Summer of Fun, Week Nine.

This last week of summer has been such a wonderful balance of fun outings and awesome nothing-ness.  It's been a great week to go out on...

Monday:  School supply shopping.  I was more excited than anybody...I love me some brand new school supplies!!!  I do not, however, love the actual exchange of money for school supplies.  Public school is pricey!!! :)  The kids and I ended up finding everything Harry needed (including a new backpack) and then topped the morning off with lunch at Johnny's. 

On Monday night, some folks from our LIFE Group took dinner out to the Campground where our middle and high school students were taking part in The Great Staycation.  We did a taco bar, which was a huge hit, and our kids enjoyed the experience so much that after serving the students, we stuck around to eat and play a few games.

They were sweaty, sweaty messes by the end of the evening.

Kim and I had a blast strolling down memory lane and showing the kids our "beds" from back in the day.  Those Campground memories are once-in-a-lifetime kind-of stuff and I will forever be thankful for them!

While our cabin has had quite a few "upgrades," we were still able to find a few of our signatures...

Man, I loved high school.

I think the hit for Babe, however, was singing on the "stage."  Our middle girls LOVE being the center of attention.  Wonder where they get that from?!?!?!?!?

We came home and immediately bathed.

Tuesday:  On Tuesday, we took advantage of our CityPasses again and headed down to the zoo.

We had a great time!  Our main goals were to see the "Horties" (elephants) and the Komodo dragon and we accomplished both and so much more!  It was especially exciting because we were able to see the elephant eating and the (smaller) Komodo dragon moving all around his enclosure.  Babe and Harry were super stoked.

Harris was our "map man."  That kid LOVES to navigate.

He also loves being a big brother.  He is naturally sweet.

Our CityPasses included all-you-can-ride bracelets, so of course we stopped by the train and carousel on our way out.

And because Harris was such a great helper (in addition to helping with Emmy, he held doors open for strangers and was a great listener!), I decided to say, "yes" when he asked to take a family pic in the photo booth.

Fun times.

We finished off the trip with a stop by The Varsity on the way home.  I'm so proud of my kids and their love for that grease.

And that was Tuesday.  We did spend the evening at Harry's elementary school, taking a tour of the building and meeting the new principal.  We're getting excited for Kindergarten!!!!!

Wednesday:  On Wednesday, we finished up with Harris' appointments for the week.  He had a run at the dermatologist's office of Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning we headed to Lilburn for a follow-up eye appointment.  Thankfully, his vision is perfectly appropriate!  He even scored a pair of the super-awesome-I-just-had-my-eyes-dialated sunglasses, which he loved.  For a few minutes.

Because we were in Lilburn, we headed to Ben's office immediately after our appointment.  Babe was also given a pair of super-awesome sunglasses and had a blast pretending to be the Police Captain at the office.

We finished up our visit with lunch at Los Hermanos and then headed home for naps.

Wednesday evening, Harris and I ended up taking a trip down to Egleston for an x-ray, where, thankfully, everything turned out perfectly appropriate once again.  Last week during room time, Harris managed to swallow a "jewel."  Don't ask.  I called the doc and we didn't worry too much about it until he started complaining of throat and stomach pains a few days later...

So down to Egleston we went.  Turns out he had a throat infection caused by a virus, but absolutely no "jewel" anywhere in his body. 

And that was Wednesday.

Thursday:  On Thursday morning, we chilled.  And bought some new kicks for school.  Teaching Harris to tie shoes is on the agenda for this weekend.

Thursday evening was spent cooking out with the rest of the staff at our church.  I sure do love a good cookout.

And then Friday.  On Friday, we spent the morning doing laundry and at lunch time, you guessed it, we went to Johnny's.  Auntie only works during the weekdays, so we figured we'd better take advantage of our last opportunity to see her in action.

It didn't disappoint.

Friday night was spent enjoying our second best deal of the summer.  We loaded up the family and headed down to Turner Field for a little Braves action.  I purchased a value pack through school back in the spring, which gave us four club-level seats for the price of one.  Not too bad.

We had a blast.

We stopped by the CNN Center for dinner (the kids LOVED it) and then headed on over to the field...

We had such a great time!  Hadley's favorite part was doing the "Homahawk Chop" and I'm pretty sure Harris' was cotton candy.  Other highlights included singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and running the bases on the upper level.

Even sweet Emmy had fun.  She watched the game, laughed at the folks behind us, and even managed to catch some sleep eye admist all the action.

Go Braves!

We made it through the seventh inning, thanks to naps earlier in the day, which was a huge accomplishment for us!  We got home and got everyone in the bed just in time to watch the lighting of the Olympic torch.  We were so close, in fact, that we let the big kids come out of their beds and watch it with us in our room.  Such a fun family memory....

And now it's over. 

We've got one more finale event planned for this evening, but then it's back to the world of work and routine. 

I'm a little bit ready. 

Just a little bit.

We've Got a Sitter!

Emmy's been working on sitting for the last few weeks.  Most often, she's been propping herself up with her hands in what I refer to as the "tripod" position (more leaning forward than anything), but yesterday I plopped her down in the playroom and she was good to go!

