little black journal

October!  Juliette and I came back from Savannah to a couple of open-armed boys.  Isaac was asleep by the time our plane landed, but his reunion with Sister the next morning was exuberant.

The rest of the month was fairly quiet – we stayed close to home, enjoyed our Fall rituals.  Juliette rocked the school Move-A-Thon and ran 22 laps around the school parking lot in just under 20 minutes!

Shane turned another year older on the 19th and while he didn’t get the Southern fine dining birthday experience that I enjoyed with Juliette, he did get a new pair of flannel pajama pants.  We’ll call it even?

We spent our Saturdays on the soccer field, cheering on Juliette in between our own sideline shenanigans.

And we spent our Sundays at our favorite parks, soaking in the autumnal colors.  Volunteer Park is an October must – Juliette’s hair matches the leaves!

My girl is such a champ, eager every time to climb the 100+ steps to the top of the water tower.

(Her hair goes well with brick tones, too…)

Goodness, how I love a good Fall romp with these kids.

Playground pay-off for letting Mom take 200 photos under the trees…

Isaac is so fun at the playground these days, independent and just the right amount of adventurous.  Spread those wings, Buddy…

Now someone buy these kids a hot chocolate or something!

(Done.)

Juliette and I brewed a couple of cocoas and picked up Isaac a little early on a Friday for a walk through Camp Long.

This little grove is a slice of Fall magic.

“Wait, Juliette!  WAIT!”  This boy does not like to bring up the rear.

Can we talk for a minute about how good he looks in the flannel that his Auntie bought him last year?

These walls push the limits of Isaac’s climbing skills (and my nerves), but Juliette is an excellent backstop.

My parents came to town at the end of month and settled right into our day-to-day.

And oh, the Halloween festivities!  The neighborhood was decked out with pumpkins and skeletons and giant spiders.  Isaac and I relished our evening “Spooky Walks”.

Isaac would hold the flashlight from the stroller, illuminating our way, and then yell “MOOKY!” (spooky) every time he saw a skeleton or ghost.

We ate croissants and carved pumpkins with the Chens on a gray Saturday morning.

Get it, girl.

And then…the costumes!  I bring you Mario (upside-down mustache and all) and his beloved Princess Peach.

I was thrilled to find that Isaac’s blue jumpsuit came with a built-in belly.

Who’s that creeping out of our house?

Juliette cringed a little…

But Isaac had nothing but pure adoration for his buddy Luigi.  Way to be the fun dad, Shane.

We spent the Friday before Halloween at Juliette’s school for the Monster Mash, which was festive and loud and chaotic, but also a wonderful chance for me to get some sunset Peach pics.

Halloween itself was WET.  We pushed through and trick-or-treated anyway, because that’s what Seattle kids do, but the rain was relentless.

Isaac really got the hang of trick-or-treating this year and wanted to hang as late as the big kids.  I couldn’t say no.

Eventually though, we called it and headed home to turn on the fireplace, put Harry Potter on the TV, and take inventory.  Soggy bags of M&Ms were discarded, but there were still plenty of plastic-wrapped sweets to go around.  HAPPY OCTOBER.

Our Friday drive to Savannah took longer than expected due to traffic, but Juliette and I leaned into the road trip vibes, cranked up the Chappell Roan, and dug into our snack stash.  Pink Pony Club became our southern anthem as we cruised under tunnels of oaks.

We got settled at our top-floor AirBnB late afternoon and took in the view from our corner window.  Score!

We set out in the evening in search of food and drink, but I was sidetracked around each bend by the abundance of Spanish moss.  It was all I hoped it would be.

Juliette is exceedingly patient with my constant snapping of photos – this was the point in our trip when she made a game out of really amping up her strut each time I pulled out my phone.

Oh-my-gosh-I-love-her-so-much.

We walked down sidewalks lined with brick and through squares shaded by towering, twirly oaks.

We landed a comfy couple of seats at Grove’s rooftop terrace and ordered up a Spritz for mama and a Rise and Shine for kiddo.  Juliette felt so fancy with her pineapple garnish – cheers, girlfriend.

We stayed here for awhile.  No need to rush!

Once we’d eaten and drank and finished our game of Rummy, we slowly moseyed on back to our room, passing through City Market and down Broughton.  The Friday night vibes were strong in this town.

Such a happy glimmer.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and full of charm.

We grabbed coffee and bagels and then walked over to the Jepson Center for an art fix.

The museum was small but lovely.  We lingered for a bit at the interactive Impressionist exhibit and then headed back out into the sunshine.

Our entry to the Jepson was bundled with a tour of the nearby Owens-Thomas house and slave quarters, so we walked that way.  These tree-filled squares, though!  They were everywhere and they were my favorite.

Our hour-long tour through the Owens-Thomas house was packed with information, but I reminded Juliette that there would be no test on this history lesson.  Instead, I told her just to take in what she could.  The juxtaposition of master versus servant quarters was powerful.  And gosh, Juliette’s ears really perked up when she learned that the Marquis de Lafayette, her favorite character from Hamilton, had stayed at that very house.

After our house tour, we decided to book a couple of tickets on the town trolley so that we could do some seated sight-seeing.  It was a short walk to the trolley stop, but again, the moss.  Couldn’t help ourselves.

We hopped off the trolley near the river and grabbed lunch at The Pirate’s House, which was a quirky little place.  Quirky good?  Or quirky weird?  Who can say?

It was short walk to the next trolley stop, where we perched on a bench to wait for our pickup.  We watched the sweetest, happiest couple take their wedding pics.  Lotta love in the air that day.

