Overnighter to Atlanta

For as long as we have lived here, the boys have wanted to go to Atlanta to do the Georgia Aquarium.  A couple of weekends ago, they got their wish.  Paul had a track day at Road Atlanta on the Sunday, and it made more sense for him and his friend to go down the night before.  They booked a hotel between Atlanta and Road Atlanta, and Paul had the great idea we could all go to the track day, and see the sights of Atlanta.  It has been on our to do list for a while, and as our months are quickly whittling down we thought, Why not?

We drove down early on saturday morning.  Because of the track day, we went in 2 cars.  I took Isaac and Seb, Paul took the other one.  We stopped at the hotel and all jumped into my car.  We were staying at the Springhill Suites near the Mall of Georgia.  One of the perks of being a Marriot club member is one free night in a hotel room a year.  This was our night.

The Mall of Georgia looks awesome for shopping.  If we had more time and no kids, I am sure we would have spent a pretty penny.  Instead, we went for some lunch in Longhorn Steak house.  It was their typical fare, though the service was good.  Shame about the kids that couldn't behave themselves, yes my kids!

We drove into downtown Atlanta after lunch.  The weather was absolutely atrocious.  It rained all day . Because it was mid afternoon when we arrived at the aquarium, there was a very small queue to get in.  This is the largest aquarium in America. The price certainly matches up to it, ouch!  We headed inside to a central lobby area.  The place was packed.  There was 30 minutes till the next dolphin show started, but they had closed the area as it was full already! So we went for a little explore.  There are 4 areas off the main lobby.  We headed to the Ocean Voyager area first.  This was awesome, absolutely huge!

In the GIGANTIC tank they have 4 whale sharks, giant manta rays, and loads if other rays, and lots of other creatures.  The kids loved it! 

It was so cool getting up close and personal to the creatures.  We spent an awful lot of time just watching, before heading back to the lobby.  

From there, we went on the Tropical Quest section, where we saw lots of tropical fish (unsurprisingly).  We kinda flew round this section! 

Next up we headed to the River Scout Adventure.  This was cool.  The boys liked seeing the albino alligator.  When they could get to the front of the tanks that is.  What is it with older adults hogging up the front all the time?  

Then it was on to Coldwater Quest.  This was one of my favorites.  They have 3 or 4 sea otters, who were lovely, so playful.  The boys made it to the front of the tank (Seb is nimble and small, the 2 elephants just follow him when he gets there).  They had great fun watching them swim around.

The beluga whales were majestic.  One kept coming up and rubbing his tummy on the glass, making it ripple.  

The upstairs of the aquarium gives you an insight into how it all works.  A behind the scenes look. It was very cool. Below is the tank the whale sharks are in.  The photo does not give it perspective.  This thing was HUGE! and deep too (probably not big enough for the sea creatures, but thats a thought I am not prepared to have yet....)

We decided to give the dolphin show a miss.  We didn't fancy waiting around for 45 minutes, we had other places to go! Besides, we are off to the beach soon, so hopefully we will see some there.....

From the Georgia Aquarium we headed the short walk, in the rain, to the World of Coca Cola.  This was another one on the boys bucket list.  We paid our entrance fee and went into the attraction.  You are given a short talk on the history of Coca Cola before being taken into a movie theatre to watch one of their adverts. 

It was the one with Imagine Dragons 'i'm on top of the world' song, with lots of happy people in it.  Thank goodness Isaac made us sit at the back, as a few happy tears were shed.....  After we headed into the place.  It was ok.  To be honest, not much to do.  We had a look at some of the history of the merchandising and art work, before heading to the Tasting centre.  The boys went nuts.  They tried drinks from all over the world, and absolutely loved it! I however was a little displeased.  Other than the free style machines, all the drinks were full sugar.  This did not help my blood sugar levels! 

We collected our free bottle of coca cola and headed out through the gift shop.  Possibly one of the most awesome gift shops ever.  Everything Coca Cola branded you can imagine.  So cool, yet so corporate.  Really shows you how a company has taken over the world.....

From here we traipsed back to the car and headed the short drive to the Legoland Discovery Centre. This is well hidden on the top floor of a mall.  It took us a while to figure this out, particularly as there is construction work in the area at the moment.  As we were quite late in the day, there were no queues to enter.

Our kids absolutely love the Mini-lands at the various Lego parks.  They could spend all day looking at the finer details.  

