A Grand Day in Atlanta

We're in Atlanta right now on a whirlwind stop between Connecticut and Georgia. We stopped here because I had an IB conference to attend and we have a lot of friends and family that live here. I've been tied up the conference until today, but have managed to fit in dinners with Karen, my college roommate, her husband and sweet baby daughter, Katherine. We've seen my aunt, uncle and cousins a couple of times, and our dear friends, the Alfaros.

Today we had a full day of fun. We started at the Georgia Aquarium which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It puts the Mystic Aquarium to shame, I must say. Then we went over to Centennial Park and played in the fountains, ran back to the hotel for naps, then headed over to Uncle Steve's. What a great, great day. Tomorrow, we head down to Savannah and we can't wait!

Max and Charlie @ GA Aquarium

Water Boy

Cousin Zach making funny faces at Lola

...and more

Willy & Max & Zach

Swimming in the pool

Seriously... how cute! For never meeting each other before this week, Willie and Zach were so super awesome to their little cousins. They played with Max and loved making Lola smile. Tonight after dinner, they helped Max catch fireflies in the yard and they let him go through all their things and tag a long! We can't wait to hang out again!

And in case you want more (photos of our day):

Summer 2011 - ATL

Photo Friday - Week 28

This photo actually makes her look like she has hair. Trust me, it's just the angle. She's got a weird mohawky-combover thing going on.

Happy Father's Day, John Boy!

Here's the first family picture we've gotten since Lola joined our family! Today we went to Pete and Elvia's for a nice Father's Day Cookout which unfortunately ended in my neice breaking her arm, just as her summer vacation is beginning... ugh! We're off to Atlanta for the week, then we head to Savannah. The Connecticut photo folder is updated and complete!

Photo Friday - Week 27

A Morning in Watch Hill

We headed to Watch Hill (Rhode Island) on Wednesday to enjoy the beautiful sunny 70 degree weather.

Walking to Napatree Point

Nana needs a sign like this in her back yard! We found 3 ticks on Tuesday (one on Max, one on Nana and a deer tick on John! - ick!):

Enjoying the almost secluded beach. I wish the beach was a little more accessible, it'd be a big pain to plan a full beach day there and lug everything to the beach.

Unfortunately, the carousel wasn't open, so we had to settle for homemade ice cream and lemonade from St. Clair's Annex.

Later, at the playground, Max enjoyed running around. Lola enjoyed playing with her feet.

Photo Friday - Week 26

It's been a big week - Lola's bottom two teeth have popped through!

She's rolled over!

We're fighting a milk strike... we're trying to get her to take a bottle!

But even at her fussiest, she's still pretty easy and still squeezes out a few smiles!

Photo Friday - Week 25

Miss Lola Caroline, a couple days shy of 6 months.

The Mystic Aquarium

One of our favorite places to go as kids was the Mystic Aquarium. It's one of the best aquariums in New England and it's only five minutes from Nana and Grandpa J's house. I took the kids today to get out of the house, but not go too far because Thing #1 definitely needed to be home for a nap. We had a great (ahem, $60) morning. Max's highlights definitely being feeding the birds and petting the sting rays!

Nana's House

Our niece, Jess, said it best,

"I love going to Nana's house because of the junk food. Daddy doesn't buy that stuff for our house."

Of course there are many other things to love at Nana's house besides the junk food - I'll have to take pictures of all of our old toys circa 1975 that Max gets to play with here. But Max is loving the food - especially the cereal Nana bought.

Nana bought a mini variety pack of cereals which included "Colored Cheerios".

After he ate the two little boxes, he kept asking for them, so I bought these...

(a healthier option with no artificial colors or flavors), he had one whole bite...

and now I have a whole box of them sitting in the pantry. But, we're back to eating normal breakfasts because the variety pack is all gone and hopefully Nana won't find the urge to buy another! While we don't buy Max a ton of junk to eat, it's fine that he gets spoiled a bit by his grandparents and aunts and uncles and... Once a year, a couple of boxes of Fruit Loops won't hurt him or turn him into a two hundred pound toddler, although his appetite is ridiculous these days.

Update: Not even 15 minutes after I hit "publish", Nana came home from the work. She stopped by the grocery store on the way home and got... another 10 pack of mini cereal boxes. She immediately pointed out the healthy side with Raisin Bran and Chex, then I saw the other side with more Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes (sigh).