The Aquarium Trip Part II

So after our trip to the zoo, we drove back to the hotel to get checked in and shower before we headed out to dinner. Thankfully I had spaced out our day so I could determine how Gracie would deal with nap time and lunch. Lunch at the zoo was fairly close to our regular lunch time, but when we left nap time was lagging. And I was suprised to discover that even after sleeping in the car ride from the zoo for about 30 minutes, Gracie was still pleasant the rest of the night. When we were reading, I had planned ahead and called the hotel to find a local family restaurant. The rep suggested Taco Mac. When we got to the restaurant, it kind of reminded me of a combination of Chili's and Applebee's. It was the same kind of sports bar/beer and wings type place, only their menu also offered southwestern style foods like quesadillas, nachos, and wraps. I think Bryan tried a sandwich, and we also tried their chips and cheese dip. The restaurant was good, and they had a fairly good kid's menu.
Special note to Miss Leigh: If you are reading this, Gracie was going to wear the Eiffel Tower dress to dinner Sunday night. However, we put it on and it is WAY to short. If there is any possibility, could you make us some bloomers or capris in the Eiffel Tower fabric to go with the top?

Mommy & Gracie after dinner at Taco Mac.


Mommy & Gracie again


Kayla & Gracie playing on the balls in the exercise room. This was just before Gracie got bounced off the ball and landed on her butt.

We also "rented" Horton Hears a Who that night at the hotel, but I really wasn't that impressed with the movie.

Ok, that's it for today! I'll post the aquarium pictures tomorrow.

Aquarium Trip Part I

So we got up at 7:00am Sunday morning and my goal was to be out the door by 7:30. We pulled it off! We had packed everything up Friday night while Gracie was at Nana Kay's, and then we left it all in the livingroom. The only thing I had to do Sunday morning was pack up the cooler of drinks and off we went! Traffic wasn't too bad heading toward Atlanta, and we made our halfway stop at the GA visitor center on that side of the state line. The woman behind the counter offered us free reading material and then informed us that there was construction going on in downtown, so she jotted down some alternate driving directions for us. We got lost trying to get to the hotel and when we found out J.Christopher's was going to have a 30 minute wait to be seated, we decided to head off to the zoo and have lunch there. And to be honest, the food was rather good to be so decently priced.

They had this board up just outside the carousel, and I let Gracie "feed" the giraffe some spare change.


Gracie picked out a bear when she rode the carousel with me. When she rode a second time with Kayla and Bryan, she decided to ride a bird instead.


Gracie, on the carousel with Mommy.


Gracie on the "choo-choo".


Kayla, Gracie, and Bryan on the carousel for the second time.


Gracie, "cheesing" right next to the tiger!


She looks a little too close for comfort, huh?


This adorable baby Panda bear!


Panda bear again.


Kayla and Gracie, sipping an Icee to cool off in the scorching heat!

The zoo was fun but we didn't last long (mainly because of the outrageous mid-afternoon heat wave) but we enjoyed the time we did spend there.

Panda video

This was the other video I took at the zoo when we saw the Panda bear. Too cute, and Gracie laughed at how he was trying to "eat" this whole tree that he was smothered under.

Aquarium Trip

Okay, so I really, really, really wanted to come home early this afternoon and post every single picture and these awesome stories about the fun we had. And there was much fun to be had visiting the Atlanta Zoo and the Georgia Aquarium. However, we also had to deal with getting lost finding our hotel, trying to leave the hotel today only to discover a dead battery, and then getting side tracked for an hour to locate a Wal-mart to purchase said battery and then find 85 to get back home. Did I mention I've been fighting this nasty allergy attack since Friday that has now turned into an ugly cough?
All that said, we did have a great time and I know Gracie did too. She was disappointed we had to come home!

Some things that suprised me:
1. Gracie not crying when we made her get off the carousel at the zoo.
2. Gracie sleeping all night in a pack-n-play in our hotel.
3. Gracie taking a 30 minute nap in the car ride to the hotel and still being pleasant at dinner that night.
4. The decent prices and edible taste of the food at the Atlanta Zoo.
5. How nice random strangers can be when you ask if they have jumper cables.
6. How cute Gracie can appear to total strangers.
7. How awesome the aquarium actually was.
8. How glad and sad at the same time I am to be.

I can't promise I will post every single picture tonight, I do have some being developed at Wal-mart so those of you who we see often can actually look at all of them. I do, however, want to post one of the videos from the zoo (the only videos I took) because of how absolutely amazing both of them are. So enjoy, and I will post more very soon! I will post the second video later.

