Monday, March 18, 2013

Spring Break, 2013.

Spring break has come and gone.  Super fast!  The children were actually out of school on the Friday before, so it felt like we had an extra long break, which was so nice.  I was so thankful not to have school on Friday, since David and I were just coming in from a trip.  We spent the day with the children and had so much fun.  We joined at least 5 other PCS families at Gatti-Town!  After a weekend at home and church festivities on Sunday, we hit the road Monday and drove all day in the rain!  David had a conference at a church in Atlanta, so the children and I tagged along for the ride.  We also brought another special guest, Miss Katie!  She and David attended the conference while the children and I played and saw lots of friends.  
Having lived in Atlanta for 6 years, we knew all of our favorite places we wanted to hit up.  After supper at one of our very favorites, Fresh to Order, we headed over to this place for dessert.  So yum!  
This pina colada cheesecake did not disappoint!  I could eat coconut all day long!
Tuesday, we slept in until almost 9:00, yikes!  I think the time change has us all messed up, especially combined with changing time zones.  We headed Downtown to the World of Coke.  This was our first time in the new building, and it was so much fun!
Pretty Summer!  I loved hearing more of the history of  Coca-Cola.  It was especially cool because I know the Candler family.  Asa Candler, one of the founders of Coke, has twin great-grands, who were in my third grade class my first year of teaching at the Heiskell School.  Such a sweet, sweet family!
Our favorite part of going to World of Coke was sampling all of the different types.  We had done this previously at Epcot, but this time there were so many more options!  My favorite flavors came from Africa.  
After leaving World of Coke, we walked over to the Georgia Aquarium.  Carter and David had been here previously with some friends, but the girls and I had never been.  We had a great time!  So much so that we lost a lens to Tilly's glasses, ha! 
The children had so much fun looking at all the fish.  There's a large section that has floor to ceiling glass where you can look at all the animals.  We stayed there for the longest time just enjoying all of the sights.  The children took turns taking pictures with our phones! They have a pretty good eye!
Love this one.  This was the part of the aquarium where the fish swim over your head.  So neat! I think that was my favorite part.  
Carter thought the whale shark was, "So awesome!"
The children loved getting to pet the sting rays, too.  After the Aquarium, we hit up another favorite restaurant, Willy's!  So yum!
First Baptist Woodstock, where the conference was being held has the best playground.  We spent some time there almost every day.  
Wednesday, we headed over to this delicious place to eat lunch with a very special couple.  Mr. Frank and Mrs. Shirley were members of our church in Austell, and they are so very dear to us.  It was a treat to spend a couple of hours with them during our visit.  They are always such an encouragement and just love our family to pieces.  
It was so nice to have Miss Katie along for so many reasons.  She was an excellent photographer!  Oh, how we love this special couple!
You cannot go to Atlanta and pass by this place.  Don't worry, we stopped, and I had a list, too, ha!  The children got to play for a little bit while the adults shopped and looked.   
This was Miss Katie's first time to go to IKEA.  I think she liked it as much as we do!
After IKEA, we headed over to see this special family.  Mr. Duane and Miss Jeanne are so special to us.  They, too, were members of our church in Austell.  In fact, David had the privilege of baptizing the two of them along with their two daughters.  So special.  Miss Jeanne also kept our three girls during the day when they were too small to attend The Heiskell School.  It was so great to spend some time with them! 
Thursday morning the children and I set off on our own.  We headed over to Northpoint Mall to meet T.  We got there early, so we hit up the playground.  Much to my dismay, Carter and Summer have outgrown the mall playground by 4 inches!  How did they get so big so fast!  We stayed anyway, which goes against ever fiber of my rule follower being, ha! 
After breaking the rules, we headed upstairs to see the bird houses in Von Maur.  Then, we had lunch with T and hit the road once more to see what we could see.  
I drove our children over to where our home was in Marietta, Ga, where we celebrated Carter's first birthday party and brought Summer home from the hospital.  The new homeowners were there, so I just snapped a picture of the street sign.  Then, we hit up Happy Hour at Sonic because that seemed like a great idea, and it was.  
And then we went back to the awesome playground!  The children had so much fun and entertained themselves so well.  After playing for a while, I did something that I have never done before.  I took all four children by myself inside a restaurant (Chick Fil A) to eat.  My friend, Teresa, also a mother of four, would have been so proud!  She's much braver than me and does this sort of thing all the time.  It was a little crazy, but we did it.  We ordered.  We sat and ate our food.  We cleaned up and left, all without too much of a scene!  Whew!  I felt like I had achieved a major accomplishment, ha!
 Friday was our last day.  Here are the big 3 outside our hotel.  So cute.  Friday, the children and I met up with one of my dear friends, Dr. Boardman and rode together to the Heiskell School, where I used to teach and the big 3 went to school.  Dr. Boardman also teaches there, and she was so dear to travel with me to help me out with the children so I could visit with some dear friends.  
Dr. B teaches music, so she let the children have free reign of the instruments in her classroom.  They had a blast!  Meanwhile, I was able to poke my head in and see some precious teacher friends and dear students.  It was so refreshing to visit and see so many people whom I love dearly.  Not long after our visit at Heiskell, it was time to head home to Mississippi.  375 miles and one stop later, we were home sweet home!  
 We ended our spring break by having lunch with some of our widows from church.  It's always a treat to spend time with them.  
And that's it!  Another great spring break in the books!  Next up we have lots to look forward to at school, musicals, spring programs, and Easter break will be here before we know it!

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