I came, I conquered, and I had fun doing it!

Well, as many of you may know, the cuties and I decided to go to see Rich in Atlanta this past week. Every couple months he has to make a trip to Atlanta for training, because that is where the GP corporate offices are at, which means we are usually left to fend for ourselves. Luckily, this past week though Braden had a couple days off of school, so I decided to try to brave the trip. Can you say terrified?!?! I will admit the thought of a four hour trip with 3 children ages five and under, one of which usually screams in protest after an hour of being strapped in a car seat, struck fear in my heart, not to mention maneuvering my way through downtown Atlanta with those three hoodlums. So, I did the only things I could think to do: have Rich give me a blessing before he left, have Rich give the children all blessings, pray for sanity, safety, and strength every day leading up to the trip and every second along the way to Atlanta, and prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. I went to Wal-mart, loaded up on snacks, came home, labeled a huge Ziplock bag for each of us, labeled each snack, and put Brooke to work sorting the snacks into the bags; when all was said and done, we each had 2 bags of fruit snacks, 2 granola bars, a PB&J (the peanut butter and jelly mixed of course for optimum flavor), 2 juice boxes, a banana, a bag of Mozzarella stick flavored goldfish, and 3 pieces of bubble gum. I also methodically packed everything to insure nothing was left behind, including of course a box filled with things to keep the children busy on the road: wipe boards, markers, crayons, magnetic letters, composition notebooks, and two book bags filled with books.

Here are pictures of Brooke preparing our snack bags for the trip

After packing the bags, I printed out another copy of our Wicked tickets, made sure my MapQuest and Google directions were in order (hey you can never have too many directions), wrote down an emergency number of someone I knew in Macon, GA (just in case something happened along the way), made sure the diaper bag was well equipped, placed the battery back in the camera so it was ready to go (can't leave home without the camera), cleaned our van out of excess junk, and began the loading process. At approximately 2:15 the van was packed, the girls were safely buckled in their car seats, and we were ready to go pick up the fourth member of our traveling party, Braden. Once Braden was in the van, I quickly asked the most pertinent question, "Do you need to use the bathroom?" Upon hearing that yes, he did indeed have to go to the bathroom, we parked the van and went into the school, where he and Brooke decided to go to the bathroom. My goal was to make it to Macon without stopping (2 1/2 hours down the road), so a pre-trip bathroom break was a crucial component. The next crucial component to our trip was prayer, at approximately 3:00 we all loaded up into the van, I passed out the snack bags to the children, perused the directions one more time, made sure the directions were in plain sight, located my cell phone, said a prayer for safety and sanity (mine, not theirs), and began our journey. I am grateful to say that the drive was rather uneventful; Braden and Brooke slept for most of the way to Macon, and Emma stayed relatively happy just munching on her snacks and playing with toys. Once in Macon we stopped at a gas station, used the bathroom, changed Emma's diaper, and loaded back in the van for the second leg of our journey; I also took this opportunity to check my directions one more time. Once we were about 40 minutes away from Atlanta, I called Rich and let him know our approximate time of arrival, so he would be ready. At a few minutes after 7:00p.m. my motley crew and I pulled into downtown Atlanta, safe, relieved, and triumphant! I know many of you may think the fact that I accomplished all of that on my own is not a big deal, and for those I applaud you for your courage, but for me, I felt as if I had climbed a mountain, run a marathon, conquered a nation, and could take on the world! To me driving four hours with three children was a victory worth celebrating, and then to have to conquer downtown Atlanta with those three children and venture into territory unknown was reason for a trophy! Well, as I was saying, at a few minutes after 7:00 p.m. we pulled into downtown Atlanta and began our search for Rich; once finding Rich, I gladly turned over the driving reigns to him and simply basked in the glory of being together again as a family. Emma was especially excited to see her daddy and continued to say Da Da for the first twenty minutes we were there; in fact, all of the cuties were happy that we had made it, and that we were together again.

Here are pictures of the ecstatic cuties in the hotel room

After their celebration, we devoured Quizzno subs, and took a walk over to the GP building, where a security guard took us to the top floor (51st floor) and gave us a little tour; the children loved looking out across the city, and I admit, I did too. We then went back to the hotel, took baths, got in pjs, and just enjoyed relaxing together watching television, that is until the cable went out in the hotel; oh well, it was getting late anyway. The next morning, we got up early, went with Rich to eat breakfast (in hotel of course), and then went back upstairs to wait for Rich to have lunch. I had the day planned out; I thought, 'I will let them watch a couple shows on Disney, and then we will play a game, and then have school.' One problem with my grand plan, the cable was still out from the night before; by the time Rich came back at lunchtime, I was starting to loose my religion from being trapped in that room. I had even resorted to popping a bag of popcorn and playing a game where each time you ate a piece of popcorn, you had to say something you liked; I was getting desperate. Finally at about noon my brave and handsome prince rode in on his white horse and rescued the children and I from cabin fever, and he brought Chick-fil-A; now that is the kind of prince I like! After calling the valet to get our van (I have to admit it was kind of cool having someone go get your vehicle for you), we loaded up, and headed to Centennial Park (also known as Olympic Park) for a picnic.

