Saturday, August 10, 2013

Garrett and His Mom Meet Up

It has always taken me a few months to find friends when I move to a new place. With the exception of Austin, I found dear friends there almost immediately - a fluke. I have several wonderful friends in San Antonio after living here for 3 years, but some of them work, or live far away, etc. So when Garrett started having a more predictable nap schedule, I decided it was time we make some "baby friends" - i.e. time for baby AND adult interaction, and a good excuse to get out of the house. There's a website I had been aware of for a while but had never tried, called meetup.com, where you can join different groups with different interests in your area. Great! Sign me up! But, y'all, there are mommy groups a-plenty. So I joined two: a Christian moms' group in my area (everyone's houses and most of the meet-ups are less than 10 minutes away) and a "crunchy" moms' group (members of this group live all over town, so sometimes we have to drive a bit). We have had the best time! Garrett has made lots of good friends and we have seen parts of San Antonio we might have otherwise missed.

One of my favorite places so far is the Japanese Tea Garden. My crunchy moms' group took a field trip to ride the train at the zoo a few weeks ago. One of the stops that the train makes is at this garden, which from the street doesn't look like much other than a hike up some rock steps (daunting to me since I have 25 extra pounds to tote around on my hip). But when you get to the top ... breathtaking.
Made it to the top! Garrett is appreciating the beauty.
The cool stone pavilion at the top
The gardens are a former quarry, owned by the City of San Antonio Parks & Recreation.
Not sure you can see them in this photo, but there are koi in the water below.
Another group I joined a little more recently is a Christian moms' group headquartered in my neck of the woods. We see this group 2-3 times a week on average as our tradition is to do some kind of activity in the morning before G's first nap. The other moms are really lovely and have welcomed us. We have gone to several play dates at people's houses, lunch out, library baby time, open play at a children's gym (which Garrett LOVED), etc.

Yesterday, the group did something really cool. One of the organizing moms is expecting her second child so we threw her a surprise baby shower! We were able to meet in a room at a local library, and it just so happened to be a book shower! I thought this was just the cutest idea. Each mom brought one of her favorite children's books and a snack to go along with it. I brought the book A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams and, since there's a chocolate cake on the cover, chocolate mini cupcakes. I geeked out a little on the presentation, as Russ so kindly pointed out, and built a mini-chair (that resembled the one in the book, of course) on which to display my cupcakes. I actually held back a little because I really wanted to upholster it properly. But I also love the fabric so I just wrapped it around some boxes and can use for another project in the future.

The chair from the book, for comparison's sake. :)
I loved a few of the other combos as well...
Eight Silly Monkeys with mini bananas, Green Eggs and Ham with ham & pesto sandwiches, and Peter Rabbit's Hello, Peter! with carrots & dip
The Very Hungry Caterpillar with fruit and Barnyard Dance with pigs in a blanket
Blueberries for Sal with blueberry pie and blueberry lemonade
And a couple more shots of the festivities ...
A dozen or so moms and even more kids means the party was pretty much complete pandemonium.
The mom-to-be-again, Candice, and me & Garrett.

No comments:

Post a Comment