Family,  Fun Things,  Marriage Confessions,  Out and About,  Travel

Part One: MC in the ATL

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This past weekend, Chris and I took the kids up to my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Atlanta to spend some time with them. We had this great idea that we would leave Orlando around dinner time and then drive the majority of the seven hours while the kids were sleeping.

Ahhh…what stupid people we are.

We didn’t end up leaving Orlando until after 8:00pm on Thursday night. We had a meeting at 9:00 on Friday morning in Atlanta, so instead of deciding to leave the next morning (like normal, good parents), we decided we’d just keep on trucking. Which meant we pulled into the parking lot of Ginny and John Michael’s condo at 3:30AM.

‘Twas brutal.

At that point, Bean had been sleeping for seven hours and was in no way tired. So, my saint of a sister went ahead and just stayed up with him while Chris and I tried to grab some shut eye with Gracie before our meeting.

On Friday morning, we had quite possibly the coolest meeting of our entire lives and got one of the best surprises possible. That whole shindig will get it’s own blog post later this week, but let me just prepare you that you will hate me forever once I tell you about it. Be prepared to be greeeeeeeen with jealousy!

After our meeting Friday morning, Chris and I went back at the condo to pick up Ginny and the kids and Ginny took us over to the Georgia Aquarium for the afternoon.

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Even as tired as we all were, it was totally worth the effort to go because that is one beautiful complex with some crazy fish and animals!

Like this albino alligator (which gave me the willies)…

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And this beluga whale (which caused me to spontaneously break out singing, “Baaaaaaby beluuuuuga…” at random points in the viewing area.

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Bean really liked the penguin area because there was a tunnel he could crawl through to get a closer look at them.

P.S. And can I get an “amen” for involved dad’s in tiny, child-sized enclosures?

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He also really liked the string ray tank that his brave Aunt Ginny took him to see.  She even let him put his hands down in the water to pet the string rays.  Aunt Ginny is so very, very cool.  Way cooler than Bean’s mother, who stood 10 feet away from the string ray tank, yelling, “Don’t drop him!  Don’t drop him!”

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My favorite thing, though, was the giant whale shark in the biggest viewing area. It was so majestic! And check out those chompers!

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By 3:00 that afternoon, we were all dragging a little bit, but none more than Bean. He completely gave up even trying to seem excited. He was just so tired. Poor buddy!

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And Gracie…well, she slept from the minute we walked in the door, really.

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We decided to head home for an early night of pizza and wings at Gin’s condo.

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The next morning was Saturday and we had LOTS to do, including getting ready for the MC meet and greet late Saturday afternoon! I’m still collecting pictures from people to use in that post, so check back tomorrow for details on that. As for day one in Atlanta, though, it was a huge, exhausting success!

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