Day 5 continued: fresh air

The aquarium was across the street from Centennial Olympic Park so we walked around there for a bit. They had two fun playgrounds that the girls loved. Amelia spent her time collecting leaves and organizing them. Elsa spent her time climbing and sliding and making friends with anyone who was willing. They also had some fun fountains there. Everyone had fun playing in the fountain shaped like the Olympic rings. It was nice to be out of the crowds and in the fresh air. The weather was perfect.













We found an amazing burger place for dinner called Flip Burger Boutique. They had the most interesting burger concoctions and everything was delicious.

I went with a turkey burger with avocado:


Ben's burger had caramelized onions, blue cheese, and red wine jam:


The girls devoured their grilled cheese. The onion rings and fries were also good with lots of yummy dipping sauces:


The shakes were awesome. We tried their popular Krispy Kreme shake. It tasted exactly like a vanilla shake with a Krispy Kreme glazed donut in it:


The nutella and burnt marshmallow shake was my favorite:


After dinner we drove around Grant Park in Atlanta until it got too dark. It was so beautiful there and we wished we had more time to spend exploring Atlanta.


We also drove around the Capitol:


We drove from Atlanta to Charlotte, NC that night so we would only have 6 hours left to drive on Saturday.

Day 5: Aquarium

We were really excited to check out the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the WORLD'S LARGEST AQUARIUM!!

Unfortunately, everyone that was at the Atlanta Temple Open House the night before followed us to the aquarium. And brought their friends. And their friends' friends. And school groups. And friends of school groups. It was insanely crowded. The aquarium was amazing. But we all struggled to fully enjoy it since it was often hard to see exhibits. And hard to keep track of each other. And hard not to get stepped on.

We still saw some really cool things and did manage to have some fun. The dolphin show there is quite a spectacle. More of a theatrical production. A dolphin musical actually. Really cheesy but the effects were pretty impressive. Amelia ate it up. When it was over Amelia said "That was really dramatic. Do you know what dramatic means? It wasn't just a show, it was a whole story!"






(Amelia was still a little traumatized from my stingray incident but she finally got brave enough to touch them. Elsa watched from a distance.)














(Walking through the fish tunnel.)






This tank was amazing. So huge. We spent a lot of time here just sitting on the floor in front of the glass watching different creatures swim by.






(Checking out the 4-D movie.)


(Seahorses!)









Don't be fooled by my pictures. The view usually looked like this:


They also had a fun play place for the kids with a big pirate ship. And a penguin exhibit.

Day 4: NC to GA

On Thursday we made the six hour drive from Wilson, North Carolina, to Atlanta, Georgia.

The sides of the freeway in North Carolina were covered with wildflowers. It was amazing. I finally got brave enough to pull over and snap a few photos.





We arrived in Atlanta in the evening (after stopping a few times for food and breaks). We were excited that the Atlanta Temple was having an open house. (Our temples are open to the public for a few weeks after being built or remodeled.) We arrived early for our scheduled tour time and discovered that nearly everyone in Atlanta was already there (it was one of the last days of the open house). We were there for nearly THREE HOURS for a 20 minute tour. It was a little bit frustrating (okay, a lot) especially since we weren't prepared for such a wait and hadn't had dinner yet. But once we were inside it was a really nice experience and Amelia loved seeing all of the beautiful rooms.

Unfortunately, it was 10 p.m. when we were done and completely dark so the pictures aren't so great.

Day 3: Raleigh + Friends

It worked out so well to be staying near Raleigh, North Carolina, because our dear friends live there. While Ben was working on Wednesday I took the kids to Raleigh to spend the day with the Dyckmans. (Ethan and Amelia have been friends since nearly birth.) I'm so glad we got one last chance to see them before they move again, this time to Texas!

They took us to some very fun places. North Carolina is such a beautiful state. I thought Virginia had a lot of trees...

We went to Oak View Farms which was beautiful. The kids had so much fun running around and exploring. And we were the only people there! (This will seem especially luxurious after our experiences in Atlanta.)












The kids loved running up and down this cotton field.







We passed by a lot of tornado damage while driving through North Carolina. We drove along a street in Raleigh where we saw tons of trees that had fallen and some crushed cars and houses. Really crazy and sad. This was a cemetery we passed that had a lot of fallen trees in it:


We spent the afternoon at a fantastic Children's Museum.








(Amelia loved the dollhouses.)


(Elsa LOVED the train tables.)





We will miss our friends. BUT we're growing quite a collection of friends and family in Texas so there may have to be a trip there in the future (aside from the nearly weekly trips Ben has been taking there for work).

* While passing by some fast food restaurants on our trip, Amelia came up with a joke (possibly the first that was legitimately funny/made sense) that she loved to tell for the rest of the trip:
Where did the pirate eat for lunch?
ARRRRbys!