Being three is also very exhausting. And not just for the Mama!

Happy 3rd Birthday, my lovely little lady!

Another highlight from our trip to North Carolina was a balmy evening spent at Triple Falls. Apparently, part of “The Hunger Games” was filmed here, as well as “The Last of the Mohicans” so it’s been drawing quite a few tourists although it wasn’t busy when we were there. I can easily see why. It’s incredibly beautiful; I could only imagine just how much more stunning it was a couple weeks earlier with the forest of rhododendron in bloom. Although I was sorry to have missed the rhododendron, it was so nice to take a little hike and be rewarded with a misty spectacle at the top. Even Phoebe squealed and kicked when we were in the mist. And Wren had a blast playing on the slippery rocks and giving me constant heart attacks as there is nothing between your quick child and the falls. Fencing? Ha.

You know about the Slow Food movement, well I’m here to tell you that there’s another movement in the works: Slow Gardening. We’ve made minor progress with our garden this year and everything has taken seemingly for-ev-er to get done. Let’s just say that this Mama is (finally!) understanding that everything naturally slows down with little ones underfoot and in arms. And this is OK. And this is OK. And this is OK. Although it was 90 and humid this weekend (what, northern Michigan?!), it’s still been freezing a bit early in the mornings so that has helped me to find some contentment with feeling behind with my gardening work. I’ve seen neighbors covering up their seedlings at night and I’m thankful I don’t have one more “baby” to snuggly tuck in at night.

Plus my gardening helpers are really cute with their sweaty, dusty little heads so I’ve got that going for me…

And really, I just looked back at last year and we had also JUST planted the majority of the seeds this very same week. Sigh of relief! Phew.

I hadn’t even thought about strawberry picking when I envisioned our trip to North Carolina last month. But I kept seeing fresh strawberries on just about every corner as we were driving around the Hendersonville/Asheville area. I jumped online to Pick Your Own, a great resource for finding local farms in your area that allow you to pick your own fruit and vegetables. Sure enough, there was a family-friendly farm only about fifteen minutes from my Dad’s house near Hendersonville. Fun! So one very hot and sweaty afternoon we headed to the strawberry farm to get some of our own. So gratifying to find those red jewels under their lush green canopy.

Strawberries are my favorite fruit (and probably Wren’s too) so we were in heaven while strawberry picking. There really isn’t much more wonderful than picking strawberries in the late afternoon and enjoying a fresh, real strawberry shortcake a couple hours later. And then a big bowl of strawberries and fresh cream the next day. Strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, yes, please and thank you.

Bonus: we returned home to northern Michigan and realized that our own strawberry plants will bring us another round of strawberry heaven. And soon! They are looking really good this year. Something about this weekend’s 90 and sunny catapulted us right into the middle of summer…

So I’m inside the house and I hear Wren from the backyard, “Hey, Mama, I found a turtle!” Lo and behold, we have ourselves a new turtle. Funny girl! Although I still look at the turtle and shake my head most of the time, I love the new incarnation. My birdie is also a turtle. Slow and steady. Who am I kidding? More like quick and dynamic.

Lovelies, I have so much to share with you from our trip to North Carolina. And about hopes for this year’s garden because my personal lawn boy (err, Chris) arrived this week with his Dad’s rototiller so our garden IS going to happen too. Really, it just has to, doesn’t it? And a birthday party to plan for a certain almost 3 (!) year old. And hardly any sleep at night with the littlest birdie awake every two hours or so, oof. But really in the face of life with the turtle birdies, I have been SLAMMED with work, which is a good thing, but still. Fun stories to write and beautiful photos to share. Soon, soon, soon (ish).

Miss you!

Our darling little Phoebe Jane is six months old. We all are just crazy about her. Even a little old lady at the store said, “When I look at her, I can understand why people steal babies.” We’ll take that as a compliment, but we’re going to keep her extra safe.

This also means that it’s officially halfway to Halloween. And I just tossed the rest of last year’s candy. My diet couldn’t take staring at the fake pumpkin bucket ANY.MORE.