Oldie, but Goodie: Our Trip to Atlanta

We've been back from Georgia for over a month now and I'm just now getting around to posting about it! We had a fabulous trip and we were so blessed/spoiled/excited to get to spend the week with Uncle David and Aunt Jessica.  

I was dreading the flights; I won't lie.  We had direct flights (Don't do it any other way. Seriously, or you might be stuck halfway to somewhere-land and swearing to never get on another plane... just sayin'), but 4.5 hours there and 5.5 hours home is still a long time to contain this little 18 month old without some unwelcome high-pitched screaming...

As the days neared closer, I got a little more fearful.  But, alas, we survived! And the flight there wasn't too bad.  I like to think it could have been much worse.  It could have been better, but it could have been much worse.  We took off around 1:00 (nap time) and Em fell asleep as we ascended and slept for about an hour and a half, but unfortunately when he woke up he was NOT ready to be awake, but couldn't fall back asleep.  Insert about a half an hour of fuss/crying and another hour and a half of standing in the back of the plane (with some seriously grumpy stewardesses) and we finally made it to the East Coast...

I breathed a little easier and let the kid run free...

I did not drag my camera along with me, for obvious reasons and my sister's camera broke after we took about two pictures (insert ugly-face-joke here) so what you get is a whole camera roll of iPhone/Instagram pictures... NOT the best quality, but we attempted to capture the moments!

{Boarded at PDX}

Mom & Madi: WooHooo!!!

Emmitt: Ya'll just wait!!!

Me: What the heck am I doing?!?!

It's just cool to rock it shirtless. And planes are HOT. 

This kiddo was a rock-star traveler, but who wouldn't be with that cool suitcase, right?

Our first day = SUNSHINE!!! Also, the first thing I did when we went out onto this porch (4 floors high) was make sure that Emmitt's head didn't fit through the bars - check!

My way-too-cool 18 month old...

This was only part of the pool area at my sis's apartments.  Pretty sweet, right? 

...Except for the 65 degree water.  =(

Happy Birthday cupcakes for Aunt Decca!

Just another sunny day at the park!

One of our big outings was taking this girl to the American Girl store.  And boy was it a hit! We had lunch at the Bistro and then let Samantha (my old AG doll) get her hair done. All in all a very successful girls' trip! Emmitt stayed home with Uncle David where he enjoyed yelling as loud as he wanted, throwing things, and taking nice long naps. Ya know, boy stuff... 

Our second big outing was going to the Georgia Aquarium, which was super awesome.  I've been to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the Seattle Aquarium as well as two Seaworlds and this place was definitely worth the visit! They have HUGE sharks and a really awesome dolphin show.  It was so fun to watch Madi watch the dolphin show. I can hardly stand how big she's getting...

The pre-movie while we waited for the show to start. 

A view of the aquarium from upstairs. 

*sigh*

And yes, this was just one of about 15 attempts...

You obviously can't tell by this picture, but this shark is over 26 feet long. HUGE! So fun to watch them up close and personal!

Auntie snuggles + an Uncle photobomb

Can you say, tired?!?

Coke World is across the street from the aquarium, but we opted not to do the tour. We heard it wasn't fabulous and obviously probably not too thrilling for the littles.  The building was cool, however and have you ever seen one of these?!?!

I think this bad boy dispenses over a hundred different flavors of Coke.  You pick your flavor choice and then voila... Grape Sprite? You got it! My mom thinks they have them at Five Guys here, but I've  never seen them...

My first every Chic-Fil-A experience was pretty delicious. I won't lie.  

I'd go back... a lot. 

Yeah, he may have rocked it shirtless a lot...

This next picture still makes me get a little feisty, but I'm working through it.  Let's just say, my sister NOW has a coffee maker (as of 2 days before we LEFT), so if you're interested in visiting her, just pick your k-cup...

Saturday night we left the kiddos with my wonderful Mama and the three of us "big kids" headed out for some Improv and grub at a Japanese Steakhouse (my first experience... to which it did NOT disappoint).  We picked us out some popcorn at the popcorn shop (do we have these here?!?!) and headed down to the basement theatre and watched some really funny people, and some not-so-funny-people make fools of themselves. 

This popcorn went on for an entire wall.  I think I counted over 75 different flavors. I can't remember what we had, but it was something cheesey and something sweet and it was delish!

We ended our trip with a red-eye (sort of?) flight home that worked out super well for these tired kiddos! I'm happy to announce that Emmitt slept the entire FIVE hours home and Madi finally passed out after fighting the urge for hours while watching movies on the iPad. =)

Alas, we were home sweet home and ready to see Daddy!!!

Madi started asking about half way through our trip, "How many nights 'til we get to see Daddy?" And of course now that we're home we play, "pretend" Georgia at least 15 times a day (NOT kidding). It was so much fun, but in a strange way it made it feel so much more real how far away Aunt Jessica lives. We hope to be back, but obviously don't know when that time will be. Until then, we'll have to stick with FaceTime.

Our trip was wonderful!  Definitely sleep-depriving, but all-in-all everyone held up well. 

Aunt Jessica and Uncle David, thanks for the wonderful southern hospitality! We love you to the moon and back!