The Fernbank Museum

Today, the kids and I went to the Fernbank Museum downtown. This was the first day that I actually drove into the downtown area on I-75. What an experience!! I've determined that Atlanta traffic on the interstate only has 2 speeds-either you go really slow in bumper to bumper traffic OR you go really fast (and by really fast I mean 75 to 80mph when it's listed 55mph). Today I had the priveledge of being able to drive in both.

When we got onto I-75 at 11:00 this morning it was bumper to bumper for about 2 miles due to an accident. The rest of the time I felt like I was the turtle on the interstate, and I was driving at 75 mph. But I soon became accustomed to my surroundings and it didn't seem so bad. I've also realized that going 20 mph over the posted speed limit is not as big of a deal here in the "big city" as it is on I-81. I have to admit, by the end of our outing I was the one breezing past those "turtles."

So anyway...our visit to the Fernbank was very much enjoyable. I had done a little searching on the internet about this museum prior to today and thought it sounded like a nice place to visit. I was also excited that if I bought a membership at the Fernbank it would be accepted at the Science Museum at home also. And even better than that...I was able to save $10.00 on the membership since I am a teacher! So our family now has full membership priveledges at the museum until July 2008. And that's a good thing because there was no way we were going to be able to see the entire museum today - we will have to go back again to finish it at a later date.

Below are some of the pictures I took while we were there. The kids and I had a great time and I look forward to taking John back this weekend to see their IMAX movie titled "Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France." By the way sweetie...if you want to see a trailer for it check this out http://www.wiredtowinthemovie.com/

Trent and Ella both practiced being weather forecasters on the green screen. Trent thought it was very neat that the weather forecasters don't see the pictures on the wall, instead they have to look at the t.v. monitors in front of them. Ella was not as enthusiastic about being on t.v.

Both of the kids had a great time making gigantic bubbles.

One of the special exhibits at the Fernbank this summer is called "Lizards and Snakes." This was a really neat exhibit that had a special area with all kinds of hands-on learning materials for kids to play with. No, Ella and Trent are not holding real, live reptiles...they are just dressed as herpetologists ready to study the plastic look alikes.

The final stop today was in the kid's play rooms. Each room was designed for a specific age group - one for preschoolers and the other for school agers - and teaches kids about the different wildlife in Georgia. The kids both agreed that this was the best part of the day. Here, Ella is pretending to help the bees carry pollen from one flower to another...and she would still be doing this if Iwould've let her. The child drops a ball into one of the two flowers on the sides and the ball goes through the tube back down to the middle flower to be picked up again. Ella figured out how it worked and then tried to see how fast she could do it.

Next door in the school age room, Trent learned how to fish and about the different types of animals that are in the rivers and lakes around Georgia.

So that was our day! Check back soon for more updates.

Monday Pool Fun!!

Today was just a sit-around-and-do-nothing day complete with a trip to the pool. As many of you have read in previous posts Ella is not very fond of the water. However, today she made her first steps towards the water...she sat in the boat and she allowed Trent to squirt her with the water gun. Just wanted to share a few pictures for you to enjoy. Check back again soon!

The Georgia Aquarium

Today we went to the Georgia Aquarium with Pops and Person. It was very exciting, but there were a lot of people. Fortunately, we had advanced tickets for 11:00 this morning so we didn't have to stand in line like yesterday at Coke. The Aquarium is fairly new so it stays quite busy. And it has the only Whale Shark display in North America. Ella said her favorite thing was the fish and the penguins.

This is the Aquarium's mascot "Deepo."

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One of the best displays is the Beluga Whale tank. I believe they have about 4 of them at this time. They act very much like dolphins and were very friendly as you can tell from this picture I was able to snap of Trent.

Another neat thing that the Aquarium offered was the opportunity to touch several of the animals, like the horseshoe crabs and shrimp! Even Person touched the shrimp!!

One of Ella's favorite things about our visit was the play area. There was an indoor Whale Slide, playground, and tube maze.

