Our World

Fall farm festival

2011-10-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

We spent a Saturday at Southern Belle Farms in McDonough, Ga. Pig races, hay rides, corn maze, etc. Lots of fun. The girls had a great time.

Sisters & friends

Hill roll

Hill roll junior

Pigs can swim. Who knew?

Julia nd the girls in the "cow train."

Summer emerges from the slide.

On the hayride.

Looking at hay on the hayride.

Chilling on the hayride.

Hayride self-portrait.

In the corn maze.

Clueless.

Taking a break in the grass with daddy.

Willow took this.

Willow took this too.

Tractor.

Exiting the John Deere.

Heading home.

Corn maze GPS path plot I made of our adventure.

Willow in the corn playhouse.

Carnival night (shot with film)

2011-10-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Oakhurst neighborhood festival

2011-10-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Summer's museum field trip

2011-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Camping 2011

2011-09-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Brushing teeth.

Discussing the day.

Standing guard, in case food drops or something.

Leaves

A happy girl in the woods.

Making silly faces.

Cold creek.

Hypnotizing daddy with her eyes.

More creek play.

Hot chocolate by the campfire on a chilly morning. Yum.

Peek.

Julia makes kombucha

2011-09-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Julia made a mother batch of kombucha on Sunday. Willzy got a taste too.

Face painting

2011-09-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

Julia has serious face painting skills.

First day of school. August 2011

2011-08-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Little People

2011-08-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

Daddy took Summer and Willow to see a live performance of Little People at Zoo Atlanta in August, 2011. We went early for the zoo members show.

Capitola vacation

2011-07-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time visiting friends and relatives in Northern California this summer, in July 2011. Here are some pics.

Peace , Love and Bugs

2011-05-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

The second annual "Peace, Love and Bugs" festival at Atlanta Progressive preschool on April 23, 2011. Lotsa fun.

We're back

2011-05-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

We got rid of the mamahikes.com domain because Julia doesn't have time for it. So we'll be blogging here again until further notice. Hello again.

This was our 2010...

2011-01-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

... in photos. With sound. Press play.
http://www.mamahikes.com/ourworld/

Remember, Ron is migrating his contributions to this blog to http://mamahikes.com/blog/

New blog site

2010-12-31T06:41:00.000-08:00

Our new blog, at least the one Ron will be updating, is located at http://mamahikes.com/blog/. It's a smarter, more flexible Wordpress platform. Please join us there. Thanks.

Another Lazy Sunday

2010-10-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

3-year-old does "Office Space"

2010-08-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Asheville, NC

2010-08-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

We stayed at a log cabin in Asheville, NC for a few days. It was a nice getaway.

Jeep Girls

2010-07-08T04:06:00.001-07:00

Fourth of July at Ansley Park

2010-07-08T04:02:00.001-07:00

The Wailers

2010-07-08T03:54:00.000-07:00

The Wailers were great in Candler Park music festival. Summer had a great time singing and dancing to songs she's knows already. Good times. This was from June 9, 2010.

Willow at Enota

2010-07-08T03:48:00.000-07:00

Art-B-Que

2010-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

We all went to Art-B-Que, an artists and BBQ festival in Avondale Estates, Ga.
Good times were had.

Mother's Day Hike

2010-05-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

We hiked at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. It was great.

Batter up!

2010-05-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

Building a bird's nest

2010-05-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Summer do neat stuff. Like building bird nests. See... (This is from March 30, 2010)

Decatur Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-10T20:24:00.001-07:00

Daddy took Summer and Willow to the Downtown Decatur Easter Egg Hunt earlier this month. Big fun.

And more pics

2010-04-10T20:21:00.001-07:00

One more batch of Easter week pics:

More Easter week pics

2010-04-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pics from the trip:

Easter Week road trip

2010-04-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

The family went on an Easter week road trip to visit my family in Delaware. Everyone had a great time. The girls did well in the car for hours on end, and Buster sat between their car seats for much of the trip. He got lots of love. :) Here are some pics.

Meanwhile...

2010-02-13T08:44:00.001-08:00

... baby Willow looks like she ate one grape too many. :)

Tea Party!

2010-02-13T08:43:00.001-08:00

Summer headed out for a Valentine's-themed tea party today. Something was bugging her, but she looked cute anyway.

Better version of Willow walking

2010-02-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Bookstore day

2010-01-17T15:24:00.000-08:00

Summer and Daddy went to the bookstore on Sunday for an MLK-themed reading for children. Afterward, she wanted to run. :)

At the High Museum

2010-01-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

We went to the High Museum in Atlanta on Sunday. It was a nice change of pace. Summer said most of the paintings looked like "worms." Decent assessment. Here are a couple of pics of Willow in the hands-on children's area.

Willow turns One!

