Atlanta!!

We headed to Hot-Lanta for a few days of fun and memory making!!  Al was excited to run his first Peachtree Road Race and I was excited to show some of the down-town sights with the kiddos!  Al's boss, the VP of his company, offered for us to stay with his family in their condo downtown- his kids would be in Spain so they would have plenty of room, plus, they had met our kids and thought they were pretty darn fun!

The skyline!

The kids loved this view from the balcony- the pool!!

Thrilled to swim AND see the skyline of Atlanta!

 Al went into the office to work Tuesday, and the kids and I headed downtown.  The race officials had accidentally mailed Al his race number to our old address- and since we didn't get it before we left, I had to go downtown and pick it up.  Not a big deal since the condo was already downtown- it was a short drive.  The plan was to play at the Olympic Park- there are two awesome playgrounds, fountains, and a concert!  Well, the website did not mention that the entire park was locked down starting at 8am July 3rd in preparation for the huge party that would be held there July 4th....  So, we quickly came up with a Plan B....

We stopped outside of the World of Coke- I didn't think they would appreciate it since they don't like soda...

While waiting for the Peachtree Race office to open, we stopped at the CNN center for a snack- and a super kind
manager at the Chick-fil-A made the kids a chocolate milkshake at 10am!  That certainly
helped ease the pain of NOT getting to play on the playground or the fountains.

Plan B- it ended up being a day spent at the Atlanta's Children Museum!  I had gone to this as a child- and was nothing alike!!  The kids had a blast- we played there for 4 hours!!

Checking out different terrains on a scooter

Safety First!  This was the closest Addie got....

Alden, I discovered might be 1/2 spider- he climes extremely well, especially considering his footwear!

Working to pull up some of the balls so that they can enter a vast conveyer belt- the balls went everywhere!

Working together to "drive" the crane

Collecting balls from a container, moving the crane so that they could dump them into another container

Painting!

Picasso, watch out!

HUGE containers with moon sand- lots of fun!

Fishing

Pretending to be frogs...

Addie the store cashier

Milking the pretend cow

Massive train track

And of course, a show!  Addie and Alden were picked to be a part of it- fun!!

Plan B ended up being lots of fun- the kids loved it, and that is what matters!!

Peachtree Road Race

When I was kid growing-up in Atlanta, my parents always ran The Peachtree Road Race, so when Al decided to put in to run it, I was excited!!  A little history- Al's company is based out of Atlanta, so it could be a "business" trip, and it wasn't a guarntee he would even get to run- the race is limited to 60,000 so the runners are chosen in a lottery.  Al's number was picked so off we went!  When is the best time to run a 10k in Atlanta?  July 4th, of course!!

Al's boss was gracious enough to offer for us to stay at his condo- which happened to be right at the 3 mile marker of the race!  Perfecto!!

Early in the morning- since the condo was on the race path, we parked our car a few blocks away so that I could
drive the rest of the racers to the start line so they didn't have to walk 3 miles to the start

The kids made this huge sign- quite a few people from Al's company were running!
And Addie made a sign just for Al- Go Daddy Go Go Go!

Daddy waved!!

Pool Al- and all the other 60,000 runners- this marked the beginning of what is affectionatly referred to as
Cardiac Hill- a hill for the next mile!!

And here are Jayme and Aaron- Aaron is the VP and it was in his condo that we stayed

The view of the race from the condo- this was the lightest the crowd was- there were times when you
could hardly see the street there were so many runners!

The kids LOVED the fact that if they got tired of standing on the street, we could hop on an elevator
and presto- have AC, a bathroom, or a comfy couch to watch the race!

Climbing on the rails outside the condo- still watching the race!

This was the sweetest- at one point, they stood on the side and just gave out high-fives!
People would see them and come across the street just to high five them- it made their day!

It was a great time- and we look forward to going next year!

Summer Time Catch Up!

Summer is here and we are embracing it fully!!  Which means that we play, play, play, and play some more!!  It is such fun to spend all day doing fun 'stuff' with these two amazing little people!!  Here are a few things we have done....

Saying good-bye to MarMar and PopPop on our first day of Summer Vacation

Bet you didn't know Batman went to Goddard, did ya?

Silly poses!

Reading- we hit the library up every Monday and load up on new books!!

And what day isn't complete without a dip in the pool?  We are so lucky that our pool
is across the street from our new house- so we walk every day!!

Visit the fountains with friends- and of course, eat!

Dunkin Donuts with friends!!

Antics off the diving board

Celebrating birthdays with new friends

Addie did a gymnastics camp with a friend who's mom I teach with

Making apple pie- yum!

Watering plants and attempting to help them NOT die in the triple digit heat

Picnics with friends- inside since it's so hot

And of course, when the high is 107, you pull out the neighbors sled and see if it will go down your
ivy covered hill- it does!

Soaring Eagles Graduation

It's hard to believe, but Alden is officially done with with preschool!  He has had an amazing year- great teachers, fun, smart and spunky friends- we couldn't ask for anything better!

The day of his graduation his grandparents, Al and Theresa, came down from NY.  We were super excited- Alden had kept the entire ceremony a secret- good job! And an added excitement was that Addie was the commencement speaker!  They both did an excellent job and we couldn't be prouder of both of them!!

Alden class

Super excited waiting for the ceremony to start!

Our little graduate!

Love these two!!

Miss Annabeth- Alden's teacher assistant

Miss Monica- we LOVE her- and had to promise to stop by and see her several mornings every week!

Addie giving her speech- the video will have to uploaded another day...

Joey and Alden- to peas in a pod!

Alden and Sally

Alden and Piper (yes, Alden is clearly a ladies man....)

Little Graduate

I can't believe it- on Thursday, Alden officially graduates from preschool and becomes a full-fledged kindergartner!  I love that his preschool does the cap and gown- the next time he will do this will be for highschool- what a comparison that will be!

He is such an incredible little man and has grown physically, emotionally, academically and spiritually this year- it's simply amazing!  I look forward to how he is going to be used by God in his school next year- and am super excited for him to have that experience!

All Moved In!!

Over the weekend, we were able to get moved in- whew!  For the first time ever in all our various moves, we hired some movers- they moved all the furniture- old house to truck, truck to new house- all with crazy summer weather!  It was wonderful!!  Saturday morning, thanks to good friends- Mike and Nick- all the boxes were moved out of the old house and into the new house in a matter of hours! And the best part- for me at least- was my good friend Karen, who graciously offered to watch the kids all day!  This left me free to clean the old house and then unpack at the new house!  By the time the kids came home- their rooms were done and their playroom mostly done!

Here are a few pics of various rooms- there will be more posted once I paint!!

Office

Master Bath

Addie's Room

Family Room

Piano

Playroom

Playroom other side

Kitchen- notice I have started changing out the hardware- such an improvement!

Looking into the eat-in portion

Kid bathroom

Master