The trolley took us down to Forsyth Park, which is basically one of those darling town squares times ten.  Stunning.

We strolled back toward our AirBnB, making a stop at Mirabel for iced tea and iced coffee.  Patio table dreams.

Back on our feet, with more delight around each bend.

THE SQUARES!

This one was the setting for the opening scene of Forrest Gump.  Southern as southern gets.

We chilled at our room for awhile and then went back out to do a little shopping.  We had seen lots of people toting bags of Byrd’s “tiny, crispy, cookies” and decided we needed to fill a small sampler box for ourselves.  Two thumbs up for their key lime coolers.

Juliette was craving sushi (which for her, means edamame and cucumber rolls), so we grabbed a table Coco and Moss.  Felt good to eat something green.

Goodnight, Savannah.  Time to get back to our room to do face masks and watch The Notebook!

We had a Sunday evening flight back home, which left us with the full morning to wander and charm-seek.  We found a sweet little patio table at Franklin’s and took our time eating our pastries and sipping our drinks.

I felt like my conversations with Juliette just got better and better as the week went on.  No shortage of things to talk about with this girl.

I wanted to walk along nearby Jones Street, which was rumored to be the loveliest street in Savannah, but I mean really, aren’t they all lovely?

Jones was awfully nice.

And when near Forsyth Park…you go back!

We found a bench and I painted Juliette’s nails and we read for awhile.

There was a musician playing kids’ tunes on his trumpet for an intrigued toddler and Juliette and I watched with a smile and a bit of longing as the little boy clapped and danced.  It was time to get home to our guys.

Final sidewalk snaps…

A signing of the guest book…

And one last square…

We loved Savannah so much.  We loved our time together SO MUCH.  Next time someone says, “picture your happy place”, I think that bench at Forsyth Park may come to mind.  Spanish moss glowing overhead.  Fountain tinkling in the distance.  Juliette at my side.  Sun on our shoulders.  I’m so thankful.

Juliette and I had such a ball galavanting around Paris last October that I wanted to make our mother-daughter getaway an annual thing.  We don’t need to jet off to Europe every year, per se, but I figured we could swing some sort of trip together to do some exploring and focus on each other without little brother interjecting himself into any and every conversation.  I’ve had the South on my to-visit list for some time now and Shane…has not, so I asked Juliette if she wanted to spend a few days romping around Charleston and Savannah and she said OF COURSE and I bought tickets and we kissed our guys goodbye and we were off!

We arrived at our little AirBnB carriage house on a Wednesday afternoon, ditched our sweaters, and set out to grab a snack before our late-evening dinner reso.

This place was going to do juuuuust fine.

We found acai bowls and tons of shopping on nearby King Street.  Plus plenty of charm and twinkle to boot.

We had a bit of time to rest and settle into our cozy quarters before dinner.  What this place lacked in square footage, it made up for with character!

I wanted to do something a little fancy, it being my birthday and all, and Husk did not disappoint.

Get a load of the porch on this place!

The roast chicken was tender, the cocktails were crisp, and the company was perfection.

Such a birthday treat.

Thursday was dedicated to roaming around Charleston.  We had a few sights on our to-see list, but found that we loved the in-between strolls as much as anything.

First stop:  Harken Cafe for coffee and scones.  Loved the cozy vibes here.

We took a spin through the Charleston City Market and Juliette picked out a pair of earrings for herself and for a friend.  We bought a toy car for Isaac, not because he needed it, but because we missed him so dang much and it felt nice to have a Hotwheels in our bag, like we were carrying around a little piece of him.

More walking, more charming street scenes…

And then we landed at the International African American Museum, where we spent a couple of hours processing the South’s black history.  There was obviously much more there than we could unpack in a single morning, but we scratched the surface of Gullah Geechee culture, sat with the region’s painful stories of oppression, and spent several minutes marveling over this hand-beaded Mardi Gras garb.

We lunched and got off our feet for awhile at Fleet Landing.  Best crab cakes I’ve had in a long, long time.

After lunch…more walking!  Through Waterfront Park, along the Battery, then through the French Quarter.  We racked up our steps, but we also took our time and chatted and laughed along the way.  UN-hurrying felt so good.

The trees in these parks!  The dappled-light tunnels they make are magical.

Back at our AirBnB, we took advantage of the well-stocked fridge and the breezy porch.

We drove over to Sullivan’s Island for dinner and sunset beach time.  The pizza and gnocchi at Obstinate Daughter hit the spot after a long day of walking.

Man, I’m funny sometimes.  I wish I could remember what had this kid laughing so hard.

We landed at the beach with about an hour till sunset and did a little walking before finding our perfect patch of sand.

We really did miss Isaac, but we also really leaned into the opportunity to kick back with our books.

Although who are we kidding?  This girl loves to run almost as much as her kid brother.

Getting closer…

We stayed till the sun fully dipped below the horizon and then I said something silly that had us both doubled over with laughter and it’s hard for me to put into words how thankful I am for how much freaking fun I have with my daughter.  Also, how thankful I am that Shane happily holds down the fort at home while we giggle on a beach clear across the country.  What a gift.

On Friday we hit the road to Savannah for Part II of our southern tour.  First, though, tea in the salon…  I could tell Juliette felt very fancy, perched on a velvet couch in a room covered in floral wallpaper.  When in Charleston…

We stopped at Church and Union before hitting the road and did our daily NY Times word puzzles over bacon and cinnamon rolls.

In the name of taking our time, we detoured to Folly Beach to read on the pier and put our feet in the surf.

Pineapple whip?  Don’t mind if we do…  Perfect road trip snack as we head to SAVANNAH.  Comin’ right up.