2009-12-30T08:09:00.000-08:00

Summer's sunset

2009-12-28T07:16:00.000-08:00

Summer asked me to take a photo of a pretty sunset over the weekend. How could I say no?

More Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

Summer gets fudge for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Buster monitors things, because when people leave food out around the house, he's pretty much the clean-up crew.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

Willow and Summer get dressed to go out to a friend's house in the evening.

Gingerbread House

2009-12-15T20:56:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Aunt Liz, we had a wonderful gingerbread house to build. We were happy to have the Roark Family over to help us. Summer and Avery ate so much candy we didn't even have enough to make the pathway. We did an extra good job brushing teeth that night!

Summer's Fashion Show

2009-12-15T20:42:00.001-08:00

Summer loves to dress-up. She loves her new backpack that her Cousin Annie passed down to her and she loves her sunglasses.

Willow watches the fashion show.

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-15T20:26:00.001-08:00

We got another great Christmas tree at Pike Nursery this year. The salesperson offered to take our photo. When Willow woke up she was all smiles when she saw the tree as was Summer. When Ron said, "Where's the tree?" Willow whipped her head around and glanced at the tree behind her and said "Tee!"

Baby in a box

2009-12-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Willow can say "(ba)nana." She can do the sign "more" and "eat" as well as say, "eat." She can give daddy a kiss and climb on, up and inside of everything. She was very proud of herself when she learned to climb in this box.

Thankgiving

2009-12-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

We missed having Thanksgiving with our families, but we are blessed with wonderful friends and neighbors. We enjoyed an eclectic feast of turkey with the works a few delicious Trinidadian and Indian dishes and lasagna. Great food, great company!

Summer turns 3 (Part 2)

2009-11-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

And here are some photos from her second b-day party on Nov. 16:

Summer turns 3

2009-11-28T07:06:00.001-08:00

Summer turned three years old and had two birthday parties to celebrate. Here are some photos from her first party on Nov. 15. It was a great day.

We raked a lot of leaves today. So did the girls.

2009-11-09T04:55:00.001-08:00

Summer Poses

2009-11-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, amid a mound of clothes-to-be-folded, Summer decided to put on daddy's shirt. Then she needed a hat, then she decided to do a photo shoot, just like school, so she pulled up a chair and positioned it at an angle from me and looked over her shoulder. She's awesome.

More Sweetwater State Park

2009-10-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

A few more pics from Friday's hike:

Sweetwater State Park

2009-10-09T18:41:00.001-07:00

Ron has 4-day weekend, so we kicked it off right by taking a nice hike in Sweetwater State Park in Lithonia Springs, GA. It's just about 40 minutes from our house, but we've never been before. Except Ron went to nearby Austell once for a tennis tournament last year. Pics, of course. Enjoy!

Lazy Sunday

2009-09-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here's how we roll in the backyard on a Sunday.

Summer singing

2009-09-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

This would be the perfect cute little movie, if Daddy hadn't barked at her in the middle to finish her song. She got him back later by climbing up his back and bonking him on the head.

Summer's first tennis lesson!

2009-07-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Summer played tennis for the first time ever, with her new racket daddy got her.
Lesson summary: She hit two backhands and threw her racket down and went for cookies.
That's my girl!

Sprinklers

2009-07-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Doggie Business

2009-07-03T07:22:00.004-07:00

An oldie but a goodie. Buster and Bailey playing in Mountain View, Calif.

Jump Around

2009-07-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

We went to a jumpy house place yesterday for some fun. Avery went too.

CD Review

2009-06-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

This was a pretty decent debut album from Angel Taylor, if you like light pop:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061601582.html
or
http://www.seattlepi.com/pop/1403ap_us_music_review_angel_taylor.html

Botanical Garden afternoon

2009-06-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

We went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden last week. Lotsa fun. Here are some pics. There's a little stage in the kids section, and Summer and Willow performed "Othello," or something. :)

the pic above was taken at the swimming pool the following day.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T11:18:00.001-07:00

The whole family went to northernmost Georgia for Memorial Day weekend. Our good friends hosted a wonderful time at their cabin and the kids had a blast. Here are a couple of pics and a link to a slideshow with music. The slideshow is about 5 minutes long, but worth every second, we think. It's gorgeous up there. Enjoy.

Little sleepyheads

2009-05-26T05:42:00.001-07:00

Summer's first corn on the cob!

2009-05-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Nuff said.

Sounds of Willow

2009-05-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

Popsicles

2009-05-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Amy and Avery came over in the afternoon. We hung out in the backyard, had dinner and the girls had popsicles. See...

Our new pet worms!

2009-04-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

We're supporting Summer's school and composting at the same time. The school sold worm bins at the Earth Day Festival and we are now making good use of ours, with Summer's help.

