End of Summer 2017 Adventures and an Eclipse

During the month of August, we continued with our weekend and weekday trips to the pool. There were a few weekends that were not unbearably hot and we spent a day at a park or museum. We also made it to a concert in the park that's adjacent to our neighborhood. The big event and travel for us in August was taking a long weekend to go see the eclipse of 2017 in Greenville, SC! Rose also started soccer in August. Rose turned 3.5 in August and Zoe approached her 2nd birthday. Both girls grew like weeds all summer and it's been fun to have them be more self-sufficient and be able to communicate.

Zoe's eating her favorite peanut butter crackers at the pool

Zoe smiles when she wants to.
She loves to see the camera herself.

Rose and Zoe are running in Bond Park. 

One of the many concerts we have listened to at the ampitheatre in the park

Lunch time at Pullen Park in Raleigh,
after going on the carousel and train and before heading home.

The first of back-to-back birthday parties at an indoor playground.

To see the Eclipse in Greenville, we spent the weekend at my parent's place in the mountains of Western NC. On Saturday we made our way to a Renaissance Festival at a farm after going to a farmers' market. The girls enjoyed getting their face (Rose) and arm (Zoe) painted, seeing the costumes, and playing on the slides and in the creek. Rose also enjoyed feeding some goats. We spent the middle part of the day driving the Blue Ridge Parkway while the girls napped and ended our day with dinner and music in Asheville.

Rose's Hello Kitty face paint

Zoe getting her arm painted

On Sunday, we made our way to Charlotte (2 hours away) to get my brother at the airport. Instead of going straight back to the cabin after lunch, we decided to walk around a small museum, called Discovery Place Nature for a little bit. The exhibits were just right for the girls and it was nice to be in a small museum with the short amount of time we had before the girls would need a nap.

Spending a few hours at a museum in Charlotte where Zoe's a bug:

Monday was Eclipse day! I was really nervous about finding a place to go to see the eclipse, especially as we left Tryon for Greenville around mid-day. We had to pack everything (including Darwin) and it was a hot August Day. I was cranky with the heat and with the stress of packing what we needed to be accessible. Thankfully, we found a science/technology elementary school that was hosting a watching party through Facebook. We headed straight there and found some shade by 1p or so. In the hour or two before complete darkness, the girls enjoyed the splash pad, we ate some moon pies, we watched the moon change through our viewing glasses and through a shadow box, and we listened to some of the music from the DJ. I was most grateful for shade and bathrooms. Even just sitting in the shade I was sweating! 

Rose was really into the Eclipse, which made it more exciting for us. She did a great job looking through her glasses - which were ridiculously hard to purchase before the event. I was grateful for a friend who got some in the week leading up to our trip. The elementary school staff were giving them out at the viewing party, but we would have waited in a long line in the heat to get them.

Rose and Zoe had learned about the eclipse at school, and Rose kept giving us updates on what she saw. Zoe was more interested in maintaining her schedule, which should have included lunch and a nap. She managed to stay engaged with all the excitement despite being a bit "hangry".

The full eclipse was pretty amazing. In the few minutes just before it turned to dusk, our surroundings looked "chalky" with a tinge of almost grey. The temperature was noticeably cooler for the few minutes of complete elipse and for some of the minutes before and after. During the total eclipse, the stars came out, we could see the ring around the moon, we could hear crickets, and it looked like dusk at 2:30pm. It was so cool and an experience I hope to never forget. As we left Greenville for Raleigh, we started making plans to visit upstate NY/Burlington for the 2024 eclipse!

Because we hadn't eaten a good lunch and we didn't really know where to go in Greenville, post-eclipse was a bit of a disaster. We waited too long to be seated at a restaurant and ultimately gave up after almost 45 minutes because the girls were getting too cranky. We knew it would take a long time to get home as well. We had enough snacks that held everyone over as we slowly made our way home, and the girls napped. The four-hour trip took about 6-7 hours with a stop for dinner near Charlotte. It was close to midnight before we arrived home. Thankfully, the girls slept for most of the ride after dinner.

Finding food and shade at an Elementary school Eclipse viewing party in Greenville, SC

Rose would check on the sun's progress often during the hour we watched

It was difficult to capture the eclipse in a camera. I didn't bother trying to get the ring.

A glimpse of the total eclipse from Greenville, SC on August 21, 2017

Because we traveled to see the Eclipse, Rose missed the first soccer game of her career. While soccer runs in our veins, an eclipse is a pretty rare and memorable event worth missing soccer to see. Rose made up for it by being an attentive participant in the practice and scoring two goals in her game that followed the practice session. That first game we attended was pretty chaotic. Kids were picking up the ball all the time and clearly didn't know what to do. We were proud of Rose's ability to pay attention and participate. There were a few games after that first one where the other team was aggressive and we struggled through those with Rose. I'll admit, it is challenging to tell your child not to take things from people or push or hit and then try to teach them to be aggressive in sports.  

Rose's first soccer practice, held for 30 minutes before her first 30 minute game.
We missed the first week because of the Eclipse, so she had to wait for a shirt.

Rose scores a goal in her first soccer game

I finally captured some video footage of Zoe talking and singing. If she notices she's being recorded, she immediately runs to grab the camera. I'm surprised she let me take video of her singing. We did have a few outtakes before capturing this longer video. The teachers at Zoe's school say that her Spanish is very good. It's amazing to me that she can switch between English and Spanish so easily. I love getting to learn the songs she sings at school and I'm also glad that Rose is my translator. While I can speak and understand Spanish, understanding toddler Spanish without context is sometimes difficult. Rose often translates for us because she knows the songs, expressions, and/or words that Zoe has picked up at school.

Lots of singing at bedtime

Stay tuned for Miss Zoe's 2nd Birthday and more September updates!