Monday, July 20, 2009

Whirlwind: From Atlanta, GA to Muskegon, MI

Last Monday, a group of us went to Stone Mountain. We had a great time and there was tons of stuff to do. Surprisingly, the park was not very busy which was really nice. We took the train around the mountain and Josh loved that. We took the Sky lift to the top of the mountain where we were treated to a wonderful view. Next we stopped for lunch. After that some of us headed back to the hotel while the others went to the petting zoo.



Josh catchin' a ride with Alyssa

Claire and Josh at the petting zoo


After the petting zoo, Matt, Mom, Dad, Josh and I were thinking of riding the ducks but instead found this play area where we could shoot nerf balls at each other. That was a blast! Next, we went to go get our group pics and headed toward the climbing area. There was a climbing area just for little kids and Josh loved it. He was a natural.

On Tuesday, Mom, Dad, Matt, Josh and I went to Hard Rock to get mom some pins. We had already planned on doing this before they got here. We then had lunch at the Varsity. Yum! It is the world's largest drive-in diner. It is huge and the food isn't half bad either.

Josh was getting super tired so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. That was when we discovered that our trailer was being delivered on THURSDAY! Matt made a ton of phone calls and we were to pick it up on FRIDAY. Once we had rested up off we went to Kennesaw NP, which was really neat. The museum there is chucked full of information. For dinner we went to Fuddrucker's. YUM!

Fast forward to Thursday. (Wednesday night was a flurry of unpacking and packing.) The day started with a dead battery. Thankful the jump box works well. We then stopped to get the loan check, which took longer than expected. Then it was off to my sister's to drop Josh off. We got there just in time to see Marianna jump off the driving board for the last time of the day. She was really excited about that.
It was only two hours from her house to Holland, MI where we had a kid-free dinner and went to see Harry Potter. We liked the movie, by the way. After the movie, we decided to drive up to Muskegon and Matt wanted to find the trailer place. So at 10 o'clock at night we were trying to find it with weird exit ramps and the inability to turn left. For some reason there were no left turns permitted at intersections, but you could drive up the road a bit and u-turn in front of on coming traffic. It was the craziest thing we've every seen.
The day started on Friday with another dead battery as we were going to meet our friend Kathy for breakfast. At the restaurant, the battery died again (thankful again for that jump box). So Kathy directed us to the AutoZone to by a new battery. We didn't want to pull our new camper with a cruddy battery. It took four hours at the camper place to go through the camper, finish the paper work, and wait while they installed some vent covers.
Once we had the camper we picked up Josh and drove the 2 1/2 to 3 hours home.

Check out our new Guest Quarters:





It didn't take Josh long to figure out going up and down the ramp was FUN









Josh likes his new bed!

This next picture is of Josh discovering a new way to play with bubble wrap. Run your fire engine over it, of course.

Love to all,
M, J, and J

Sunday, July 12, 2009

More Reunion Pics


We've terrorized a conference room

Maia, Olivia, Claire, Alyssa, and Josh

We terrorized the Georgia Aquarium
Maia, Maggie, and Josh

YES! Let's hold it!!


I bet that feels just like this booger



Under the waves



We terrorized the hotel lobby







Claire, Josh, Jessa, Maggie, Maia, Olivia, Alyssa, Emma



And we terrorized the zoo




Josh, Olivia, Jessa



She smells funny

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Few Quick Pics

6 of the 7 families arrived Friday night with one more coming in today and one who lives here in Atlanta. We just hung out at the hotel for the evening since the kids were pretty tired from the travel. However, they were NOT too busy for the pool.
We went to the zoo this morning and having a pizza party in the lobby tonight. Here's just a few pictures from the zoo today. We'll be sure to put up LOTS more tomorrow.

Josh, Olivia, and Jessa on to the next exhibit


A collection of kids, parents, and goats!

Josh and Claire

More tomorow!



Thursday, July 02, 2009

Trains and Water Oh my!

Our Day out with Thomas was a lot of fun. Josh was so happy to have grandma and grandpa go with us because it had been over a week or so without lovin' from grandma while she was on a business trip. Josh was very excited to see Thomas. We hada 25 minute train ride and then we roamed around all the other activities. Josh loved the pony ride (Grandma has those pictures) and the petting zoo. He would laugh hysterically when the goats would eat the corn from his hand. He also like the wooden train tracks the kids could play with and the little kiddie train he rode. We all ended our day with ice cream. The perfect treat for a 90 degree day. Matt and I had planned on buying Josh a toy while there, but when we discovered it was almost twice what the stores wanted for the same thing we ended up not buying a thing. Even a tooth brush was five dollars. Highway robbery!






Josh and Thomas the Tank Engine



Dad and Josh feeding the goats.




Josh started swim lessons on Monday. He is a crazy boy in the water. He loves to splash around, "swim" and jump into the pool. The only thing he isn't sure of is floating on his back. Unfortunately, it has been very cold (for July) this week which makes the water cold too. Josh doesn't mind, but I sure do. By the time we are done with swim lessons our fingers and lips are blue.



Today just dad and Josh got in the water because it was 63 degrees this morning.




Kick Josh kick!





We are one week away from our Adoption Reunion in Atlanta. We will be taking our computer along and will hopelly be able to update the blog while in Atlanta.



Have a wonderful July 4th weekend. God Bless America!



M, J, and J