we safaried we museumed we halloweened

My Goodness we've had a full week!! There have been a few ups and downs, a toddler Fox transitioning to a possible no nap lifestyle (which is a rollercoaster of parental indecision, frustration, digging deep for patience and at last... errr... letting go) that, and more teeth sprouting in our little Bear's cute smile have been challenging.  Added to our sleep disturbances:  the closing of Daylight Savings Time gifted a five AM wake up time and what you get is a super long day where not one of Jasper's multiple cat-naps coincided with Loukas' maybe-nap... long story short: the fact that I am attempting to whip up a blog post is pretty silly. But silly is as silly does. 

In the course of composing what you read before you I have changed multiple diapers, doodled a funny doodle on demand, invented pumpkin oatmeal followed by leftover duck pilaf tacos, lulled a teething baby to sleep 6+ times, scouted fairies in our wooded backyard with a very Daddy-obsessed little boy who was distraught when his favorite guy went to work, Instagrammed a little, etc etc. But that's not the story I mean to tell...

***
 Last Saturday, JG texted me as he was heading into 'rush hour' dinner service: "let's go on an adventure Monday."  For the past couple months it's been pretty wild around here.  The restaurant has been going through transitions which has and will require a lot of JG's energy, creative and physical alike.  Huge opportunities have presented and lots of hard, hot work is starting to really pay off for him.  Which is exciting and we are grateful for the love our community has shown that restaurant on the south side of this lovely hilly little Ozark town.  Alas, family time for adventures has been... unavailable.  So, "let's adventure Monday" text was so very happily received.  And adventure we did.  


***insert random photo of baby bear with pumpkin- fall gold*** 

In challenging myself to 'make do' with what we've got, I'm attempting to make great use of
our canon power shot.  My goal is to take great pictures with natural light using this easy to
operate little number.  So all of the photos (minus my instagrams down yonder) are unedited shots
taken with our point and shoot.  I think they turned out alright, but i'd love to hear feedback)

After a healthy delicious breakfast (which included kale) and a couple of to-go almond milk lattes, we hit the road to Gentry, Arkansas, home to The Wild Wilderness Drive Thru Safari. That's right, y'all, head due north west on highway 412, cut through a rural town or two and skip down a gravel drive and you too can see some tigers and lions and bears! And foxes and deer and buffalo and rhino (there's a lone rhino, don't worry he has a bird friend)  


The safari is about a 30 minute trek that winds through a pretty well-kept wild habitat, home of numerous animals. The first few glimpses at the animals are a bit depressing as they are housed in small cages, but there are also free rangin' buffalo who bathe with beatuiful deer, psychotic looking emu who wonder up to your car window and stare you down with their wacky emu eyes, cute baby zebras, mama zebras, striped piglets that about made me faint, and a lion king that practiced his "roar-ing" for us (behind fencing.)  The crisp morning air met with the caged beast's call to the rest of the wild wilderness to create a impressive steamy sight and sound.   

Our wild Fox was over the moon for a seat-free 5mph cruise, although I must admit that
we grew pretty tired of "can I get out?" and "I want to pet/can I touch..."
a (nearly) three year old's repetitive question fire is pretty indicative of their impulsive nature 

There was a lot of oooooo-ing and ahh-ing

The far lion was the roarer

we like bears

Jerrmy loves this guy.  He 'claims' to have touch the fella on a visit years ago.

See, bird friend :)

Last on the bill of the drive through are the never disappointing prairie dogs.  oh. my. goodness.  such adorable little creatures, who love to pose for pictures!

****

 Our adventure continued with a 30-minute-beautiful-fall-day drive along some beautiful Natural State highway to Northwest Arkansas' prized Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  The stunning Moshe Safdie building was completed last year and opened on 11.11.11.  This was our first trip!  

A little light reading on the drive...

