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...