Fall break fun day

School's out, so we headed to out of town and to the big city.

Our first stop was Imagine It, the Atlanta Children's Museum. The boys came here a couple of summers ago and loved it. Jack has been asking to come back ever since.

Sam is obviously not interested in what that card has to say. The World of Coca-Cola was our next stop. The boys were so excited about the "Coke factory."

Ready for the 4D movie.

By far their favorite part was the tasting room.

Sam took full advantage of our once-in-a-lifetime open invitation to drink all he wanted. I'm pretty sure he drank a whole 20 oz worth of Coke.

Whew...it's over!

Yes, the inaugural Kitchens that Cook is officially over. Could you hear my deep sigh of relief on Saturday around 6:30? I would have liked to have seen a little more traffic, but for the first time holding the event and the fact that it was a holiday weekend, we were not disappointed. I don't know the final numbers, but we raised about $5,000. Josh enjoyed cooking & filming with Kathy. We heard lots of positive feedback, and we're hoping it can become an annual event.

I was thankful to have my mom come up and watch Jack for us most of the day on Saturday. Dad was able to join us for dinner. He brought Jack a harmonica, which he enjoyed playing. After cleaning up the depot, putting in an appearance at the after-party, I was ready to crash...but managed to stumble into El Campesino with the rest of the family for dinner.

Sunday morning we packed up the cooler and headed to Atlanta for the Braves game with the Walshs, who live in Charleston. Mike went to med school with Josh, and he and his wife were in Atlanta for a wedding. Since this week is Mike's 30th, we met them at the Varsity for lunch and joined them at the ballpark. I just knew our day would be spoiled by rain, but it was a great day! We actually took Jack to one of the faux-Varsity locations before one of the Thrashers games last year, but this was his first trip to one of the official greasy Vs! He was a big fan of the frosted orange, but who wouldn't be?? The big crowd and loud "what'll ya haves" seemed to intimidate him a bit at first, but he settled in quick and enjoyed a naked dog and his first FO.

Liz bought a big group of seats together and we actually ended up being in the shade and having a great view of the field. Because of the steep seats, Jack couldn't really walk around though. He grew a little restless a few times, but managed to make it through the whole game with the help of frequent paci breaks, a giant chocolate chip cookie, dancing to the loud music, peanuts and of course...a coke!



Today we joined some friends for a Memorial Day cookout with ribs and all the fixings. I'm having trouble keeping straight what day it is since Josh was home today and we missed church yesterday. Anyway, it has been a busy, long weekend, and I'm so thankful that the rain showers seemed to cooperate with our schedule.

Five Years of Bliss with Soda Pop Fizz

On Saturday, Josh and I celebrated five years of marriage. Five years doesn't really seem like that long; I guess because we've been together for almost 10. Since Josh was scheduled to depart for Honduras sort of early Sunday morning, we arranged to stay near the airport Saturday night. My mom agreed to watch Jack. So, we dropped him off around lunchtime on Saturday. After checking in, we headed downtown to the new World of Coca-Cola, which is right next to the Georgia Aquarium. We had to wait for a bit to get in, but had a great time once inside.

We had discussed going to the aquarium, but really only had a couple of hours to spend before having dinner. So, we decided to save it for a day when we had more time on our hands. The WOCC is basically a glorified museum to the creation of one of the most widely recognized soft drinks. The tour begins with a cute little film and then self-guided tours of a history of coke area and a small scale bottling plant, which really makes coke for visitors to take home. Upstairs there is an area to watch Coke commercials from around the world, see pop-art and a funny display about the debacle that was New Coke. The best part, by far, was the 4-D movie. The seats in the theater move, shake, vibrate and you even get spritzed with a bit of water in certain parts.

Our final stop was the tasting room. In here, you can sample many varieties of Coca-Cola owned soft drinks from around the world. Some are tasty...others not so much. My favorite section was just the good old-fashioned favorites area that included Coca-Cola Classic, my favorite, and Josh's fav Coke Zero. Before leaving (if your shoes aren't stuck to the incredibly sticky floor), each visitor gets their own coke in a glass bottle (of course) to take home. We had a great time. After our tour we walked across Centennial Olympic Park to the Embassy Suites and had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It is one of our favorite places. It's definitely pricey, but well worth it for a special occasion and a great steak!

The next morning, I got Josh to the airport and then headed to Athens for church and spend a couple of days with my family and friends. Only 5 more days until we go pick up Josh!