East Coast Trip Part 1: Atlanta

Here's the first installment of a few posts about our trip. We left on 7/26, Matt's birthday, and got up very early in the morning to catch a 6:30 AM flight to Atlanta. We dressed the boys in their travel clothes the night before, so we just had to wake up two groggy kids and plop them into their car seats in the towncar. Simon was super excited for the trip, and of course didn't sleep for the rest of the very long day!

The flight was, well, mediocre. I had high hopes when we boarded and things looked like this:




But a couple of hours in, plus no sleep, plus not wanting to eat turned Simon into a little ball of frustration. But we got there. Melissa picked us up at the airport and we headed up to Roswell.

It was great to see everyone--it's been quite a long time since we're seen Jess and Peter, and this was the first time Peter and I even met! Everyone was excited to see how much Nate has grown and Simon was so excited to see Nana and Papa.

Some of the highlights of our time in Atlanta include:

-Celebrating Matt's birthday with everyone. We had a delicious dinner and cake that Melissa used to make for him when he was younger. Matt got some great gifts, including a special bottle of wine from Jess and Peter.

-Having family pictures taken with a professional photographer. We had a bunch of photos taken, and the photographer was great with the boys, particularly with getting Simon to stop, ahem, picking his nose. :)

-And of course, the pool! Everyone enjoyed the pool--Simon "painted" the concrete with a paint roller he found:

Nate "swam" in a big pool for the first time ever and really enjoyed it:

The dogs, Buddy and Callie, were great with the boys and Simon loved throwing the ball and getting Callie to jump in the pool!

And in general we just beat the intense Atlanta heat by staying wet!

We had some hiccups too--this was the first time we have spent any nights away from home since a year ago and Simon was pretty nervous about sleeping alone in a new house. We tried several different configurations--the boys together in a room, in separate rooms, and ended up all 4 of us together, of course. But it took about 3 hours to get bedtime done, between the two kids, and even then one or the other was waking up throughout the night for reassurance. It was...trying. But, as I'll share in part 2, we found some answers later in the trip.

After a few fun days with the Atlanta crew, it was time to pack up and head up to New Jersey! Thank you Nana, Papa, Aunt Jess and Uncle Peter for a great visit!

(to be continued...)