Once through Mini Land, you enter the main play area.  All the boys wanted to do was the Lego Racers area.  This is where you make a car out of various Lego and Technic bits, and send it down a ramp.  They loved it.  Sebastian was very taken....

Granted, he just looked for cars lying around that were already made. He has recently started playing with Lego at home, and trying to build his own, so this is progress! Isaac choose to go in the soft play area, Oliver joined him, but didn't stay long.  We then headed into the 4-D cinema 

This was our boys first experience of this type of cinema, and they loved it! It was a Clutch Powers feature, and was very amusing.  We had already been here for about 2 hours, so decided to go and do the laser quest ride.  This was a lot of fun.  And again, because it was so late in the day, there was no queue.  By now, Paul and I had had enough!!!! We headed out through the gift shop.  Legoland Discovery Centre in Atlanta, is certainly not huge, but as a stop gap to the 'real' Legoland, it is worth a visit.  I would certainly recommend going later in the day. They are open till 9pm on the weekend (but check this out before your visit).

We drove back towards the hotel after this.  We stopped for a faster food dinner.  Once back at the hotel, we put Seb to bed, though with the noise the other 2 were making while building their Lego sets, it took him a while to fall asleep.  Same with Isaac once we put him to bed.  Oliver slept on the sofa bed, think that is going to be his bed in hotels from now on, sorry Oliver! 

Paul had to be out the door at 6.45 the next morning to head to the track.  Because of this, neither of us slept great.  I took the boys down for breakfast, they were pretty well behaved, and only had about 2 breakfasts each! We then headed back to the room, to kill some time before checking out.  

Road Atlanta was only about a 30 minute drive from the hotel.  Luckily for us all, it had stopped raining.  I found it eventually and headed in.  Because of Petite Le Mans taking place the weekend after, it was busy.  There were RV's parked up ready to get in and set up for the week.  We found were Paul was situated, and parked up.  He was already on the track at this time, so we headed to the stands.  3 boys on these kind of bleachers is a heart attack (for me) and an injury (for them) waiting to happen. 

Paul finished up his run, and came and hung out with us.  We did not stay long.  They really enjoyed driving 'Goldie' around the track. We were fortunate in the people organizing the track day arranged a parade lap at lunch time.  This was where we could go in track in any vehicle, with any passengers, for no fee.  Paul asked if I wanted to drive, I said no.  

The second we started going around the track, I regretted it!!! We were supposed to go at 35mph, but most were going about 50.  It was so awesome!!!! The kids loved it.... We did 2 laps before we had to come off.  It was great fun.

The boys and I headed home shortly after, absolutely exhausted!  We had a great time in and around Atlanta.  

First breathing house guest.....

Tony finding 'the American way'

Well Tony arrived last wednesday.  Paul picked him up from Atlanta airport and they headed into the city itself to watch the Lakers vs Hawks basketball game.  The said it was an interesting experience, as most of the fans were Lakers, and were booing the home team.  I had booked them into a grotty down town hotel for the night, so they headed to a bar, where they continued drinking.  A few Grey Goose later, and they wandered back to the hotel.  You don't even want to know how much those drinks cost......

Thursday they drove back here.  They arrived just after I had got Isaac from school.  We had a quick hello, and discussed afternoon/dinner plans.  I was already planning on going to Greenville to look for the mice on main street.  Isaac thoroughly enjoyed this, thanks to the wonderful clues from Liene.  We headed for a civilized adult coffee (yeah right, with 4 kids between us), then on for an ice cream.  A few of my friends have mentioned Marble Slab to me before, but I had never experienced it.  My golly it was good.  Nice price too....  The boys had hoped they would make it in to Greenville to meet us, but they had said they would pick up Oliver, so they didn't make it.  I headed home, rejoicing in the fact I did not have to do a school run.  Both Seb and Isaac fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Normally this would have been a huge hinderance to bedtime, but seeing as we had already decided we were going out for dinner it was actually a good thing.  The boys were so pleased to see Tony.  They all played beautifully together before we headed out for dinner at Tavern 24.  I had plans that evening to go to the cinema with a friend, so after dinner Paul and I swapped cars.  This was the first time I had driven his car ( a 3 series convertible).  It felt so low to the ground and really bumpy.....  My friend and I went to see Oz: The Great and Powerful.  Quite a good film, well worth seeing in 3D.  By the time I arrived home, Tony was already in bed.

