Weekend

Stepping outside of chronological order, I want to talk about this past weekend, and will try to tackle last week in the next day or so.  As it turns out, although our trip was spur of the moment and only to a neighboring state, we have over a thousand pics from those five days, and sorting through them has become a time-consuming task.  Trust me, you want me to edit. 

Sadly, I have the opposite problem from our weekend, as I forgot my camera, and therefore, have no supporting photos.  Anyrate, we went to Atlanta.  We recently upgraded our minivan, and our cousins from Austin were interested in our Chrysler minivan.  We never thought we would be minivan people, but we had the opportunity to purchase the Chrysler from Skip's uncle for such a reasonable price.  We gave it a shot, and we were completely won over.  Turns out, millions of people are right: the minivan is an incredibly practical choice for families.  Currently, my car is like my office, and having space and versatility are key.  Plus, everyone knows the minivan is a prerequisite for families seeking a road trip.  We developed an attachment to the Chrysler and were sad to see her go.  Luckily, she remains in the family for many continued years of use. 

We had a great visit with family, sang "Happy Birthday" to Poppa (Happy Birthday!) and then went to Ikea.  We are working on adding a couple of elements to the play room and are thinking, long-term, about transitioning from a preschooler's play room to an elementary school-age recreation room and study.  Since we have an eight month old, the transition will be a slow one, but we are trying to think ahead as we purchase new pieces.  Our inspiration for what the play room will one day be is...... drum roll.... the Apple stores.  Jobs' relationship with the design firm credited with the Apple stores is documented here (and if you do follow the link, know that we will not be utilizing glass, the stores' trademark).  Instead, we are looking at a workspace, such as this:

plus this:

and this:

plus this:

Since we will need to grow into these pieces, I am weighing how the aesthetic of these tables will be affected by using adjustable legs (via the Ikea build-a-table option) versus the tables, as shown. Therefore, we did not "pull the trigger" on these purchases Saturday, but we're almost 100% sure these are our choices.   They are sleek, will not overwhelm the room, and are quality pieces that can withstand years of use/abuse. 

Because the room is currently the complete opposite of minimalism, we have a long, long way to go -- so long that decreasing the table's height may not be a factor (not even for George).