a museum full of Sesame Street and Muppet characters and the man who put on the one hour show that afternoon was phenomenal!  I cannot describe how impressed I was with this place.  Here's a picture of the set of the show. (Sylvia loved the first five minutes, then she stared at the red exit sign for five minutes, then she fell asleep).

On Thursday, Sylvain got out of his workshops early (woohoo!) so the whole famdamily headed to the Atlanta History Center where we toured an AMAZING Civil War exhibit and a historic nineteenth century farm.  Sylvain and I loved the farm tour but the Nugget...

...was not impressed.

And finally, on Friday before we headed home, we stopped by the Margaret Mitchell House to take the Gone With the Wind tour!  I loved every second of it, but Sylvain couldn't get over the fact that we didn't get to see the whole house.  In fact, it wasn't even a house, it was an apartment building, of which we only saw her apartment on the first floor, and he wanted to see the rest of the place.  Oh well.  I thought it was delightful.

We had some excellent dinners each night at some excellent pubs and restaurants.  Here's a cute picture of the Nugget and her new favorite toy - her thumb:

Since we've been home we've been doing absolutely nothing and it's been glorious.  We've been eating great food from our garden and our share of farm veggies from our CSA.  We've been playing with the baby all day, taking evening walks after it cools off a few degrees, and reading ourselves to sleep at night.  We had Sylvia's three month photos taken today and I cannot WAIT to get these pictures.  I have a big idea for a new blog header, so I hope it works out!  If it were up to me, July would last forever, but alas, August is right around the corner.  I can't wait for school to start and as much as I love watching Sylvia's every move right now, I can't wait to see what she does next.