Here are the pictures we took of the park during the picnic

(You know you want a big belly just like me; they are all the rage this year, it is called the 'bun in the oven look'; if you think you're jealous now of my beautiful big belly, just check out the next picture. I call it my triumphant, conquered Atlanta pose, and I made sure I really worked the 'bun in the oven look' I am sporting these days; I even flashed you a little maternity jean action.)

The only catch to our fun was, Rich had to head back to work, and he was taking the van with him. Yes, the dread started to set in, but I thought, 'I can do this; I'll just take it one step at a time.' I also had Rich tell me the directions to get back to the hotel about three times, making sure he repeated the street names slowly and distinctly. I of course also kept a prayer in my heart during it all, and I put on a brave face. I didn't think the children needed to see that I was worried at all, so I talked to them about how they needed to listen to me and stay with me, I smiled, and then talked about all the fun we were going to have. After Rich's departure, we all headed over to the playground areas.

Here are pictures of the cuties playing on the playground and a couple of Braden and Emma chasing the pigeons

After playing on the playground for quite a while, I decided that it was time to head back to the hotel. On the way out of the park, we passed the area where they have the rings of water that shoot up, so we of course had to stop there first (luckily by this time, Emma was sound asleep in the stroller).

Here are some pictures of Braden and Brooke having a grand time

After their refreshing sprint through the water, we made our way across the road and back to the hotel.

Here is a picture of our route:

Here are some pictures of the cuties along the way

And here is a picture of how I kept their minds off of the walk:

They had these mosaic pictures all along our route, so we just stopped every time we saw one and then continued on our way. Once back at the hotel, I checked the television, and Hallelujah, Hallelujah, the cable was back on; I let Braden and Brooke watch Word World, and then we all laid down for a nap. When Rich got home from work we all headed to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, where we ate a delcious meal and watched Braden and Brooke dance for all of the other restaurant goers; Emma also got in on the action, but she had to settle for highchair dancing.

After supper we headed back to the hotel, so Braden and I could get ready for our big date. Braden looked adorable all decked out in his sports coat and tie, and he got quite the compliments at the theatre. I love that he and I got to have that special time together, because so often he feels he is competing with Brooke; it was nice that he and I just got to do something, and you could tell that he loved it! Once we sat in our seats, he flipped through the little booklet they had given him and waited somewhat patiently for the musical to begin. There were a couple parts of the musical that were a little scary for Braden, and he ended up in my lap; overall though, he loved it! He loved feeling like a big kid, getting to do something just with Mama. He loved Rich pretending to be the chauffeur; he loved it when I bought him some bottle water, and he loved the music. Braden also loved the ending of the musical the best, but I won't ruin it for anyone and tell you what happens. (Since the musical, Braden has been going around the house singing bits and pieces of the song Popular)

Here is a (not very good) picture of Braden and I after our date (soooooo should have taken one before; we both were exhausted afterwards)

Well, on Friday about lunch time we checked out of the hotel and headed to Paul and Amanda's apartment, of course stopping at a Lakeshore Learning store first. I sooooo could spend hours in that store, but that would be dangerous. I don't think I will ever get tired at looking at teaching supplies; I still get giddy when they put school supplies out at Wal-mart. Anyway, I bought four big pencils, 2 wipe board erasers, a chalkboard eraser, some writing paper, a counting game, blank bingo cards (to make my own games), two magnetic wands, and a bag of small magnetic balls. I was proud that I used so much self control. About 2 we finally arrived at Paul and Amanda's apartment, where we hung out until Amanda got home from work. In the meantime, Emma had fun dancing with her Uncle Paul and having him spin her around in the computer chair; Brooke also made sure she got some of the dancing action as well.

Pictures of Paul and his adoring niece:

Once Amanda got home, we all went out to eat at California Pizza Kitchen, which was delicious, attempted to find a movie theater showing Igor, and finally decided to just go back to the apartment and chill.

Saturday morning, Rich and I woke up bright and early, so we could go to the temple while Amanda and Paul watched the cuties. Saturday afternoon, Rich, the cuties, Amanda, Paul, and I headed to Marietta, GA for their Harvest Festival. It was so much fun! I have to say, that I officially love Marietta, GA! They had this adorable square in the middle of downtown complete with a fountain, which is where the festival took place. Surrounding the square were tons of restaurants, quaint little shops, and a theater (what I wouldn't give for a community theater). We rode on the Choo Choo Express, the kids climbed onto a fire truck, climbed on a play train, ate a funnel cake, sipped on freshly squeezed lemonade, looked at the scarecrows they had placed around the square, perused the craft tables, took pictures of Brooke and Braden dancing to the music, enjoyed the sights, and Braden, Brooke, and I won a twist dance costume. Yes, I and all my belly glory along with my booty shaking cuties danced our way into dance contest stardom. Braden and Brooke were ecstatic when they and one other little girl were declared the winners, and they were even more excited when I went up with them to collect their prizes.

Here is a slideshow of the day's events:

All in all, I would say it was a superb, fantastic, wonderful, and unforgettable trip! I am also happy to say I am glad I faced my fears. I came, I conquered, and I had fun doing it!