We arrived just in time to miss lunch at the museum's raved-about Eleven.  And by miss, I mean by 4 minutes.  Pretty disappointing because we had scoped the menu out before leaving town and were very much looking forward to ordering one of everything offered that day.  Luckily a pre-packaged sandwich lunch from the coffee counter sufficed and was plenty to fuel our short jaunt through the galleries, for our wee ones grew weary of the day's adventuring and there may or may not have been the beginnings of a melt down in our last walk through (we did not see all the art) but escaped to the grounds which offer lovely walking paths and views of the Crystal Spring which the bridge portion of the building was inspired by.  Quite lucky to have it all in our neck of the woods. 

  

My two favorites

Oh what a beautiful day it was.  We were giddy with Togetherness.

It's not "allowed" to climb this statue

We were reprimanded and blamed the kids...  as per usual

He's a keeper

Crystal Bridges:  a reason to come to Arkansas.

Enough said.

***

This is what dining out with a tired toddler and baby
after a day driving all over three counties, driving
through a safari and visiting a world class museum
looks like.  side note:  loukas fell out of his chair and
stabbed himself in the lip with his fork.  we now take
high chairs when they are available.

***

Y'all heard Halloween was this last week,  right?  What fun.  Of course, by October 31st Lou was fully versed in how to wear a tail as his dinosaur costume has been a fun way to celebrate any day... 

collecting sticks to help build a bon fire

his T-rex move

rawr

An inevitable selfie.
Been addicted to taking self portraits since the first time I held a camera.

We did a little trick-or-treatin around the square before Daddy Deer headed to work...

He was shy at first, silent even, then started a little whisper of  "Halloweeen..."  til finally
he grew the dino-courage to say it:  "Trick or Treat" then it was full on, he left his
chariot and "Trick or Treat"ed it up

Pretty happy with himself.   

We brought along decoy candy from the natural food store, superfood bars with chocolate chips and fruit juice snacks and handed them to him to eat to distracted from his bag of "trick or treat" loot.  I'm going to be honest, the kid's never had conventional candy.   It's a personal choice, not a black and white issue.  Our son is very sensitive to foods, has had some pretty gnarly eczema since he was a newborn therefore we tread lightly in the sweets department, are pretty conservative about our food intake.  (I'd like to share that story sometime)    So, when we got distracted by chatting with other parents and found our little dinosaur licking his first dum-dum sucker we were pretty tickled but still made a quick switch out....  He's been telling everyone we see about our trick-or-treat doings, and kind of looks up to their faces for signs of being impressed.  That or he's waiting to get them alone- to ask where the hell all that candy went.  I know, he's a kid.  Kids love candy.  But he is still a tiny kid and he'll likely have plenty of candy in his life- and don't worry, he gets plenty of sweets.  I'm not a monster.    

Oh but this frog prince is a little monster!   A monster of adorable!!!

friend Oliver, they have the best baby convos- which usually involve a lot of face grabbing.

He was my little frog prince!!!

Fox was pretty stoked to see the local grocery store booth on the square passing out apples!  Although, I think in this photo he is asking me where's the candy?.  He's all, "this is a nice apple, but where the cuss is my loot, princess" (which he was calling "lemon-stuffs" I think referring to a bright yellow box of Dots.  Gah- what's worse, shielding your child from the joys of trick-or-treating or letting them collect the stuff then swap it out for hippy-health-decoy "candies..." 

***

And as if all our treat-psyching-out wasn't enough, I staged a "we-should-be-eating-dinner-but-let's-carve-a-pumpkin" pumpkin carving... which was pretty successful although I wouldn't recommend carving a pumpkin with a wondering crawler and an over tired toddler...  it was fun and all but our Halloween could have done without. 

kind of into it but kept asking, "what's that smell?"

Precious onesie embroidered by my friend Amanda Wunderlich who is an amazing mama
of two boys that writes a cool blog about their adventures in farming.  Super inspiring
folk who I feel privileged to know

he who puts it all in his mouth

neighborhood deer friends.  regulars in our yard :)

***

Do you love INSTAGRAM like I love INSTAGRAM? (@nicobg if you care to follow me)

I can't help but 'gram my life away... which is fun and I never regret the couple minutes it takes to document moments to hold onto.  see?:

rainbow of yard sitting

precious deer

a road cruise quick snap from the passenger seat!