She sat so well and for so long that I'm confident in saying we now have a sitter on our hands.  I even went ahead and put it in her baby book (which I am AWFUL at completing) and on her first year calendar.

Emmy Doe loved playing with her toy drum from a new angle.  I'm pretty sure I need some new batteries for that thing!

I love that little chunk!

Teeth!

Emmy Doe sprouted her two bottom teeth about a week ago...

Can you spot them?

Summer of Fun, Week Eight.

Wowza.  In the last couple of weeks, we've been so busy having fun that I have quite often forgotten the day, time, and any form of schedule we might have once had.  Oh, well.  It's summer. :)

Here's how we spent Week Eight:
Monday:  Library Puppet Show.  We also turned in our summer reading logs and claimed our prizes.  You gotta love the library system!!

After choosing our books, we headed out to Harry's new school to check out the class listings and find out who his teacher will be this year.  Pretty exciting stuff!

We celebrated with lunch at Johnny's.

Tuesday:  We bought CityPasses for the first time this year and I can promise you we'll be purchasing them again!  It was by far the deal of the summer, allowing us to visit quite a few major Atlanta attractions for an extremely low price.  We kicked things off with a visit to Fernbank.

HUGE hit.  We literally stayed all day and and the kids were still interested in exploring when this worn out Mama made the decision to head for home.  Favorites included the NatureScape play area and the IMAX movie, Into the Arctic, we got to view as part of the CityPass deal.  Harris is fascinated with the Arctic, so the movie was absolutely perfect for our family (although he did tell me it made him a little sad that the polar bears are running out of places to live because all the ice is melting...)

We also really enjoyed checking out the "senses/science experiment" area.  (I can't remember the real name of the exhibit, but it was really cool!)

We ate lunch in the museum cafeteria before heading to the "The Scoop on Poop," or "Poop World," exhibit downstairs.  The kids thought it was hysterical!

We did laugh a lot.  We also got to get up close with a couple of turtles, a lizard, and a python.  My kids are all about the reptiles!!

We finished the day with a trip through the history of Georgia...dinosaurs and all.

Harris has asked to return to Fernbank every. single. day.  I can't say I blame him.  If we lived closer, I would totally consider purchasing a season pass.  If you haven't been, check it out!

Wednesday:  In addition to Fernbank, our CityPass also included admission to the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca Cola.  We hit those up on Wednesday.  And yes, in case you're wondering, the kids and I traveled solo on all of these adventures.  I've got some very well behaved (most of the time) older kids and an incredibly easy-going baby, so we have a pretty good time getting out and about.

It's been a couple of years since we last visited the Aquarium.  Everyone had a great time...even Emmy.  The large, floor-to-ceiling viewing tanks as well as the rooftop tank really caught her attention. :)

This was another really big hit with the kids.  We stayed long enough to to check out every area of the Aquarium, eat lunch, and catch the absolutely incredible Dolphin Show.  Seriously.  It was incredible.  I'm not even ashamed to admit that I cried.  Perhaps I should be, but I'm not.

When we'd finished with the fish, we headed across Pemberton Place to "Coke World."  The kids were soooo excited to find a statue of Abraham Lincoln.  I didn't have the heart to explain otherwise...

World of Coca Cola was fun, but mostly because we didn't stress about seeing everything.  Our trips to Fernbank and the Aquarium more than paid for our CityPasses, so I wasn't worried about "getting the most for my money."  We just saw the stuff that interested us and then headed directly for the tasting room.

The Polar Bear definitely interested us.

And the Olympic Torch interested me.  It took me a while to explain it to the kids, though.  They still thought it was neat. :)

We also checked out the bottling plant tour and did a quick trip through some of the memorabilia, but then quickly headed for the main attraction.  COKE!

We spent most of our time drinking the real stuff.  There's no denying we're a Coke family, so we had a blast.  We also had fun trying to pick out a souvenir for Ben in the gift shop.  Most of the good Diet Coke stuff was in the womens' section, so the kids ended up choosing a pen and a magnet, but Hadley almost had me sold on this purse:

She just knew he would love it. 

Thursday:  On Thursday, Kim and I loaded up the kids for a short drive over to Cumming.  We bought a Groupon a few months back for a luau-themed trail ride at a local horse farm.  The kids were beyond excited.  Unfortunately, there were some scheduling conflicts and a miscommunication, so we had to reschedule the ride.

They were bummed until we took them to McDonald's for Happy Meals, unlimited Fanta Grape drinks, and time on the playground.

Kids these days. :)

Friday:  Ben and I had the pleasure of attending a wedding near Winston-Salem this past weekend for a college friend of Ben's.  Ben was actually in the wedding, which meant he and I were able to make a weekend out of the festivities, which meant that this girl got to enjoy some one-on-one time with my favorite man on the planet.  No complaints here.

The kids spent the day with Granti and enjoyed lunch at Johnny's for the second time in a week.

And then week eight was over just as quickly as it began.

One more to go before it's back to reality...