Atlanta 2010 – Day 3 (Stone Mountain)

No, we did not begin this day at IKEA, but we did begin by taking a while to get to Stone Mountain. We stopped to buy Mom some breakfast at a McDonalds and must have waited 15 minutes for a breakfast burrito, and there was no line…this was ridiculous. But we made it to the mountain, and the kids were very impressed.

We began by taking the picture at the carving and then decided it was time to go to the top. Sam and Davis were both whining a bit about how scary it would be, thinking that their parents were just going to take them to the top where they could barely hang on. Anyway we made it to the top, with Davis bending down and holding his legs “I’m holding on, Mom”.

We had a blast on top of the mountain. Magan and Belle stayed with us for awhile, but then she took Belle back in because it was hot and we were afraid of a Sun burn. Davis and Sam just ran around at the top, then Sam decided he would start trekking down the mountain (on the side that you can hike down). We did follow him for a bit, then turning around realized quickly that this was more difficult. Davis quickly agreed to my inquiry about riding on my back and we made it back to the top and back to the girls.

Back down the hill, we ate at Miss Kates, which was excellent. Similar to Lambert’s of Foley, AL, they had some rolls that you had to catch. The food was delicious and more than enough for us. We then decided to take the train ride around the mountain which was a great place to let our bellies rest.

After the train ride, I suggested that we watch the 4D adventure “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, to which Sam and Davis said “NO, its to scary”. They wanted no more of any 4D adventures.

Sam and I then went to get in line for the SKY HIKE. This was the neatest thing to me at Stone Mountain, and is perfect for anybody that wants to hang 12’ to 24’ to 36’ above everyone in line as you travel an obstacle course in the sky. It was great, except for the wait time of 1 hour. They had a large play area for Davis to enjoy while Sam and I went on our SKY HIKE.

Sam was very brave during this obstacle course. The Harness would not let you fall very far, but he never fell down, nor did I. We went across the whole level 1 (12’) course, with only a couple of scares, where I had to hold Sam’s hand as he walked across a 4 inch wide plank suspended 12 feet in the air. He did great, so I asked if he wanted to try level 2 and he said OK. The second level had quite a few more challenges and several almost falls, which I guess to a 5 year old suspended 24 feet in the air was a little scary. But he still did great. When asked about level 3, we both said “NO”. This was a one hour wait, but we were probably in the attraction for about 1.5 hours, so well worth the wait.

After a little more shopping, we decided it was time to go. But I want to go back. Stone Mountain was great, and there was plenty of other things to enjoy that we did not have time for.

Atlanta 2010 – Day 2 (World of Coca-Cola, Braves Game)

The day actually began with another trip to IKEA to purchase some things that Magan and I had to talk over. But then we were on our way downtown to the World of Coca-Cola museum. On this day they had lots of outdoor activities in the green area between the coke museum and the Aquarium. Sam and Davis played here while I went to purchase the tickets.

After a quick lunch in this outside area, we made our way inside the museum. The museum begins with a cute movie about what goes on inside the coca cola machines when a quarter is inserted. It is a funny little movie, and the kids really liked it. We then came out and toured the actual mini-cola plant and bottling company that makes the colas for the museum. And we each got to get one later that was made at this plant. I am drinking one right now as I write this blog…and it is sooo good.

Next on our tour was visiting a massive amount of coca cola memorabilia that was also in the old coke museum elsewhere in Atlanta. Then we got to meet the cola Polar Bear. He was really neat. He stood about 7 feet tall and his eyes blinked and…anyway it was a pretty neat character, and all the kids loved getting to give him a high five. Belle wanted to pet his nose.

Up the elevator we went to our next stop…the Motion 4D adventure of the Magic behind coca cola. We found out very quickly that seats that move up and down quickly, loud noises, and water being sprayed on you was not what Miss Belle wanted. So Magan got up and stood by the exit door as we continued to watch. Then some dragonflies appeared on screen and as they flew into the audience in 3D, some motion within the seat was activated and it felt like they flew past your side…but to Davis this motion was a little higher and felt like the dragonfly had just bitten his ear. He went crazy…screaming and crying while magan took them both out. Sam had enough himself, but pushed himself to make it to the end.

