3 Week Road Trip!

Atlanta

All I have thought is the rap song that says "welcome to Atlanta where the playas play..." And that's literally all I can remember. I've never been well versed in such music, but in high school I wasn't so sensitive to lyrics as I am now. Oh dear. 

Monday we did nothing but recover. Our hotel pool was out of commission for exactly the amount of time we were staying. Talk about a bummer! 

Tuesday we visited an Anne Frank exhibit and I realized I am pretty sure I've never read that book. Then we headed to see the temple and literally sang "I love to see the temple" as we drove down the road past the baptist church, the church that I can't remember it's name, and all the other 4 churches that lined the street. We are in the south!  We had a contest to see who could spot the temple first and Wade and I yelled in excitement when we both saw it. Amazing how easy it is to spot our own temples when we didn't know what it looked like and didn't see the sign. Just pulled right on in, knowing we had arrived. I love that!

Wade was really needing some explanations as to why he could not go inside. This was a new experience for me, especially when he was so adamant about "but whhyyyy??" So we lead right into the discussion about how our family is "sealed" so we don't need to worry or be afraid of death bc we will still be a family! He then asked when he is going to die. All sorts of curious questions over here. 

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, our fave activity is running down the halls. Hanks is sticking his head in the railings and getting it stuck 1/2 the time. He doesn't like that part too much. We also loved watching the elevators. We got the stink eye from some [white] people. We got lots of giggles and love from everyone else. Seriously!! Lighten up ye Caucasians. 

Wednesday

I was super daring and optimistic in planning several downtown area stops. We got a little lost, but found the Federal bank reserve and I learned things I had never known. It was short and pretty cool. We walked across the street to a restaurant, Ribalta. I get several looks that felt like "why are you coming in here with those two little kids?" And "who are you--the mom or the nanny?" Oh well. The food was super good. 

After getting lost to the next destination, we found Centennial Olympic park and took a whirl there before returning to the hotel.  That night we played racquetball as a fam, and surely were the loudest group that court may have ever known!

Thursday 2/5
Last day in Atlanta.  Spent doing laundry at the laundromat--and losing a book that I JUST started...what a tragedy.  I was shedding paper washed/dried into my clothes for days after that.  We found an amazing pizza place--Antico Pizza.  To die for.  We loved it so much that on our way back through Atlanta we stopped there again!  We appropriately ended our stay at the hotel wrestling in the hall.
And the best picture of Hank in the history of pictures.  Makes me crack up every time.  This is his silly face that he looooooves to make and be laughed at!

Friday 2/6
Oh hey, I made that bag.  We left and drove south, south, south all the way to Jacksonville, FL.  I kept thinking the whole drive "Oh my.  This is so far south.  We have to drive all the way back north...that is going to be a long, long drive!"  We survived.  We stopped at a park as our last pit stop and enjoyed playing.  Our trusty rental car was good to us this trip!  Perris loved the spanish moss...I loved Hank's car seat head!
We successfully arrived at Beaumont's house and surprised Stuart on his birthday! It was epic.  That is a little dramatic, but it was really fun.  The creepy house is a neighbor to Beau.