Camren woke me up to tell me he was hungry, so I dragged myself from bed to walk him to a hotel breakfast. He's my early riser, while Garrett asked for a cup of juice and promptly fell back asleep.
I can't say much about hotel coffee...but caffeine is caffeine and I need my morning coffee if I have to be up and about.
It was Friday, and I knew one of my high school friends had worked it out that he was going to fly to Atlanta to spend the weekend with us. But until then, I needed to work.
The boys weren't arguing with their lack of sunshine, and I worked as much as I could for those quiet hours in the hotel room.
Unfortunately Max's flight was delayed and he wouldn't be in until midnight. So I soldiered on with work until I couldn't tell you what my screen said any longer. I was mentally tapped out and exhausted to boot.
We drove to pick him up from the airport, laughed and talked for a short time and all soon promptly fell asleep as we had plans the next day. We were going into Atlanta to the Georgia Aquarium. The boys were nearly bouncing off the walls in excitement and so was I.
The next morning, another hotel breakfast and 25 minutes down the road, we managed to find parking. I'm sure I've said it before, but I HATE cities. They're crowded, annoying, smell terrible and have me so consistently on edge that I get snappy.
Despite my grumbling, we got into the Aquarium rather quickly, and all I can say is wow. Two stories, at least 3 dozen exhibits and all of us were walking around awestruck. I'm not going to tell you all of it, you're going to have to make the trip to see it yourself. But it is spectacular. Almost every exhibit is designed with kids in mind. From penguin tunnels to the absolutely giant aquarium that contains whale sharks. WHALE SHARKS!!!! Garrett was practically vibrating when he spotted a sea turtle and was shocked at how big it really was. Camren was practically glued to the sea otter tank and we got to see them get fed as well.
Even I could barely pry Max from the jellyfish in order to keep up with the kids.
All in all, we spend a solid four hours there and could have easily walked through again for a few more hours. The boys asked to get their faces painted and I couldn't tell them no. Garrett got an alligator and Camren, a sea dragon. They were so tired by the end but it was beyond worth it.
As we left, there were the beginning set-ups for a Juneteenth concert and some sort of pride parade. We didn't stick around for that, and if I'm never accosted again by screaming people in the back of parade trucks, it will be too soon.
Loaded baked potatoes and lemonade rounded out our meal for the night and we talked and talked about everything we saw. Next thing I know, Max and Garrett are snoring and Camren was fighting to keep his eyes open.
It was worth it, every moment.
Max was heading out the next day on a late flight so we checked out of the hotel, took the boys to a park for a few hours and after a late lunch of Wendy's, complete with french fries dipped in chocolate Frosties, we dropped Max off at the airport and drove a few hours up the road to one last hotel for the night. Mainly so I could squeeze in a bit more work.
The next day, the goal was North Carolina, and I also needed some decent sleep for the drive.
Xo!
Amie and The Boys