Friday, January 1, 2010

Christmas in Atlanta 2009

A couple of days after Christmas day, we drove to Atlanta where the family was assembling. Grandmom and Pop-Pops hadn't had these four of five of their children together in about two years!

Here four of the eight cousins gathering for gift-opening on Sunday night

Our big gift was that Grandmom and Pop-Pops said they'd be taking us to the fabulous Georgia Aquarium the next day!


John spent much of those few days dressing up in a collection of various people's helmet, knee pads, and sunglasses. Looking cool!

Back at our hotel room, the kids thought the luggage cart was fabulous fun. We almost considered keeping it in our room because it provided such entertainment.

Playing with Christmas toys at the hotel room

On Monday morning back at the grandparents', our kids were given one last big gift: a child-sized recliner!


Then we were off to the aquarium.

We stood in line for the better part of an hour and I think it was about 30 degrees and windy. We were not quite prepared for the cold or the duration, so all of us were shivering! All of us except for Mary, who was snug as a bug.

The aquarium was so neat and John could appreciate it much more than when he visited when he was about 15 months old.

Mary spent most of her visit to the aquarium sleeping.



The whale sharks were being fed while we were there. You can see the dark mass right above the shark, which is the inflatable boat from which the staff were feeding via a little ladle!

This was John's first time getting to touch the creatures in the tank.

The kids were exhausted by their visit to the aquarium! In fact, Chris had to take John out early because John was begging to leave so he could take a nap.


Aunt Courtney got to meet Mary on this visit!

Miss Mary warming up to Aunt Holly

My friend Elaine, at my request, sewed a little "chapel kerchief" for Mary for Christmas. It is so precious! Mary's tears here were because she had cried from hunger on our drive back from visiting Elaine, then I'd asked Mary if she wanted to nurse, she indicated 'yes,' and then I said, "Oh, wait a minute!", and I handed her to Chris and tied the kerchief on her head to take a picture. Mary was so distressed that I'd said she was about to have her hunger alleviated and then didn't, poor girl! All was well moments later.
On Tuesday we had lunch at Mellow Mushroom Pizza with Dan and Courtney's family. This was the first time John approached the "wrong daddy." He and I walked into the restaurant half an hour after the rest of the gang because John had been napping. He walked in, still drowsy, approached this fellow from behind, and climbed into his lap, then looked up to discover it was Uncle Dan and not Daddy!


Tuesday evening we gathered at Tim and Holly's house for dinner. John fit right in with his cousins and couldn't be induced away to eat or anything!

Both John and Mary really enjoyed riding this fun new vehicle Sophia received for Christmas.


All eight cousins, Christmas 2009! (Ages 13 months to 10 years old)

On Wednesday morning we left the hotel and Mr. King of the Mountain got to ride down the elevator and to the car on the luggage cart.

After meeting the children's godparents for breakfast, we got on the road to return home. John sleeps here, clutching the ambulance he received for Christmas from his grandparents.

2 comments: