Vacation Week! Wednesday - Fernbank and IMAX

When we were at the World of Coke someone gave us 3 free tickets to Fernbank and an IMAX movie.  So that's where we went today.  We had planned on going to the zoo so it worked out good that we had these tickets since it rained most of the day.

Emily dressed as her version of Red Riding Hood on the way to the museum:

 Since we stayed until the museum closed at 5:00 we asked a couple of friends where a good place to eat would be.  We picked a local very popular Barbecue restaurant.  AND IT WAS SO GOOD!

Vacation Week! Tuesday. World of Coke

On Tuesday we went to eat lunch at Food Truck Park and went to the World of Coke. 

We've never eaten off a food truck and have wanted to try it.  So we checked out a park that had several options:

We tried barbecue chicken from one truck and a Grouper and Hamburger sliders from another.  It was a fun experience!

Then we headed to the Coke museum.  The last time we went was for our 12th anniversary when Emily was 5 months old:

Here we are now:

 

Dr. Pemberton who invented Coke in May 1886:

We enjoyed reading about the history of the invention of Coke and how the secret formula is so closely guarded.  I did not realize this until Monday, but the formula was moved to the World of Coke in May 2011 to celebrate its 125 anniversary.  Before that it was housed in a bank vault in Atlanta.  

 

 

 

These are the vending machines I remember as a child:

 

Watching old Coke commercials:

Of course the girls favorite thing to do was taste all the flavors of Coke from around the world.  

Abigail decided she REALLY liked all the flavors and kept her cup close to her at all times:

We had Emily try the Beverly without telling her before hand. This is the worst tasting drink there is:

In the words of Emily "How does anyone like this drink!"

 

Vacation Week! Sunday and Monday

We are taking our vacation time together right before school starts.  We have enjoyed stay-cations the last several years.  The girls do better sleeping in their own beds and still taking it easy in the mornings so it's worked well for us.  It also helps the wallet to not pay for a week of hotels : )

On Sunday we drove to Lake Lanier.  They had a special package for a family of 4 to have 1 night's accommodations, buffet breakfast for 4, and tickets for two days at Lanier World.  We had a great time.  On Sunday we got to the park when it opened and got our chairs and umbrella set up on the beach.  The girls played at the kids zone water area and really liked the lake.  They had a roped off area with a life guard so the girls played in the sand and water for most of the day while Joe and I enjoyed tag teaming so we could go ride the water slides.  Emily attempted a couple of the slides at the beginning but chickened out at the top.  They were a little more intimidating than the ones she tried at White Water.  We ate our lunch on Sunday at our van and then went back in and walked around the park until around 5:00.  We then headed back to the hotel and went to the hotel pool.  This was really nice because it wasn't crowded and there was a patio section by the pool that was a restaurant.  They allowed you to eat outside in swimsuits.  So when we got hungry we just sat at a patio table and ate our dinner.  Then the girls got right back in the water while Joe and I relaxed by the pool.

Here is the lodge and conference center where we spent the night:

And a view of the beach area and kids zone:

 

 

 

 In the afternoon Emily participated in a hula hoop contest and their version of magical chairs using hula hoops:

 

On Monday we ate a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed back to Lanier World.  We spent the morning on the beach and then walked over to the big wave pool and another slide Joe and I could go down.  We ate lunch at a restaurant there and then that afternoon they opened up some kiddie carnival rides that Abigail rode while Joe and Emily went to an obstacle course float that was out on the water.  We left for home around 6:00.  This was definitely worth the package deal that we got and hope to go again next year!

Enjoying the rest of the summer

It has rained alot this July.  That's good for us because we have been in a drought the last couple of years, but it's been odd having cooler temps and having to schedule pool time around which time of the day it's least like to rain.  One Saturday we went to the pool and because it was cloudy and cooler that day we had the whole pool to ourselves:

 

It was nice and quiet for me but the girls got bored pretty quickly because they are used to having several kids at the pool to play with.

The girls have had fun playing a lot inside on rainy days.  Emily continues to wow me with her imagination.  I had a dream one night about her and told her about it.  So that day she tried to recreate what was in my dream.  I dreamed that she had taken her long band necklace that she made and put it in the trees outside and had all her dolls around the necklace.  Since she couldn't use the trees outside she did this instead:

We have also been trying to eat healthier this summer so we have been going to Trader Joes.  The girls like it because we can put our groceries in shopping carts just their size:

Joe and I have also enjoyed some nights out with friends.  Joe has gone to a couple of movies and dinner with his friend Jason.  I went to dinner one night with several moms.  Then Tara took me to a cool restaurant near midtown that played music videos and displayed them on the walls.  The booth that we sat in had couches for sitting and they gave us an ipad to place our order and used it to let the valet know to have our car ready when it was time to go.  Pretty cool!

I haven't been doing much sewing this summer.  Just taking a break from it.  But Emily did ask me to make her and her Emily doll a matching outfit so I worked on it this past week.  She brought her doll to church on Sunday:

Next week is our last week of summer!  Hard to believe.  Emily is very ready for school to start back up again.  We are having a staycation together next week which we are all looking forward to and during that week, Emily will go to her meet and greet to meet her First Grade teacher.  She asks me every day how many more days before she gets to meet her.

4th of July

Last week Abigail got strep throat.  So she spent several days on the couch and we all watched ALOT of TV.  While Abigail was sick Emily went to the AG Bistro to celebrate Liliana's 5th birthday.

 

Abigail was well enough for us to spend time with the Lyda's for the 4th:

 

My goofy husband:

 

Emily and Riley played UNO before dinner:

 

 And all 3 played Candy Land after dinner:

 

The adults played Settlers of Catan Jr before heading home:

 It rained most of the day so there were no fireworks displays this year.  When we got home though several of our neighbors were out so the girls did get to see a few small fireworks:

 

Happy 4th!  On Saturday we went to see Despicable Me 2 since it has continued to rain thru the rest of the weekend.