This is a confession... I shot my sister and her two kids with a Canon. Before you call the cops, you should know that nobody got hurt and generally everyone had a good time.
My sis, Gena, had been promising me for years to come and visit me in my new Atlanta home... well, it was new 8 years ago anyway. It seems that she has been busy raising a family so traveling 10 hours by car was not an easy thing to do.
Now that her twin kids are 8 years old, it is much easier to toss them in the car and make the grueling drive. Our plan was to keep the kids as busy as possible by purchasing an Atlanta City Pass. This allows people to see the top attractions in Atlanta for a highly reduced price.
The first morning, we made monster waffles in honor of Waffle House, which originated in Avondale Estates, Georgia... only 8 miles from my home.
Then it was off to the Fernbank Museum for some natural history and dinosaurs.
They have a great whale museum, which I accidentally found out does not allow photo taking. Oops. The hands-on science section has great things to occupy kids of all ages.
The next day was spent at Stone Mountain, which is not on the City Pass, but well worth the $10 admission to get in. The kids loved hiking around the old mill.
They sat still long enough for me to snap a few family photos. I mean just long enough... some of these poses were mere seconds before they were off and running again.
Notice the hug disguised as the "stay here" clutch.
Twins born 4 minutes apart...
Drawing in the sand like a cave girl.
Look at that fiery red hair!
We watched a Dock Dogs event, which had a bunch of lovable pooches jumping in a long jump pool.
Then, we explored the top of Stone Mountain by riding the tram. I think we could have really tired them out by making them run up the other side of the mountain, but I am not sure the adults were up to it. They climbed trees to get higher!
Later we watched the laser show with thousands of other people. That lawn can really hold a crowd!
The next day was going to be spent at the Atlanta Aquarium. This place is as large as a shopping mall, and designed as such. I think I felt the dollar bills being sucked out of my sister's wallet as we exited through the gift shop.
Yes it is good for business... but it causes a lot of headaches for parents with tired children who do not know what money is. Just saying... Regardless of that, the venue is top notch with amazing sights and sounds.
How many fish are in this place?!
Life takes some strange and wondrous shapes.
This might be the only time little Andy sat down. I took the photo as proof.
I did not know the aquarium had amazing acrobats!
After we had seen all the fish there were to see, we jogged over to the new Coke museum for a quick walkthrough. Two highlights for the kids were taking a photo with the excellent polar bear and a 4-D movie with whiplash moving chairs and spraying water.
It seems that the pinnacle of the whole Atlanta trip for them was all the "FREE" Coke products from around the world in the museum's sampling room. It is kinda cool to try different flavors that are not available here in the states. My favorite was Inca Cola from Peru that has a unique flavor derived from lemon verbena...an exotic flower.
The kids made friends with Zack the Boston Terrier who seemed to love hanging out with them. Little Andy even broke through to Zoey who is incredibly shy around strangers.
If they did not sleep in the car going back to Virginia, then I am not sure what else we could have stuffed into the 3 day weekend. I was personally bushed for the rest of the week.