This past weekend we took a short vacation to Atlanta for the 4th of July. We decided that we would spend Friday and Saturday night and do as much as possible. Accompanying us on this journey were our good friends (and neighbors) Justin, Lauren, Tyler and Haley Koen. Before I begin my story, let me preface this by saying “think National Lampoon’s 4th of July Vacation.” WARNING: This could be very long, so be prepared to allot enough time to read it ALL!!!
We began our trek to Atlanta on Friday, July 4 at about 8:30 a.m. We loaded up the two cars and head to the ATL. Prior to our trip, we purchased City Passes as well as booked our rooms with the Doubletree – Buckhead (where they promised a $50 gas card for each room, warm chocolate chip cookies upon arrival and children’s backpacks filled with entertaining activities.) The drive wasn’t too bad. Most of the traffic was headed south so we made pretty good time. We made our first stop at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History (since check-in wasn’t until 3 p.m.). Fernbank was interesting to the children but somewhat boring to the adults. We toured all three levels and had lunch. After touring, we headed to the Doubletree.
We arrived at the hotel at 3:15 only to find out that our room was not ready. They crammed 8 people into one room to get ready for our big night of fireworks at Stone Mountain. Upon arrival, we were not offered our warm chocolate chip cookies, our $50 gas card or the kid’s backpacks. I didn’t care so much about the backpack because Brooke is a little old for that and Edward is way too young. For those of you who are not familiar with Stone Mountain holiday festivities, on the 4th, the have a laser show followed by fireworks. Growing up, my grandmother always made a big deal about the 4th and the fireworks, so I was especially excited about the show as well as going to Stone Mountain (since I have never been). Our room was finally ready about 5 p.m. We rushed to get ready and piled 4 adults and 4 children (3 of which are still in car seats) into a 6 passenger Tahoe and headed to Stone Mountain. The drive wasn’t bad but the car ride was EXTREMELY noisy. We were about 1 ½ miles from Stone Mountain when the traffic came to a complete stop. Much to our dismay, the park had been closed due to capacity. We were all so disappointed. The whole trip had been planned around this spectacular event. So, we turned around and headed back to the hotel.
In the meantime we tried to figure out what to do. After griping with the hotel about how they ruined our night, we strapped the young kids in their strollers and caught the first MARTA to Centennial Park where we would watch the fireworks. Wow, was that an experience! I believe every country was well represented at Centennial Park along with some of the South’s finest! After the fireworks, which by they way were pretty good but I’ll always think the Blounts put on a better show up at Lake Martin, we fought the masses and headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Let me go back to say that to get from our hotel to Centennial Park, we had to make two stops on the MARTA. Once at the Five Points stop, we had to then switch trains to get to the CNN Center stop.
Apparently, when riding back to the hotel, we were to ride to Five Points, get on a different train and then stop at the Lindbergh Center to switch again (because the train splits and goes to W. Paces Ferry). Well, no one told us that. So, we got off at W. Paces Ferry and were told by TWO cops that it was a 5 block walk to the hotel. Um, it turned out to be a 5 MILE walk, we think. We were exhausted.
On to Day Two, we got up and headed to the MARTA station around 9. Our first stop was the CNN Center. We had breakfast and got in line for the 11:30 CNN tour. This is a fun and interesting tour. If you are ever in Atlanta, I would recommend it but not with an infant or any child for that matter. We had to carry Edward down 8 flights of stairs throughout the tour. It was neat to see how the news station works. After the tour, we again strapped the young’uns in and trekked across Centennial Park for the Georgia Aquarium and New World of Coca-Cola. Both places were packed. Fortunately, with the City Pass, we were able to bypass the long lines at the Aquarium only. We’ve been before, but I don’t think the kids can ever get enough of the fishies! There were 9 billion people there but we slowly made it through, had lunch and finished with the feeding of the Whale Sharks, which I thought was pretty interesting. After the Aquarium, we walked on over to the New World of Coca-Cola.
The line was extremely long but didn’t seem to take forever. The new building is really nice. We enjoyed our tour and of course everyone loved getting to taste Coke products from around the World. Justin swore that the Beverly from Europe was delicious. Brooke and Lauren tasted it and as always fell for Justin’s sarcasm. I believe it was pretty gross!!! After leaving Coke, we caught the MARTA and made a stop at Underground. It is so different from the way I remembered it 15 years ago! All along, Edward was a trooper. He slept on and off in his stroller. After Underground, we headed back to the hotel and this time remembered we had to stop at the Lindbergh Center to get on another train to head to Buckhead. We boarded the correct train at Lindbergh and headed to Buckhead. Just when I thought the trip couldn’t get any worse, our train stopped at Buckhead, we grabbed everyone to exit and somehow Thomas, Justin and Baby Edward didn’t make it off and Tyler barely made it off. This precious 4 year old was worried about his daddy getting off. Luckily I was able to snatch him off before he got caught between the doors. Thomas said Edward screamed the ENTIRE time (he was dirty and I had the diaper bag and he was hungry). Fortunately, Thomas had an empty bottle, a can of formula and some bottled water so that he could fix him something to eat. I really think he just wanted his mama! After we were all reunited we returned to the hotel, got cleaned up and took the hotel shuttle to the ESPN Zone. What a nice meal we had! There weren’t many people there so the kids could run wild. Thank goodness for Brooke, she kept everyone straight! The adults had a couple of drinks and Brooke helped keep the kids together. We headed on back to the hotel and slept great! Edward was sooooo tired that he slept 11 hours that night!!
On our final day, we packed up the cars and headed for our last destination in the ATL – Zoo Atlanta. There weren’t many people there so it was nice not fighting any crowds. We later learned that the reason there were no crowds was because it was supposed to rain!!! Somehow we missed the weather report (which I caught myself checking but I guess it didn’t register, who knows!). I find it hard to focus on anything these days with a newborn! When the rain (and I use the word “rain” loosely) started, we were caught in the Reptile Exhibit. It was nice having a roof over our head, but I prayed long and hard that the snakes didn’t get out! We sat there for 30 minutes to an hour before there was a break and we made a run for it. We worked our way to the gorillas before the monsoon started again. Fortunately it was a covered building and we learned about Willie B. I spent most of the time pushing Edward’s stroller around in circle to keep him from waking up, so I am no so sure who Willie B. is. Finally the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. The animals came out and the kids loved seeing the giraffes, rhinos, etc. We loaded up and finally headed home. It was a fun, exhausting and at times frustrating trip. All in all, we had a good time and definitely something to laugh about. By the way we never got our $50 gas card or warm chocolate chip cookies, but we were each given one nights stay free and a TIN of cookies! Hope y’all all had a Happy 4th!!!!!!!!
Prior to his new eating experience
After eating rice cereal mixed with apple juice
I could hardly get the spoon in his mouth before he was shoving his hands in there. Very frustrating!!!
After eating carrots
