Domestic Adventures

We borrowed Stuart Murphy’s book, Probably Pistachio from the library last week and have been enjoying it. The most fun part was that the kids had never tried pistachio ice cream before, so I picked some up at the grocery store - for educational purposes of course. We’ve discovered a new favorite ice cream! Unfortunately, they can’t see to get the name right and keep asking for “mustachio”.

The granite’s here and we’re almost done with our enormous kitchen project. Having a countertop has finally made it feel like a kitchen again, and I am loving the granite we picked out. Yay, I’m going to bake things soon. Perhaps these.

We found the perfect table. All those beautiful Amish tables were great, but then I started adding up the cost of chairs. Yikes! And shipping. Yikes again! I did a quick search of craigslist, said a little prayer, and found exactly what we wanted. This Pottery Barn table is five by five foot square and extends to eight feet long. It came with eight matching black chairs (four of which we still have to pick up next week). It easily seats twelve and we’ve already had a chance to test it out on a couple of crowds. I love how huge it is and that it still fits in our room. Of course, it will look better with all black chairs, and now I’ve got ideas brewing about the china cabinet. Hooray for big, beautiful tables and all the friends around them.

At five o’clock we were creeping down the road, stopping and starting, and still too far away to see the light. Trent was at the end of his patience and beginning to rant about the inadequacies of the drivers ahead of us. Then he moved on to the authorities that be. “If we had a vote for traffic commissioner those guys would be outta here!”
“A vote for what?” Emmaline’s little voice piped up from the back seat.
“Traffic commissioner.”
“Oh. I think everybody would vote for no traffic. It’s way too traffic-y.”

M: I need that — it’s my truck.

E: No, it’s my beanbag.

M: No, that one’s yours and this one’s mine.

E: Well actually this one’s mine too.

M: But it’s mine and that’s yours.

E: Well they’re both mine.

M: Emmie, no!

E: And they’re both yours. Both of them are both of ours.

M: Emmie, I don’t want you to trick me.

He’s such a boy. Sometimes I am torn though, between letting him explore and keeping these small creatures from harm. I know he just wants to see how its leg works, or what its eye feels like, but please, Micah, be gentle.

What are your thoughts on dining tables? I’ve been looking around online at Amish-built tables. I’m kind of intrigued by the idea of a huge round table. I especially like the second one pictured. These round tables can seat about eight to ten max. I love the idea of being able to see everyone well - it seems good for conversation, and you can order a matching lazy susan for the middle. On the other hand, the rectangular tables can be extended to infinity. Okay, not infinity, but you could order one to seat 30 if you had the room for it. I think we could manage seating 14 on occasion which would be nice for elders dinners and such, especially since our new kitchen doesn’t leave space for a kitchen table.
So, opinions, please?

We spent Emmaline’s birthday at Animal Kingdom. The day started perfectly when we picked up our tickets from the concierge. Emmaline poked her little nose over the counter and announced that it was her birthday. “Really? Then you need a birthday button.” So all day Emmaline wore her personalized birthday button and nearly every cast member we encountered wished her a happy birthday. Her favorite part of the whole day was when one employee presented her with a big stuffed, spotted dinosaur. Especially nice was that no one forgot Micah. He too got a stuffed animal (a frog, which he adores) and an Animal Kingdom button.

Besides all the birthday wishes, and of course, meeting Pocahontas, the favorite attraction was the Kilimanjaro Safari. As soon as we climbed out of our jeep, both kids were begging to go again. So again we went.
All in all, a spectacular day.

Last minute Disney reservations are hard to come by, so imagine how thrilled I was to find a room available at the Animal Kingdom Lodge just one day in advance. I was even more thrilled when we arrived to find that our room had been upgraded to a Savannah view. We could just step out onto our balcony to watch giraffes, ankole cattle, nyala, and antelope. In the evening we listened to them rustle the tall grasses before we spotted them, and in the morning, we munched our breakfast while watching giraffes munch theirs. Micah’s little voice, full of wonder, called to me, “Mommy! There’s a giraffe… and it’s moving!” I love it.
Beside the animals, the resort itself is just spectacular. This was a special treat because while we love to bum around the Disney resorts, we’d never been to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The lobby is magnificent and the outside is even better with all the winding garden walkways, streams, fire pits, and of course more views of the animals. The kids’ favorite was the pool, not surprisingly. I was wishing we could stay for a week just to make sure we enjoyed all the hotel had to offer.

We like to do birthdays big around here, and we had a last-minute opportunity to go really big for Emmaline’s. Any guesses where we went?