Gracie & the Tiger (that is Gracie on the left, who sticks her arm in front of the lion at the end)

VBS Ends in Disaster

Ok, well not absolute disaster! Mrs. Debbie, Gracie's teacher, told us all week long about how she sang all the time in class. Especially in music. So last night they get ALL the preschoolers onstage to sing and wouldn't you know it? My daughter plops herself down on the floor and has a tantrum. Just starts crying while everybody else is singing! "I want my maaaamaaa!!"
I couldn't believe it! All this practicing, Nana Kay had even come to see her, and all just so we could watch her throw herself on the floor and cry.

Anyhow, I have not been able to locate the USB port to plug the camera up, so my last few VBS pictures will have to wait. I have a homemade veggie lasagna in the oven and then first thing in the morning we are going to pack up the van and head off to Atlanta! I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures when we get home.

Vacation Bible School

This post will more than likely be an entire post of pictures, just because this week has been so busy. (You will notice that Sunday was the last time I posted! A record for me!) Anyway, Sunday night kicked off Vacation Bible School at our church. The theme was "Outrigger Island", which is basically a Hawaiian/luau type theme. Our final night (Parents Night) is tomorrow, where the kids sing songs they learned throughout the week. Gracie has thoroughly enjoyed it, she came home each night crying about how she wanted to stay. I had to promise her we would come back each night just so she would leave. Anyway, enjoy the photos!
This will probably be my last post until we return from our trip to Atlanta to visit the Zoo and the Aquarium. We are super excited and promise to post lots of pictures of our trip next week!
We will be gone Sunday and Monday for our trip. Bryan, Kayla, Gracie and I will be heading out early Sunday morning. I also have some pictures on the camera that Bryan took of Gracie at the park when he took her on his off day. I will post those when I get a chance. Enjoy the pictures!

Gracie, hanging out in her VBS class (2-3 yr olds)

The beauty pageant for "Miss" Outrigger Island. (No, you aren't seeing things-those are men onstage!)

Jonathan Denham, one of our contestants for "Miss" Outrigger Island

Our music minister, Mike Denning, "Miss" Outrigger Island (the one in the blue!)

VBS Director Jay Taylor (left) and 4 yr old teacher Bryan Fray (right)

Some of the children in our Pre-First Grade class

Nathan Wesley, one of the kids in our class

Gracie, hard at work on a craft at VBS

Gracie in the car on our way to VBS

A group shot of our class Thursday night

Powerful Thoughts

I have a lot to say, and I don't usually ramble so please bear with me here.

A few days ago, I found out a former co-worker of mine's youngest son, Dalton, might have cystic fibrosis. Please pray for the Williams family on many leaves, first because they already struggle financially (Dawn and her older son, Austin, but have chronic asthma problems) and they thought originally that this was what Dalton was suffering from. However, other symptoms have caused doctors to question whether or not it might be cystic fibrosis. Play first of all that any medical needs will be met and not cause them more financial hardship. Also pray for peace for their family, whatever the outcome of these tests that are being run.

Then say a special prayer for my grandmother, who is not saved and does not know Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior. That said, she has been visiting our church the last three Sundays without my encouragement. I don't know where God is leading her and I don't know why our church, but I don't question it. He knows what he is doing, He knows the plans he has laid out for her life. My greatest joy would be for her to be saved, so I hope where ever He is leading her it is to accepting Him.

Today in Sunday School, we talked about the kind of mental image we have of God when we pray to him. I always put the image in my head of the child-like one....long brown hair, beard, white robe. The whole she-bang. Anyway, it got me to thinking because some people in our class said they don't really picture a God. I don't know that I picture him when I pray, literally it's more like snapshots of the people I'm praying for.

Anyway, we talked about different things but it kept bringing Angie Smith and her family to my mind. And I thought about Jon's post about the prodigal son that I mentioned a post or two ago. It just stuns me to think that some people blame God for all the bad things that happen in the world. And I thought about Angie, who has lost a child very recently and then her sister-in-law as well. I thought about Steven Curtis Chapman, who lost one of his little girls a week ago. And I'm just stunned in silence that they continue to believe that God loves them and cares for them. But today's lesson made me think about something Angie said on her own blog, about how nothing suprises God. He knows that the plans are. He knows before we do. And it's okay to get angry and scream at him, and even Angie said he's okay with you saying "you know what? I have nothing for you right now." He doesn't let the bad things happen - his only hope and wish is that those bad things will draw us closer to him.

I'm rambling, I know, but I was on an emotional rollercoaster at church today and just wanted to share my rambling thoughts.