Mini Vaca

Blasen had to be in Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Last minute, I decided to go with him and bring the kids. The kids and I hung out in the hotel while Blasen was in meetings. Our trip was eventful as ever. If you are from north Alabama you know there is no convenient way to get to Atlanta. You either go thru Chatanooga, Birmingham, or thru Fort Payne i.e. the scenic route. We decided to take the scenic route. Unfortunately, this route did not cooperate with Bliss. We've concluded that Bliss has a tendency to get car sick. He got sick 3 times on the way over...yuck. We made it barely in time for Blasen to get to his meeting that afternoon. That night we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise over in the Perimeter area (we stayed on the same street as the Atlanta Temple). It was interesting as they were having a session of speed dating that night. Just watching our family at dinner may discourage anyone from marriage and kids.
The next day we went to Zoo Atlanta after Blasen finished up. I got directions from the hotel staff and set off. I assumed that there would be places to eat around the zoo. If you've ever been to Zoo Atlanta you know that there are no fast food resturants around the zoo. So, we passed on by the zoo in our search and ended up in the ghetto...of which it quickly turns to ghetto. The street ends right in front of this...
the Georgia State Penitentiary. This is an old picture of it, but it pretty much looks the same. It is enormous and actually quite beautiful minus all the razor wire. We're sitting there in front of it, quite out of place this white family in their mini-van. Bliss sees it and says "Mom, Dad, let's go to the temple!" We're like, uh, that's not a temple, but I could see the similarities...white granite, etc. I've been laughing about that for days. So, we turn around and have to go down several exists on the interstate before we can find something to eat.
The zoo was fun. The boys love going to the zoo and we haven't been since the time we went in China and that was just sad. They had some different animals from the Birmingham Zoo. They have a kimodo dragon and Bliss was disappointed when he saw his definition of dragon and the actual animal are quite different. He was looking forward to the fire breathing and spiked tail.

They had a lot of gorillas which the boys loved.

Bliss enjoyed all the cut-outs. We had to take a picture at each one. I would post some of Zade, but he never cooperated long enough to take a picture. He would just stick his head thru the hole and look down at the animal.
On our way home, we stopped off at Little River Canyon. We've been wanting to get up there with the boys forever. They loved the waters and had no fear near the falls, which made me very nervous.
We debated on going on the scenic route down the river and over Look-out Mountain, but decided with Bliss's stomach that may not be a good idea.

All-in-all we had a nice mini-vacation. The van makes traveling a lot nicer and easier. We hope to be able to do more with the boys in the future. Now we're off again for the weekend. We're visiting Tuscaloosa and going to the wedding reception of a family friend. Can't wait to be back in T-town and see my friends. Blasen may even get out on the lake. So good times to be had by all. Now it's time to clean the house and get packed again.