Friday morning was spent doing the usual school runs for me.  We decide we would go out for lunch, then on to Walmart to get a BBQ, and the rest of the garden furniture.  Obviously we took 2 cars.  Good job too.  It ended up with all the garden furniture in the back of the X5, with the boot tied closed, the BBQ in the passenger seat.  I had to drive Paul's car, again, with the boys in the back, and the rest of the shopping in the boot.  The temperature was creeping up, and I couldn't even put the roof down.  We got home and Paul and Tony started building the furniture, while I went and got Oli in Paul's car, with the roof down.  He hated it!  The boys had some dinner, while the men started on the beer.  After the boys had gone to bed, we cracked open the blackcurrant moonshine we had purchased up in the mountains.  That really did not last long.  I flaked about 11.30, and took myself off to bed (so proud of myself for this, if I had kept drinking I would have been seriously unwell....)

Carolina Ale House

Instead, I awoke saturday morning with a monster hangover.  It was a lovely bright warm morning.  Oliver had baseball practice at 10am, so we all trundled off to watch this.  After a slight confusion in the pitch arrangements (not helped by my thumping head) we eventually arrived at the right place.  Oliver is really enjoying the baseball.  The men took the other 2 off to the park while I got chatting to another English mum. I swear, they are finding me!!!!  We headed to the supermarket, and picked up the supplies for a BBQ.  This was good fun.  I made up a berry sangria type drink, and Paul cooked.

Sunday, the heads were not thumping too much (I had cheated and taken some paracetamol the night before).  We headed into Greenville to see if there was ant St Patricks day celebrations going on.  The town was very festive and full of cheer.  We went to the Carolina Ale House for some lunch, beginning with cocktails of course.  I had the Carolina Hurricane, it was lush.....  We took Tony down to Falls Park, and across the Reedy River,  and showed him a bit of the town.  The boys continued drinking in the evening.

The fountains at Falls Park had been turned
green for St Patricks Day

It was Paul's birthday on Monday.  I had got him loads of clothes, and some Lego Architecture.  Tony got him a Lakers top.  We were exceptionally bad this day, as we ate out twice.  We took Tony to show him the mall, and had lunch in the food court.  We then went to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner.  The drive home was not fun.  There was a massive thunder storm going on, some very loud thunder an bright lightning very close.  The ran was more than torrential.  Horrendous driving conditions. A few more drinks were had when we got home.

Tuesday Paul and Tony went to play golf in the morning.  I say play golf, they went to the driving range.  By now we were all feeling the excesses of drinking too much, and staying up to late.  Thats what you do when you are on holiday.  They stopped at a sports store on the way home, as Tony wanted some bits.  Paul got a baseball mitt for Isaac (he's a lefty, so can't really use Oliver's) and a bat so he can have hitting practice.  The adults spent the afternoon hitting in the garden.  I have quite a good swing, it went over the fence quite a few times... We had another BBQ, an early one as Oliver had baseball practice.

Tony and  Seb playing

Wednesday was a sad day.  I took the boys to school as usual.  Both Paul and Tony slept in.  They kicked around the house in the morning, till just before I had to get Isaac.  Then they headed out to Get some more purchases for people back home, and met us in one of the many McDonalds in Greenville.  We then went up to the zoo for our usual wednesday afternoon walk around.  The men headed to get Oliver (hurrah no school run for me), while I took the other 2 home.  It was very hard to say good bye to Tony, especially for the boys.  Isaac in particular really does not like good byes, and will refuse to give kisses and cuddles.  He timed it quite well, as he left just as they started computer time, so they had a distraction.

They made it to Atlanta airport at 7.37pm, an hour before Tony had to be there.  They even managed to stop at at outlet mall on the way.  Tony's flight wasn't till 11.30pm.  He must have been so bored!  Paul got back here about 10.30, absolutely shattered.

It has been an absolute joy having Tony as a house guest.  I am quite glad he was the first one.  There was a really nice chilled relaxed atmosphere in the house.  Too much sport in the telly, perhaps, but thats about my only complaint.  It was also nice for Paul, as he took the week off work and was able to feel like he was on holiday too, despite doing morning school runs with me for the first few days.

See, too much beer......

So on to the next...... My mum arrives next week.  In fact this time next week, she will be here.


This time next week, we will have been living here for 6 months

yowzers.......