Atlanta

Last week Ryan had a work conference at his Atlanta office.  The beauty of summer is that the girls and I had nothing pressing going on, so we packed up and went with him.  I wasn't sure how it would go with us only taking 1 car and having to get up early to take Ryan to work each morning but it worked out just fine and we had a fun and relaxing time.

We started off on Monday by heading straight to Ryan's brother's house.  They live just outside of Atlanta and we wanted to see them since it's been awhile.  All the kids had a great time playing together and then we went to dinner with them at one of their local favorites.

On Tuesday morning we took Ryan to work and then we relaxed in the hotel and then spent a couple of hours swimming in the hotel pool.  We had the pool to ourselves and it was heated so at lunch time, I had to make them get out.  I forgot to take my camera down to the pool, but we went swimming with Ryan again on Wednesday night and I took some pictures then.  Emma Catherine is swimming by herself all over the place.  Bailey, on the other hand, still does not like her face to get wet.  That kind of hinders the whole "learning to swim" process, so hopefully that will get better as the summer goes on.  I did convince her to go under water with me a few times but she didn't like it at all.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to take naps.  When we woke up, we went to pick up Ryan and we got to experience Atlanta traffic...not fun, but thankfully the girls had their DVD players.  Ryan took us into the office to show us around and the girls got to see a valve that he sells (a small one from what I understand).

When then headed to dinner.

On Wednesday we took Ryan to work again and then came back to get ready.  We then went to Monkey Joe's, which is an indoor inflatable place, and we met one of my best friends from college, Jenn, who lives in Atlanta.  It was so good to see her and catch up.  After playing and then lunch, I decided to go see Jenn's new house that she bought last year.  She has great taste in decorating and furniture and it was fun to see her place in person.  Jenn recently started a blog herself, and you can read her recap of our visit here.

After our visit with Jenn, we headed to pick Ryan up from work a little early so we could miss the traffic.  We then headed to the hotel for a swim and then to dinner.  Thursday Ryan had to work half a day so the girls and I hung around the hotel room, read books and played.  Earlier in the week I had noticed a nice McDonald's near our hotel so at lunch time, we checked out of our hotel and then headed there to eat and play until Ryan was finished.  We then headed back to Birmingham.  Poor Bailey was worn out.  She never sleeps in the car, and about 45 minutes or so out of Birmingham, she fell asleep.

It was a great trip, and we were thankful to be with Ryan, rather than by ourselves at the house.

The Zoo with Friends

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the zoo with some dear friends.  Rachel and Andrew were some of first married friends when we lived in Dothan.  We went to church together and Rachel and I taught at the same school.  When they moved to Birmingham, we were so sad, but now 5 years later (I think) we live in the same area again.  We live in different cities, but close enough that hopefully we will see each other more.  Things have changed since we were newlyweds in Dothan, most notably the 5 girls that we have between us.  They have 3 precious girls and we were glad to spend some time with them at the zoo. 

Also, this week we went back to the zoo with our next door neighbor, Lilly.  I didn't take many pictures, and it was very hot, but we still had a good time.  The girls also got to play in the fountains, which they have been asking to do.