To Grandma's House We Went

We started our week-long adventure this week with a visit to my grandmother's house.  I got an early Christmas present (a new camera lens!), and I was eager to capture the fall colors.  It was a beautiful hour and a half in the car.

 Ella was eager to look at the beauty around her, too.

 

 James was eager to...do whatever he wanted.

Ella practiced her gymnastics.  We used to ride on the seesaw and swing on old wooden swings on this frame.  I didn't realize until Monday that my great-grandfather had made the swing set.

 What's that I see?

{I think he was looking for bad guys to shoot with his fireballs.

I kid you not.}

 

Our latest trick for getting natural smiles out of James is to tell him to tell someone about Mario.  He lights up.  My mom reminded me of Ella's young obsession with The Little Mermaid, so this phase will pass, I suppose.  For now, even with 5 days away from the Wii, he did not forget about Mario and Luigi.

Ever since Alabama History in the 4th grade I've remembered that the camellia was the state flower, but I didn't know they bloomed in the winter.  My grandmother said they normally bloomed in January, but her bush was covered in buds this week.

Leaves, leaves, leaves.  I've spent the past week soaking in their loveliness, "drinking them in," as Anne would say.