The Trip Home: the Kids

Before I get started on our trip back to Atlanta, it's my turn again at Vision & Verb. If you've paid attention, you know by now it's my turn every other Monday. I'll remind you but that's the schedule.

As often happens after a trip back with the kids, I ponder many things. This "Gathering Wisdom" bronze and the myriad thoughts that accompany her, along with Clarissa Pinkola Estés and her Women Who Run With the Wolves, speaks to where my heart is today. But you can read that for yourself.


Assuming I can finish processing all my pictures from our trip, the plan is to do it all in 2 parts. Today it'll be the part involving the kids over the two weekends and the next post about the mid-week time with our friends, Peggy and Bob. So hold your hat and here we go.

We arrived in Atlanta on a Friday night, picked up by Amy, Dennis and Nicholas. It was already after midnight for us, Dutch time, so we didn't stay up too late. But we were riding high on adrenalin, eating up all the excitement of the moment. We knew it would be a full weekend, starting with the County Fair with Nicholas the next day.

I. Cumming County Fair, Saturday, October 16

As fairs go, it has absolutely everything and more. That's why we keep going back!
The first thing we always do, after buying myriad tickets, is ride the skylift, which gives us a 15-minute overall view of the entire fairgrounds from beginning to end. It's basically the same layout every year but it's a good reminder of what to expect.

It's always fiun to see what rides Nicholas (age 10) still wants to ride, as well as the same rides he still does NOT want to ride. He amazes me at how nonchalantly he'll say "No, G'ma. That one's still too scary for me!" And when he says that, I don't try to persuade him otherwise. I know one year he'll suddenly be ready. Lucky for him, Astrid has an iron stomach and will be able to ride them with him...as well as the ones now still too much for me.

In between those rides, there's the shows (hold your horses), the old-timer checkers, the petting zoo where we watched the queen bee in her bustling hive, the gigantic rat and snake (new this year). But guess what: no shotgun games for Nicholas. Astrid wanted to do that more than anything because she's an ace and wanted to teach Nicholas. But NO. Astrid had to do it by herself...and she did, giving her prize to the Big Boy. But you know what she couldn't believe? Our shotguns in the States shoot cork pellets. In The Netherlands they shoot large metal pellets. And I looked at her and said, "DUH!"

The Indian Village at this county fair is one to be envied anywhere. Trust me. I didn't take pictures this year of the teepees, tribal council lodge, other dwellings, buffalo, etc. This year I concentrated on the trivia. The Native American trinkets.


This year was the first time we actually sat and watched one of the Native American shows. We told Nicholas we could leave any time he wanted but he stayed for the entire thing...an Iroquois and a Creek indian joking around with each other while showing games the children played growing up to teach them how to hunt.
Fun and informative.

Coming back on the skylift, we caught one of the Frisbee shows with the world championship dogs. That's one of the things I love about this fair: things you'd not see anywhere else, perhaps, but top-notch. In fact, in the past we have seen some of the top country musicians, like Kenny Chesney, Pam Tillis, etc. All in the price of the admission. Not bad, right?!

Because this is a county fair in the south, we're lucky to see how things work like, for instance, making sugar-cane syrup. The whole process from beinning to end. Talk about getting your education. We're the lucky ones who get to stand there and stare. The mule in the background barn was fit to be tied, wanting his turn to walk the circle, I guess. It was hysterical. Or maybe he was in love and was dying for a kiss?

Don't forget the turkey leg, corn on the cob, BBQ baked potato...and later the homemade ice cream, both strawberry and peach. All part of the Fair, if not the best part.

But this year, for the first time ever, Nicholas tried the bungee ride as his last hurrah:

He loved it! By the time he was done, he had mastered the sommersault, over and over again.

Last year it was 6 hours. This year it was 8. If we continue doing it (and why not?!), Dennis and Amy said one year he'll want to take a girlfriend. Of course. And if he's not driving yet, why not go with us, right?
Won't THAT be a story to tell. HA! I can hardly wait.

II: Pumpkin Carving and Outback Steakhouse, Sunday, October 17

On Sunday, Mark came over to join the annual tradition of pumpkin carving, a first for Astrid.

Instead of going to a pumpkin patch on a Sunday morning (in the Bible-belt South), we went to nearby Kroger (also much cheaper!) to each pick out our own pumpkin. Mark already had his.

By now, Amy has everything we need to set up the 'project' in the garage: newspaper, plastic bags for the pulp and seeds (for roasting, YUM), quilts to sit on, knives for cutting off the tops, large spoons, scary patterns, and the pumpkin-carving tools. Oh, and a couple beers.
This was Nicholas' first year to carve his from beginning to end. He also was the designated driver to teach Astrid how to do it. A first for her. No, they do not carve pumpkins in The Netherlands.

That was Sunday morning. Then lunch, a Halloween costume preview, and pro-football before Astrid and I treated us all to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate all the birthdays we had missed throughout the year:



And then, once home....

...a line-up of the unusual suspects for the camera lovers.
From left to right: Dennis, Ginnie, Amy, Nicholas and Astrid.
Where's Mark? Apparently Amy had only 5 candles, so Mark's is still in the garage. Rats! Bummer!

III: The North Georgia Mountains: Friday - Monday, October 22-25

In between the two weekends, Astrid and I spent mid-week with friends south of Atlanta but on Friday we were back, ready and willing to take the 2-hour drive to Blue Ridge, GA, gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Amy picked the same cabin we used last year before I moved to The Netherlands, so we knew what to expect. And this year, Astrid would share it with us, in neutral territory.

We were not disappointed!

Amy and Dennis were the chefs. Astrid and I were the bottle washers.
Grilled tuna and beef steaks. And a first for Astrid, s'mores one night for treats.
The last late-morning on the way home, a stop at Waffle House.
There's nothing like eating in the cool autumnal air of the Georgia mountains!

We had to laugh when we saw the jigsaw puzzle Amy chose for the weekend: 2,000 pieces.
If we had worked on only it, without playing our myriad hands of Spades and everything else, we might have finished more than the border and a few other odd pieces.
HA! Next time, we all agreed, she'll pick a 500-piece box.


Ironically, the one thing we did more than anything else was play Spades...all of us except Astrid and Nicholas (more on that in a second). But not one picture of that pastime!
Plenty of images, however, of the next biggest activity, which was pool, and something we all played at various times throughout the weekend.


Don't forget the hot tub...another first for Astrid.

Because Astrid isn't a card player, yet, but still thrives on Nintendo-type games (which she played all the time with her son, Jeroen), it was a no-brainer for her to take Nicholas under her wing while the rest of played our Spades...a competition for awhile now between Mark and Me vs. Amy and Dennis. Everyone was happy. But I'm guessing they, Astrid and Nicholas, ended up the healthiest!


Still, we all found our ways to relax and just BE. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Two weekends in the lives of Astrid and Ginnie while back home visiting the Kids. Two weekends of my family meeting Astrid and getting to know a bit more of why we're together. Two weekends of starting all over again in this game called Life. It's a Journey...and one I take seriously.

Thus the reminder again of my turn at Vision and Verb...where I continue to gather wisdom along the way.