Happy New Year, Fam... '23 Is Already Off To A Great Start!
12 Midnight I brought in the new year already on a big-time high note. Monster 1, Lennon by my side, Monster 2, Leo comfortably in his bed dreaming of cheese crackers. Both of my amazing parents and Heidi Joy giving me virtual kisses through a FaceTime call from a much-needed trip to see her bestie. As we sipped our Welch’s Sparkling Strawberry Daquiri, I took a deep breath and welcomed the new year.
The morning of January 1st, 2023 my body naturally woke at 8:30 am followed by Leo excitedly coming in to show me his newest erector set creation, a man in a top hat. As he’s showing me how it works names are flowing on what to call this guy… we land on Spaghetti Douglas!
Me: “Hey Leo, want to make some gingerbread man waffles?!”
Leo: “YES!”
We got busy, making enough for everyone. By that time Lennon and my parents came down so we all enjoyed breakfast together complete with Lennon reading the Sunday funnies.
After crushing my share, I peeped my phone,
“Bruh, it’s going to be 65 degrees today?!”
So with breakfast done, we got dressed and made plans around our new year hike!
After a quick AllTrails search, we landed on the Accoceek Loop Trail at Crows Nest Natural Area Preserve in Stafford VA. This place is awesome! An area rich in Native American history and favorite of my parents. The preserve in total is just over 3115 acres and supports 895 acres of tidal and non-tidal wetlands in Stafford Co.
I packed snacks, filled our water bottles and we all had our boots on and out the door all before 11:30 am 🙌🏾 … we out here.
OH, and I felt it needed to be mentioned, my guy Leo even started wiping his own butt … ‘23 WE REALLY OUT HERE!
When we got to the preserve both the boys eagerly jumped out of the truck hard set and basically arguing over who was gonna be the leader as my mom and I laughed shaking our heads. They took off, we followed.
We each found the perfect walking stick and hit the Accocreek trail, a mild 2.7-mile stretch with great twists and turns. But, not before the boys stopped a million times to admire the beautiful mosses, turn logs & collect acorns, all stops I no doubt welcomed!
As we are walking we are all in awe of just how beautiful it is outside… it’s 65 and sunny. We then see a trailhead for a birding pond, so of course, the hunt was on to find it!
A little way in, and just as Lennon starts to doubt its existence we find it! A relatively new all-wooden structure or “blind” with multiple sliding windows for stealthy bird watching. We saw a couple of migratory birds but the boys were more interested in sliding shards of ice across the frozen pond… on a 65 degree day in January!
While we saw other cars on the way in, this preserve is so huge we basically had this entire area to ourselves! So we kicked it for about 30 then made the trek back to the truck, snacks definitely on the boy’s brains.
Driving home the boys got a surprise FaceTime call from their aunt and cousin in Norfolk then my mom treated us to some lunch outside! Lennon and I had sushi from Publix, a personal cheese pizza for Leo, and an amazing huge gyro for moms from the new Manhattan Pizza nearby. I know I know a Manhattan Pizza in Stafford Va… I’ll admit, I was shocked that it was actually really good and held its weight!
We got home, and as we are kicking our boots off, Lennon reminds my mom that he collected acorns and actually had a pocket full! So she and I planted a few in hopes that they germinate and give us trees.
[Want free trees for your yard or just to help the environment? Look out for my upcoming blog on The Arbor Foundation]
Once planted, I got to kick it with my dad in his studio as we talked shop and looked over an amazing new piece he’s currently working on. At the moment he’s at about 16 hours of work in on it!
After distracting him enough, I let him get back to work as I headed outside to work on a piece of my own while watching the sunset, “Unknown Mortal Orchestra” came through my headphones. After putting in some work I walked in to a request from Leo to “draw and cut things out” which turned into a full-blown doodling and coloring session with both the monsters!
And then Lennon and Leo got yet another FaceTime call, this time from their Uncle and cousin in California!
Lennon got to flex on the keyboard for his uncle playing his favorites “Fur Elise” and “Giorno's Theme” [Here he is last year playing a “Heart & Soul” duet with Heidi Joy on the “Grand Piano” found at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum] only to receive a roaring applause via FaceTime. Shortly after Leo got to teach his uncle how to play Buildzi, one of his favorite games Heidi Joy and I scooped at a small shop called “Like A Sailor” on a recent trip to Cape Charles VA.
After that it was time for a bath, then a good book. As I’m tucking them in they were both extra silly, sweet & giggly claiming they were statues in need of extra kisses in order to go to bed.
An INCREDIBLE day and a terrific way to bring in the new year!