Family vacation to Atlanta

Last week we took a family vacation to Atlanta for a few days. We planned our trip for the Fall since Barrett couldn't take any vacation time this summer. Caleb's preschool attendance policy is pretty strict, and he can only miss five vacation days for the entire year. So, we decided to push our trip to the end of the week so he would only miss two days of school. We left on Wednesday afternoon and drove the rest of the day to get to Atlanta. We stayed in a condo right in downtown, so we were close to almost everything we did. Thursday we walked to the Georgia Aquarium and spent most of the day there. We had a great time. The kids especially enjoyed the beluga whales and the shark whales. They have a gigantic viewing window of one of their biggest tanks of all sorts of marine life. We sat for a long time just looking at all the fish and stingrays and sharks. We also saw their 4-D movie, but the kids weren't too thrilled with that experience.

Touching an anemone:

Whale Shark: watching the 4-D movie:On Friday, it rained all day long, so we tried to do indoor activities. We went to the Coke Museum in the morning, and got to see how coke is made as well as try lots of different kinds of coke from all around the world. The kids were a little leary of it at first, but then they had fun trying some of the interesting flavors. In the afternoon, we walked around some of the malls in the area to have something to do. That evening, we had family movie night back at the condo and watched 101 Dalmations.

Sitting by the coke factory:

Choosing flavors of coke to try:

Not too sure about this flavor!: So many choices...

Family movie night:

On Saturday, we went to Stone Mountain Park. Stone Mountain is the largest mountain of exposed granite in the world. It is like a huge rock. There is a village you can walk through that includes a Blacksmith's forge and a glass blowing area. They have different shows and festivals going on as well. We went to a Science show for kids where they did some simple experiments and chose children from the audience to help. They learned about dry ice, carbon dioxide, and bubbles. Caleb really wanted to be chosen as a volunteer, and even jumped on his chair with his hand raised, but unfortunately, he wasn't picked. Caleb is really into science experiments, so he loved it. We also rode on the train that circled the mountain, and then rode the sky ride up the top of the mountain. We got to walk around at the top of the mountain for a while and saw the fence that surrounded the uppermost areas of the mountain. You could see how steeply the mountain declined beyond the fence; we didn't venture that far! It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. For dinner that night, we went to my old friend's house, Stephanie Cooke. She and I were best friends in high school. We hadn't seen each other in several years, so it was good to catch up and she had a chance to meet the kids.

Eating lunch at a restaurant that had a cool train suspended from the ceiling:

Playing in the bubbles: A carving of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis on the side of Stone Mountain: On the train:
On top of Stone Mountain: Our ride to the top of the mountain:Caleb the mountain climber:

Our trip was one of the best we've ever taken as a family. The kids did great in the car there and back, and Isabelle especially did exceptionally well. She is really growing up and it's getting easier to travel with her. She did without nap time the whole trip, and she did great. The kids were really worn out by the end of the day and pretty much went to sleep right away at night. We just all had a wonderful time and it was so nice to make some fun memories.

Fun at the Track

We took our first trip to The Track, a miniature amusement park in Destin that has bumper boats, small rides, go-carts, and mini-golf. Originally, we were going to play mini-golf because Caleb has been asking to go for months now. However, the other rides were too inticing, so we figured we would do the mini-golfing another day.

We rode on the bumper boats first(which also shot water) which were fun. We were the only ones in the water so we just chased each other around and got a little wet.

Then, we rode the go-carts. It was Caleb and Isabelle's first time to ride them, and they had a blast. Caleb was a little unsure when we first started, but then he got into it and had a great time. Isabelle had a huge smile on her face the entire time! After eating some yummy pizza at Mellow Mushroom, we ended the evening with some Dippin' Dots ice cream.

Ready, Set... Go!

Look at how fast we were going!

Pumpkin Patch

We visited the closest thing to a live pumpkin patch at one of the local churches over the weekend. The kids had fun chosing a pumpkin for our yard and looking at the neat gourds and mini pumpkins, but the highlight was the little petting zoo. The bunnies won out as favorite animal by far, and of course, Isabelle was right at home holding them.

Soccer games

Caleb played his third soccer game this morning, and he is loving it. He said that soccer is now his favorite sport. Both sets of grandparents as well as Aunt Susanne and cousin Elijah have been able to come to his games the last couple weeks, so that has been a lot of fun. *Note: there is a video clip from today's game at the bottom of this blog







This morning, only six players on his team were there for the game, so they all had to play the entire time. I could tell they were getting worn out by the end. Caleb definitely gets a ton of exercise during an hour game! During last week's game, Caleb got to play goalie and he did a great job. He was really intense and even dove after a few balls to keep the other team from scoring.


Caleb playing goalie:

The highlight of the game: snack and drink afterwards!

It has been a lot of fun for us to watch him play and see the fun he is having. You can watch a video clip from his game today:

A camping we will go....

The weather and timing were finally right for us to do what we have been talking about doing for several months- going camping! After the not-so-great camping experience we had with Caleb a few years ago (before Isabelle was born), we decided to make camp in the comfort of our own backyard. The weather could not have been nicer- it was the perfect camping weather. The kids were so excited. We began the evening grilling hotdogs, and then we toasted marshmallows over the grill and made smores.

YUM! We let the kids play past their usual bedtime, because we wanted to make sure they were good and tired before we attempted going to sleep in the tent. They were very cooperative when the time came to get into our sleeping bags and actually went to sleep very quickly. I couldn't believe how smoothly this camping experience was! We all went to sleep a little after 9:00 pm, and the kids slept through the night. Caleb was up first in the morning, and he and Barrett went inside. I laid there listening to the birds chirp for a little while and when I was about to leave the tent, realized that Isabelle was still sleeping. I thought she had gone in with the guys, but she was still sound asleep at almost 7 am! Barrett said that she should sleep in the tent more often:) It had been a while since I had been camping, and it made me appreciate again the comforts of a nice, cushy mattress. I believe that we have passed the test and are ready for more camping adventures beyond our backyard.