Arabia Mountain hike

2009-04-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

We went on a hike at Arabia Mountain Tuesday afternoon with the Roarks and all of our dogs. It was great. The girls had a good time. Arabia Mountain is composed primarily of exposed granite, but we mostly hiked the low area by trees and streams. (Note: Parts of Pet Cemetary II were filmed here. Creepy, huh?)

Here's a bunch of pics:

Diamorpha cymosa

The girls.

Summer does the victory dance on top of a huge stack of mulch.

The Roarks do the big victory "hands up."

Mommy and Willow.

Summer makes sure Willow gets kisses.

Avery and Amy.

Rudy chases the geese. He went so far out. Good swimmer.

Rudy emerges, wet and geese-less.

Summer takes a walk in the creek.

Buster splashing.

Toby, Rudy and Buster.

Toby.

Lights Out!

2009-04-14T16:21:00.001-07:00

A storm knocked down a lot of trees and left nearly half of Atlanta and Decatur in the dark on Monday. We went without power from 9 a.m. until bedtime. We lit candles and played Yahtzee. Julie won.

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

We went to church this morning (Easter Sunday). There was an egg hunt for the kids. Here's Summer doing some collecting, for which she recieved candy in return from the big kids running the show. :)

Kim's visit part 2

2009-04-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from Kim's vist. Thanks to Kimmie for the great shots!

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

2009-04-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

We went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on a gorgeous Saturday with Ron's sister Kim.

Shutterbug Ron

2009-04-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

I was Googling around tonight and found out that the New York Times published two of my photos to go along with two stories they did. I guess I don't suck with a camera after all.

Thanks Times.
- me

Majora Carter, who unfurled a Tibetan flag during the Olympic torch run in S.F.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/nyregion/11carter.html

and

Larry Norman, lead singer for the 60s psychedelic band People! He was blind when I interviewed him a year before his death, and held my hand the whole time we talked, squeezing occasionally when he wanted to emphasize something. I'll never forget him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/arts/music/04norman.html

Summer & Willow

2009-03-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

Summer decided to read "Little Gorilla" to Willow.

Trucks!

2009-03-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

It was Touch-A-Truck day at the parking lot for Decatur High School on Saturday. County emergency vehicles were on full display for kids to climb on. Summer did so.

The wacky twosome

2009-03-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here they are again, up to something.

Summer and Willow

2009-03-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

Found this shot of them hanging out in Summer's bed. It's from Feb. 7, 2009.

First haircut, continued

2009-03-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

More...

Summer's first haircut

2009-03-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Summer got her first haircut today. A cut and style (with product), actually. Very big deal. She went to Salon Red on Ponce in downtown Decatur. Not a tear was shed by Summer, just by Julia. But it was all totally adorable.

Seeds

2009-03-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Summer and Mommy planted radish seeds today. They'll sit on the kitchen window sill and grow, day by day.

Willow's First Smile

2009-03-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

note: Willow had her first laugh on 3/13/09 while Mommy played peek-a-boo with her. Also, Summer makes her smile all the time now. A beaming smile!

Summer the Baker

2009-03-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Summer loves to cook in the kitchen. Here she is making cookies. Of course any good chef knows you have to taste the food before it goes out.

watching the cookies bake....

Backyard Snowboarding

2009-03-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

Snow in Atlanta

2009-03-02T07:17:00.000-08:00

Lots of snow came down yesterday. Ron took some pics too.

Let it snow!!!

2009-03-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

It snowed today!! After a church service where the pastor referenced the movie, "It's A Wonderful Life," the scene at the end where the snow is falling, we proceeded to walk outside to huge snowflakes falling from the sky. Very amusing!
We had a blast playing in the snow and it really was beautiful, a winter wonderland!

The garden's survived many frosts. Not sure in the collards and cabbage will live through the snow though.

Summer's first snowman. Mommy helped.

Buster's not so sure about this snow thing but nothing will keep him from his soccer ball!

Round 2: Notice that Summer is wearing a new outfit. After a hot shower, cocoa and girl scout cookies she's ready for some more snow fun. How could I say no? This kind of snow storm only happens every 10 years, or so, here in Atlanta... and anyway, that's what the washing machine's for.

"I'm cold mama."

Summer and Buster

2009-02-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

We went to the park today. Summer had a great time on the playground. Swinging. Climbing. Crawling and twisting in tubes. Here are some pics from today, and one from a different park at the end.

Buster went to the dog park. A yappy dog ekpt following him, barking at him. Buster ignored him for about 5 minutes, until he finally had enough and turned and confronted the dog and pushed him away. When Buster turned his back the dog came and nipped him on the ear. Nothing major, but he did get blood on his neck and he looked like he'd just killed a dozen chickens. Buster never acted like he felt a thing. Ron gave him a bath, a bone and that was that.