Crystal Bridges welcoming tree of glory

was smitten by this little lady

Lou said, quite loudly, "He got a penis."  

my love

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

"halloween eve"

me and my princes.  well, at least the ear of my first prince.

grateful for this photo

finished jack.  free handed... in haste...

poor baby fox... ouch!
 Lou Fox took a nasty nose dive into his bed frame
 Halloween night, resulting in his first black eye ...  

Arkansas Apples with friends

bébé booty.  

it was homecoming this weekend... so grateful for the Hogs
always a nice boost for our independent restaurant

Our 'big boy' loves to play TAG.

I'd love to hear what suggestions anyone reading has about blog design, any tips that are helpful to de-generisize the look here... or just say hi!  I love to hear from... well, anyone.  Oh, and Lou's birthday is 4 short weeks away!  Any and all thoughts on party ideas are welcome and appreciated!  Happy week to you...  from me... 

xoxo

nico

PS::

this gal is the doodle-on-demand above mentioned ;)

patchy times

this past week has been one of snotty noses, a pesky teething episode (which has failed to produce any actual rupture-action), and a couple of days of a healing husband after some not so pleasant dental work.  but, even though i seem to have come down with the fall bug that entered our home two weeks ago- things are looking up!  it's my birthday (week) and the restaurant is staying steady and our babies' snotty noses are drying up.  and... we paid a little visit to a neighborhood pumpkin patch on wednesday::

mobile post for kicks

it took me nearly two years to post my first blog post after registering on blogger one afternoon on whim when Loukas was a baby. I wasn't totally aware of that there was an actual blog world out there, that blogging was a career, even. and I can't exactly recall what it was I intended to blog about per se, but I know that I was a bit self conscious and intimidated... which I still very much am. but after reading some amazing blogs written by some inspiring ladies, what I am mostly excited about is telling a little bit of my story and connecting with others. mostly family. the dreams that i have for the design and photography here still intimidate me, and i tend become overwhelmed, rendering my cute little spot of blog... well... blog post-less. moral of the story, it's been a while since my last attempt at a blog post but it hasn't been years, so by those standards im not as behind as i keep telling myself.

for kicks I am writing this post from my iPhone. making an effort to keep up. to keep this little timeline moving, not giving in to my tendency make excuses, creating barriers for myself by way of lack of graphic design knowledge and photography equipment. I've made a pledge to myself these last few days to move along and do what I can with what I have on hand. and what I've got are a whole lot of ideas and, at Least one reader (Hi dad :)

oh, and some pictures of my kids.
I'm super grateful for Instagram, it's a quick way to turn my iPhoto photos into artsy art, and it's fun to take looks back through the week/months/year at my little 'grams.

happy fall y'all

the post with no pictures that makes little sense.

The kitchen is a mess.  Both boys are asleep (for now) and it's 8pm.  This is a miracle, and... wasn't pretty getting here.  My dear husband will be working evenings at his restaurant every night this week and this first night of the run was nil too seamless.  No, Loukas skipped his nap today.  There is no special trick that I know that results in his little 2 year old self taking a nap everyday.  We're something like 5 for 7, almost every third or so day- he trades nap for quiet play and today was one of those days.  So as I scrounged around the kitchen (I traded grocery shopping for thrifting today) we ran into several emotional breakdowns until dinner was prepared.  And somehow- I'm still not sure how, maybe I am finally growing up a little- I managed to not sink into joining his no-nap-wanted-more-cartoons-and-a-snack that would diminish his appetite before dinner-colossal meltdown all while chopping and boiling and broiling dinner, wearing and breastfeeding a very tired, ready for bed little brother.  This tantrum was to a point- ok, completely- counter productive.  In wanting to stand my ground and stick to the plan- dinner then straight to bed, hoping Jasper would pass out in the wrap- in not giving into little Lou's sobby demands for treats and Thomas and Friends, I did end up with a sad sack of a little boy that resembled a heartbroken tornado; swirling around in agony blubbering demands and no's and peeing on the floor.  (Yes, he did)  And as a result, the dinner that I prepared currently sits cold, one or two bites ingested, on an abandoned high chair tray. Yes, instead of salmon and pesto quinoa pasta, my little boy ate crackers for dinner.

