Sam and I spent the Sunday before last at one of our favorite spots – the Georgia Aquarium. We were there very early, and beat the crowds. On top of that, we managed to watch as the sea lions were fed – they were amazing. Sam nearly took a nap in the quiet of the main tank viewing room, but didn’t succumb in the end. Full gallery is here.
Sam gets jiggy with his neighborhood friends in the bouncy castle at the annual Rosalia Street block party recently. He had an absolute blast!
With Amy pulling seven gigs in three days, I 
was Mr. Mom, and looking for things to entertain Sammy. On Saturday, we headed out with Sam’s future wife and his parents to a ‘u-pick-’em’ strawberry farm near McDonough, GA. With flavor you just don’t get from supermarket specimens, and at $8.50 a bucket (around 5 pounds worth), it was well worth it. And Sammy and Sophie had an absolute blast. There is a great website (Atlanta-area farms here) that catalogs all these self-picking farms across the country – we plan to hit the blueberry and fig farms later this summer. And maybe then Sam will get to see Old McDonald – he kept asking for him! We finished the day with a wonderful lunch (shrimp and grits, mmm) at a cute place in McDonough called Truman’s – well worth the visit. More photos of the outing are here. (Photo at right of Sam’s hand with a strawberry by my friend Joel Silverman, photographer extraordinaire. See his site here).
Our friends held a joint party for their 2-year-old daughters, Shoshanah and Amelia, who welcomed all their friends for a messy party involving bubbles, fingerpaint, potting soil and play-dough. Thank goodness it was indoors – the weather turned cold and windy Sunday. As you can see, Sam threw himself into the event with gusto, turning a cupcake into a vehicle for frosting. He was a big fan of the ‘decorate your own cupcake’ table and spent much of his time there. More photos are here.