American Girl

Saturday morning after a big breakfast, we headed out for the American Girl Store. Since it was our first visit, we followed the Krebs lead. First stop AG hair salon (for the dolls), next shopping for the girls and the dolls, followed by a bistro lunch for all! We wrapped up our visit to the mall with mani/pedis, and then went back to room to play with all the new stuff! Later that night we waited a long time to be seated before enjoying our dinner at the Magic Time Machine. Fun, fun day!

Spring Break 2014 - Part 2

On the second weekend of Spring Break, we made a girls' road trip to Texas to celebrate our March birthday girls. Ashley turned eight on the 16th, and Lydia turned eight on the 23rd. Missy also had a March birthday, and mine is coming up soon, so we all celebrated a little. Our first stop was at Luigi's Italian in Rockwall. Missy and I both enjoyed our meals. The girls enjoyed getting out of car for a little bit, but were anxious to get to the hotel.

We stayed in the Embassy Suites at the Galleria, and it was very convenient to everything that we wanted to do (namely shopping and eating). Before we turned in for the night, the girls took a little dip in the pool in their new matching swimsuits. 

The Long Way Home

At Jeff's suggestion, we left Georgia Monday afternoon and took the long way home through the Great Smoky Mountains. The kids and I added SC and NC to our states map. We didn't really do anything along the way except for stopping for some really good barbeque. 

We stayed in  Gatlinburg which I found to be a really weird slice of Americana. There were just so many pancake houses and "Old Tyme" photos! It was kind of like a combination of Branson and Niagara Falls (minus the falls). The view from our room was nice. It was really cold and even snowed overnight and for half of our trip home! Looking forward to enjoying the rest of our Spring Break and hopefully some springlike weather! 

The Georgia Aquarium

We stayed in downtown Atlanta Sunday night so we could get an early start Monday morning. Our hotel overlooked Centennial Park where the 1996 Summer Olympics were held. It's hard to believe that was nearly 20 years ago! 

The Georgia Aquarium was great! Just to see the enormity of some of the tanks -- and of course the animals in the tanks -- was well worth the trip. Whale sharks, giant manta rays, and so much more! 

Ashley's favorite part was the dolphin show. (No pics allowed during that.) It took us about 3 hours to see everything we wanted to see.

One last pic. I hate these "faux-to" ops at the entrance of touristy places. (You know, the stand-in-front-of-the-green-screen-and-smile ones.) But Jeff couldn't resist. 

The World of Coca-Cola

Other than the occasional layover, my last trip to Atlanta was as a teenager. One of the places I remembered going was the Coca Cola museum. We were on the fence about going, but Amanda said that her kids liked it. We ended up going Sunday afternoon, and I must say, it is remarkable. The exhibits are neat, the tasting room is pretty cool, but the truly remarkable part is the branding and marketing of the product. I mean, what other company could convince people to pay admission to basically watch an hour long commercial about the production of their product and then have them willingly fork over even more money at the gift shop on their way out? I give them credit for the pure genious of the idea. And you do get a "free" souvenir bottle of Coke on your way out. :)

Atlanta Zoo

We took a chance on the weather Sunday morning and went too Zoo Atlanta. The rain cleared up, and it turned out to be a nice day. Overall, it was a pretty good zoo. The most remarkable thing there had to be the breeding program. ;) There were baby animals of all kinds: lions, gorillas, pandas, monkeys, and more!

Spring Break 2014

Even though it still feels like winter, we were so ready for Spring Break! We decided a while back to make a quick trip to Atlanta. The main draw for us was the Georgia Aquarium. Nate has been watching The Jeff Corwin Experience which is somehow affiliated with -- and often shows people from -- the aquarium. (Oddly enough, one episode even inspired our big summer vacation as well, but I'll save that one for another day.) I guess Amanda was also in need of a break, so she sent her kids to Arkansas last week. We offered to bring them 1/2 way back on our way to Atlanta. We drove with 6 kids under 12 from LR to Birmingham. We made it rather easily, partly because they are all  good kids and also because of my no-siblings-beside-each-other seating configuration. 

Ashley's 8!!!

"Happy Birthday" to the little girl who has added so much sparkle to our lives for the last 8 years! After church, we had lunch and then cake and ice cream with Fisch, Papa, and four of our favorite Floridians.

5th Grade Preamble Video

Nathan has had a great last year at Roberts! Here's a funny video that their student teacher directed after they finished studying the Preamble to the Constitution.

March: In Like a Polar Bear

How can it be that March is halfway over??? I will recap the last few weeks in pictures.

Sunday, March 2 - Johnson kids went to church with us while Aaron ran the half marathon. He finished, but the race was called off shortly after because of freezing rain.

Tuesday, March 4 - My ride to work in the ice. :)

Wednesday, March 5 - My day to drive gymnastics carpool (AFTER class was over). Ash is almost fully recovered from her injuries and started back in gymnastics last month.

Friday, March 7 - Fun night out with Babe!

Saturday, March 8 - Roberts Rendezvous 

Friday, March 14 - Happy Pi Day!

The calendar is full the last few weeks of the month including more cousin time (with Stacy kids), Ashley's birthday, soccer practice and two Spring Break road trips!