Two more memorabilia areas walked us through the bad decision of going to NEW COKE in the 80s, which lasted only 79 days before they re-released the classic coca cola. Then we got to see all of the Max Headroom stuff, and then Magan got to sit on the American Idol couch.

We then visited the signature area of this museum…the taste testing area. Where you can taste colas from all over the world, and all of the different types of coke in our country. It is always fun, but there were so many people that we did not stay long. Sam and Davis loved the watermelon colas, grape colas, and pink lemonade. On the way out, they allowed each visitor to pick up one of the freshly bottle colas from the plant downstairs.

It was now only 3:30PM and the Braves Baseball game was not scheduled to begin until 7:30PM, but we thought we would head over that way because the kids might get a nap in the van. We made it to turner field, parked and everyone took a nap. Then the rain came…and came…and came… We watched the rain get so hard that we could no longer see Turner field right next to us. And through it all the amazing parking attendants just stayed outside. It was crazy. Around 6 we had a break in the rain and made our way to the stadium.

We made our way up to the 755 club (This was a special privilege with the tickets we bought). It was a nice place that was air conditioned, but the line for a table was very long and we were very hungry. So we went back down with the “commoners” J and ate hot dogs under a tent while the ran continued to come down. The game was delayed and we wandered around the park for about 3 hours, visiting the Cartoon Network area for the kids…then when everyone else in the park also had this idea, we left because it was too crowded. Sam and Davis did like this area though.

Finally after finding a cool area to rest for a bit…the game finally began around 9PM. Sam and Davis also got to buy them a souvenir bat. This would prove to be a very dangerous gift and something I would somewhat regret as the bat pounded on the window, my seat, and other things in the van for the rest of the vacation.

But the game began with a retirement ceremony for Tom Glavine, which was one of the great pitchers when I was keeping up with baseball and the braves. It was neat to see him, Dale Murphy, and Phil Neikro all on the stage together. The game began and we made it about 2 innings in our cramped seats along the third base line. We then moved back upstairs to the more comfortable 755 club to enjoy more of the baseball game. We got to see Chipper hit a one-hopper over the fence, and we got to see a home run ball hit towards us in left. We then decided that 11:30PM was a good time to leave the park. When we got home I found out they lost 3-2 in the 11th inning. Oh well…we had a good time.

Atlanta 2010 – Day 1 (The trip over, IKEA)

The vacation began perfectly with us sleeping late and grabbing some biscuits at McDonalds. We made it to Atlanta around noon and stopped by our hotel to check in. It was then time to go to where Magan has dreamed of going for so very long. We were going to the Atlanta IKEA store.

This is a massive woman store that many may never get to see, and many of the men I saw coming out had a dazed look and others were in corners calling loudly for their wifes to come get them. One of them held up a sign that said he needed money, for his bride had left him for IKEA.

Let me lay out this store for those who have not been sucked in by its talons of evil modern day home furnishings. It has two levels of a parking garage beneath level 1. Level 1 contains the Warehouse, Checkout area, Kid’s Play area, and a torturous path through various lighting fixtures, shelving arrangements, and full wall modern art pieces and Swiss writing throughout, that seem to reach out to the female species of this world and hold them at each area until every item of every station has been noticed and approved of. The opposite effect was noticed by me as we slowly moved through the area. I felt much like Dorothy must have felt when traversing across the field of flowers to the emerald city, when the Wicked Witch caused sleepiness to fall over the field.

Level 2 leads you through a pathway of various decorated rooms and ideas for filling even the smallest of spaces. This level also had the cafeteria.

We ate lunch at IKEA, then purchased our park hopper passes to enjoy the rest of the store. The kids played in the play area (watched by IKEA employees) while we shopped. We left the store around 6 that evening leaving Magan with visions of IKEA furnishings dancing in her head. This is also where Sam bought BULLY.

We ended the day in the pool at our hotel. It was fun, and a good end to a long day.