Should I have just allowed the 'toons and apple slices and endured an eventual breakdown when it was time to turn off the show, and (not) eat his dinner?  Should I have just gone with the flow, avoiding all this conflict and distress? Or was I right to stand my ground and calmly not engage, going about my dinner preparation business- one where I triumphantly stirred the weekend's baked crab and artichoke dip into my portion of the pesto noodles (which also sit, uneaten on the kitchen stove)...  I don't know.  Because I just don't know what the hell I am doing.

Yet, Somehow- even until I was at last able to get that little boy mess to bed after a manic half hour of bathing, squeezing in a nursing-to-sleep session for little brother (during which Lou's tantrum-engine's cooled, he smiled at me silently laying next to his brother, running into the kitchen for bites of his salmon)- I stayed calm.  I half heartedly read my exhausted little Fox his favorite book of the moment, curious george makes pancakes. His consequence for all his unbecoming behavior, I silently decided, was that tonight's story would lack the usual zeal with which I play the characters of his nightly bedtime stories. 

Somehow, tonight I was able to not lose my shit.  I did not yell or scold or plead or bargain.  I just did what needed to be done and stayed calm and after his lack-luster bedtime read gently reminded Loukas that he needed rest to be happy and healthy.  That I love him no matter what.  And I do.  And I accept his behavior for what it clearly was:  an overtired tiny person who couldn't make it through dinner.  It was important and is important to me that I stayed calm.  

Maybe because I heard a mommy say to her little girl (about Loukas' age) who wanted to look at the strollers and bouncers and such at the thrift store today, "NO! you're not a baby anymore!" and my heart sank and my stomach hurt because she is a baby, that mama's baby- or hell, maybe she just wanted to play baby.  Or maybe because another mama grabbed her tired and (probably hungry because it was lunch time) whining little person up and said 'you are getting on my nerves' right to her little person face that I was able to stay calm for my little person tonight.  And maybe because I discussed with my husband this morning (serendipitously as it would turn out) that because I had seen status updates on facebook judging parents for their misbehavior in public towards their kiddos that I would work to ultimately feel compassion towards those jerk parents in question because certainly no one ever sets out to be hurtful to their child.  And there is no way to know, but I imagine all ugliness paid to a child does not come from a place where happiness lives or where rest and peace are dwelling or where comfort and joy visit regularly.  Most often, these things we hear for a moment are ignorant and thoughtless and come from a stressful place, where needs are not regularly met.  From a tired place, from a lonely place, from and unknowing place, from a broken place.  Those tired, frustrated ill-prioritized persons are just that.  Persons.  And, my, how painful to realize that the words that escape my own mama lips ever rest upon the miraculous ears of my babies and hurt their hearts.  Because it happens.  Not to a 'not a baby anymore, you are on my nerves' degree, but it happens- with sarcasm and half minded presence and frustrated faces and raised voices.  But not tonight, and that feels good.

 I don't feel it healthy to compare myself, but I do get a taste of what it might be like to be a single mother or military wife twice or thrice a week (this week six times) when my husband works the dinner shift and, heavens, it's not so great.  And, yes, my 'nerves' get gotten on.  But today I learned two valuable lessons:  skipping the grocery store might result in the invention of crab dip pasta which is delicious, and skipping the grocery store might land you at the thrift shop where you intrinsically progress to a person you hope you can remain, having grasped teachings repeated time and time again from a man who centuries ago meant to show us all that being a good person doesn't always mean doing good.  It means seeing others not at their best and loving and having compassion for them anyway and taking that home and living that word, not realizing what a profound impact two strangers' sentences at the thrift might have had on maybe the rest of your life until you ramble out a blog post throughout the course of your Tuesday evening.

And in the time that it has taken me to compose this short not-so-together blog post, my kids have taken turns waking and crying and waking again.  Like, 6 times. And my nice husband has returned from work and cleaned my dinner mess and Jasper is ooooing and ahhhing and chatting it up, I can hear from the bedroom.  So off I go... no fun photos or updates of the cuteness which are my little boys... til next time...