Here are 2 short videos of the kids enjoying the Aquarium.

Saturday's visit to The World of Coke

Yesterday afternoon we went to see The World of Coke downtown. It was extremely busy down there and even though we got the building at 2:00, we weren't able to get in for a tour until 3:15. Fortunately, I had packed some Teddy Grahams and raisins for the kids to snack on while we waited. We also found a drink machine and a shady spot, so it wasn't that bad waiting. The tour was very nice and at the end of the tour we were able to taste all the different Coke products from around the world. Trent liked the drinks from Europe the best. Here is a picture of Ella and Trent trying different sodas.

We also got to meet the Coke Polar Bear, which Ella called the Big Teddy Bear the entire time. This bear was so neat! It could blink it's eyes, open it's mouth, and had numerous facial expressions. I've never met a bear that was so life-like. Of course, Ella would not get close to the Polar Bear without holding Trent's hand.

Because we were late getting a tour we didn't leave Coke until around 5:30 and Ella was exhausted. She did a wonderful job during the tour and didn't complain one bit. So on the way home, she actually fell asleep in the car...something that is quite uncommon for Ella.

We finished the day with a wonderful dinner at Jerry and Darryl's.

Our visit to Stone Mountain

Last night for dinner we had "cafeteria night"...this is the long-standing title Pops and Person assigned to the night when we heat up and eat all the leftovers in the fridge for dinner.


After dinner, we loaded up the cars and took off for Stone Mountain for the Laser Show. This was the first time that I had been to the mountain of stone and I must say it was spectacular. We had a great time! For those of you who haven't been to the rock, you must visit it on your next trip to the Atlanta area.

This is a picture of Stone Mountain. The line on the left side of the picture is a sky car that takes people from the bottom of the mountain to the top and then returns. I imagine on the ride that you get a great view of the carving in the stone.

As you can tell there are 3 men carved into the stone...General Robert E. Lee, General Stonewall Jackson, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The laser show was displayed on the stone wall and fireworks were shot from the small pond at the base of the mountain.


It has been great having Carol, Don, and Aunt Hazel visit this week. And Abby was able to come up from Macon again this weekend!


Trent and Ella are being royally spoiled this week, not just by Pops and Person but also by Carol and Don. These are the light sabres Carol and Don bought for them.


This morning we woke up and ate a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, and toast fixed by Pops. Currently, we are sitting and waiting for Abby to return from picking up a copy of the new Harry Potter book. Then we will be going to the "The World of Coke" to see how Coke is produced. It should be quite fun!!

Keep checking back for updates!

Ella finally learns to Tomahawk Chop!

Make sure after you read this post you continue to the next one. I had to make two separate posts in order to get everything online.

We worked all night on the Tomahawk chop with Ella. Here are 2 video clips of the learning process.

Our 2nd Braves Game

Last night Pops, Person, and I took Trent and Ella to their second Braves game. Here are a few pictures of our outting.

We decided to take our chances and find tickets when we got down to the stadium. Trent was very excited that Pops got us tickets on the Lexus level! He was also happy that we were sitting on the visitor's side so he could monitor the going-ons in the Braves dugout. I was happy sitting in the Lexus level because we were only steps away from an enclosed, air conditioned concourse with very nice bathrooms. I've now been spoiled.

I took these next two pictures because this was Julio Franco's first game back with the Braves. If you are a Braves fan you will remember that Franco played for the team several years ago. He was released by the Mets and picked up by the Braves on Wednesday morning, just in time to start at last night's game. I was amazed by 2 things - first, that he started so soon after being signed and second, at the warm welcome he was given...the crowd went crazy when he stepped up to bat. They were very happy to have him back in Atlanta.



This was his first bat of the night.

Tonight we will be going to Stone Mountain for the laser and fireworks show. Aunt Hazel, Carol, and Don will be coming back from the boat today to join us on the mountain.

Keep checking back for updates...and don't forget to leave a comment to let us know how you are doing!