The Lightning Strike

It seems like Hollywood often portrays lightning strikes in a humorous sense…I remember “The Great Outdoors” where the bear was struck by lightning and knocked the fur off his bottom, and “Caddyshack” where the priest was struck during an amazing golfing outing. But we all know it is some scary stuff and not to be messed with…I still rush through my showers during a lightning storm.

Well anyway…we finally got our first dose of the powerful force of lightning on a trip up to Cullman to attend a get-together with Magan’s family. We were at the Valley Grove community center which sits on the top of a little hill with large hardwood trees rising above the large cinderblock community center. The building was basically one large room with three rows of tables running the length of the building and a kitchen on one end with a counter for serving running across the width of the building separating the kitchen area from the table area. The entrance to this large room was directly in the middle of the longer side and contained a small foyer and bathrooms to both sides. A severe thunderstorm had been in effect for the area, but probably not so severe that James Spann was showing his suspenders yet, probably still in his jacket.

The children had been running the length of the room, and most of the people were up near the kitchen area preparing the food, while a few of the folks were sitting in chairs where they could see the people come in the foyer as they arrived.

Here are some pictures of the calm before the storm...

And then a large flash of blue out of nowhere, followed immediately by BOOM, then followed by dust being blown into your face. The noise was deafening and sounded like the large firecrackers near the finale of a big show, yet these firecrackers being in the same room with you. The lights went out immediately, and children began to cry. What followed was somewhat chaotic as I ran toward James who had Anabelle. We gathered the children in the kitchen area that had some light where we could check to make sure they were OK.

James then later flipped the breakers back on and walked the room to assess the damages. All of the lights were still working, but along the back wall of the building two of the sockets had been blown out of the wall and a large piece of cinder block was blown out of the wall. Two of the ladies who were near the path of the strike had burn marks on them, and pieces of the cinder block had caused some cuts on one gentleman, and gotten in his eye and caused it to be very red. All that were injured have since been checked on OK.

All in All, we were very fortunate the children were not in that area during the lightning strike. Davis now tells this story pretty often to others and lets you know about the large BOOM.

The next picture is not for the faint at heart...it shows James showing what will happen if you touch the socket just like this...

Davis and his Food

1. Davis and the cookie

I was working on the computer in the dining room which gives me a good view of the going-ons throughout the living room and kitchen. It allows me to somewhat pay attention to the kids as they run around.

On this particular night, I noticed a little pair of eyes peek around the kitchen counter to verify my position. When I glanced in that direction, his little eyes quickly jumped out of view and back behind the counter. “Davis” I said “What are you doing?”. He peeked back around the counter and gave me his big smile, then shrugged his shoulders indicating he was just walking around. He then said “I was just looking at these cookies”. Then I remembered the cookies still remaining from lunch, and understood this sneakiness. “Do you want one of those cookies?” I asked. Shrugging his shoulders again indicating his indifference, he said “Sure, I guess”. So I let him have a cookie, but I am pretty sure he was not looking for my permission in the first place.

2. Davis and the Donut

After a recent late evening trip to Walmart, Magan had purchased some Mrs. Freshey’s donuts (I think these are the cheap rectangle shaped cakey donuts sold near the Little Debbies…perhaps Mrs. Freshey is Little Debbies mother). I have never liked these but apparently magan and the boys do.

We were ready to get the boys in bed and this sometimes takes awhile, so Magan told them NO, they could not have a donut, they could have one in the morning. We had brushed their teeth, and went through about 10 other things they just have to do before bed, when Magan started looking for Davis. He was nowhere to be found, and we searched all over the house. Magan heard a noise from the boy’s room in their closet, and opened the door to see Davis. He was sitting in the closet with his back to the door eating one of Mrs. Freshey’s donuts. “What are you doing, Davis?” Magan asked…”I’s just eating a donut” was his casual reply.

3. Davis and the Pop Tarts

This is another Magan story and instead of trying to remember it…I will just say take the Mrs. Freshy donut and replace it with a Pop Tart, and you have this story. While the donut was funny and he was scolded, the Pop Tarts put him in the repeat offense punishment which has since stopped the closet sweet eating.