Valentine's Tea Party

2009-02-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

Bill (Avery's Papa) took some great pics at the Valentine's tea party. We had such a great time and it was the cutest thing ever!

She's a natural! Don't you love how she hold's her little pinky up?

And another cookie....

Willow

Good Friends Shootin' the Breeze

Avery Doing One Of Her Favorite New Things, Holding Willow

willow is a month old

2009-02-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

willow is a month and a week old. here i sit typing with one hand (hence the lower case) while holding a baby that doesn't like to be put down and hoping i don't misspell any words for lack of sleep and trying to hurry for i'm sure i'll have to nurse, fold laundry or some other task before the night is through. i'm glad ron is covering summer bath duty tonight.

also i added some cute pictures of summer with pigtails.

-julia

Willow's 1st bath

2009-01-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

Summer checks the closet for monkeys. All clear.

Bath in progress, with quality control.

"I'm getting all cleans up!"

"Easy on my soft spot mom."

"I'm good to go."

Willow is 2 wks. old.

2009-01-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

We made it through the first two weeks and we have survived...so far. Here are some pics to prove it. Any advice from parents of two is much appreciated!

Baby feet

2009-01-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

Mason Mill

2009-01-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Ron took Summer and Buster to the off-leash/hiking area at Mason Mill park to meet up with Summer's friend Avery.

Cute stuff ensued.

Hi. I'm new here.

2008-12-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

There's a new person on earth. We'd like to introduce you to her. This is Willow Star Harris. She was born yesterday (Dec. 30, 2008) at Emory HealthCare's Crawford Long Hospital in downtown Atlanta, Ga. at 2:30 p.m. She was 7 lbs. 6 oz., 17 inches long. She has a great disposition and dreamy eyelashes.

We hope you all can meet her soon.

Willow Star Harris

Willow and Mommy

Summer says hello to "baby sister."

Julia, her mother Jennifer, Summer and little Willow.

Hot Dogs & Paper Hats!

2008-12-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

Our good friend Julie had a layover in Atlanta on her way back West. How do you kill 2.5 hours in Atlanta? Well you start at The Varsity, of course.

The gang.

Summer liked the big gumball machine.

Summer wouldn't wear the hat. What a little upstart.

Julie brought us shells from Sanibel Island. They look better than they taste.

Scenes from Christmas Day

2008-12-25T11:48:00.001-08:00

Summer's first tricycle

Buster's first chipmunk

Summer's new latch board.

Ron's new winter pullover.

Summer gets sick

2008-12-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

Summer was sick a couple of weeks before Christmas with a double ear infection. She's all better now, but this is how she spent much of her time; curled up with her fuzzy friends on the couch.

Summer helps w/ the Christmas tree

2008-12-25T11:45:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Summer, Julia and Jennifer went to Christmas Eve service at the church where Summer attends pre-school. Here are some photos of Summer before she left.

The Pink Pig!

2008-12-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

Finally, we got around to the Pink Pig, a little tram for kids that has been a part of Macy's in the Buckhead area of Atlanta for years. It began as a suspension tram on top of the old Rich's department store decades ago. Now, it's on a proper rail in a tent full of pink stuff. We went with the Roarks, and Summer and Avery seemed to like it.

Thanks for the nightmares daddy.

Weeee!

The crew on the pig.

"Priscilla," the original Pink Pig tram thingie.

Ooooh....cameras!

2008-12-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

Shopping for a new camera for the holidays? Of course you are. Well, I take a lot of photos, use a lot of cameras (and I've got a lot of geek cred), so AP asked me to write a digital camera and camcorder gift guide story. It may be of some help if you're in the market. Links below.

(P.S. Thanks Amy, Kevin & Julia for helping me take a boatload of photos with the various cameras.)

- ron

The article can be read at:
Fox News
Forbes
The Chicago Tribune
Newsday
and of course, at Georgia's own Macon Telegraph.

Snowboarding

2008-12-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

Of course Julia didn't go snowboarding, but I'm posting this photo to remind her how awesome she is anyway. I'll get her back on the slopes as soon as we stop making all these babies. :)

Rain romp!

2008-11-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

It rained today, so Julia dressed Summer up in her rain gear and they went on a puddle hunt.

Summer likes to stomp in puddles of water.

Thanksgiving Dinner

2008-11-29T08:31:00.001-08:00

Q.) How geeky is Summer's daddy?

2008-11-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

A.) Very. Here's the proof, a shot of Ron's office on the average morning. Three computers running on three different screens, with three different keyboards (because KVM switching just isn't good enough) running a blend of Microsoft XP/Ubuntu Studio dual-boot, rendering video, editing photos, reading e-mail, avoiding Facebook, reading the news, and it's all wirelessly networked to both an Xbox 360 and a Sony PS3.