Atlanta

A few weeks ago, Jeremy had his annual AV convention in Atlanta.  At the last minute, I decided to pack everyone up and go with him.  We found a Days Inn in downtown Atlanta, and hoped for the best.  I was nervous about all of us being in a tiny room in the middle of a big city. 

What we found was a decent hotel one block away from EVERYTHING I needed to be near.  It was one block to the Children's museum, 2 blocks to the Georgia Aquarium, 1 block from the Olympic Centennial Park, and less than a 10 minute walk (through the park) to the convention center where Jeremy would be all day.  it was perfect!  We didn't have to drive at all in downtown Atlanta, I was comfortable walking everywhere, even by myself (well, not really by myself, I had three children with me of course), we could go to fun places in the morning and go back to the hotel for naps in the afternoon.  It worked out perfectly!

Except the first night when Nathan was up for a while crying in the middle of night.  The next day, we found the "miracle" blanket that makes his pack n play nice and soft and fuzzy...and bedtime was much better.

So, I took our children to the Georgia Aquarium the first day.  We had fun looking at amazing displays of fish

waving at SCUBA divers cleaning glass

looking at Whale Sharks

and Manta Rays

and sharks with big teeth.

We watched a 4-D movie which terrified Hannah and freaked Nicole out until she realized the fish in the movie wouldn't bit her.

We spent a lot of time in the beautiful park playing on really cool playgrounds, running in giant green spaces, and dancing at a family festival (see video)

Saturday we went to the Children's Museum.  If you are in Atlanta with small children...this is the place to be.  I hope our children's museum (which will be opening in the spring) will be like this one. 

The girls tapped dance (with Grammy...she was able to steal away from the show for a day and spent the morning with us)

Painted

Gardened

Fished

Maneuvered tractors

Climbed on a John Deere

Milked a cow (it even squirted water out when you pulled - yeah...a little weird, I know)

Played in the baby area (on a baby water bed....Nate went crazy.  Totally his favorite part of the day)

and played in sand.

We didn't get to see daddy much, but we knew that would happen.  He was out all day at his convention and had dinners each night with reps who were trying to smooze him.  But, he was near and that was what we wanted.  We did go to Hard Rock Cafe the last night with the company, which was a special treat.

In the past, I've always said I hated Atlanta.  I didn't feel hate this time (mostly because I didn't have to drive in rush hour traffic down one way roads).  We had a super fun time, and I would be up for doing it again.

Check out this video...it has a bunch of little clips including Nate on the water bed, the girls dancing at the park (they were imitating the girl dancing on stage), Whale sharks and manta rays from the aquarium...it's a fun video, I think you'll enjoy it.