Atlanta

Jess travels a lot in his current job, which, we don't mind because 1) It's not to extremely hot, sandy places where people try to shoot you 2) The kids and I can sometimes tag along and call it a vacation and 3) our favorite hotel chain has a great government rate.

Even with all this travel, we had yet to visit Atlanta (although sometimes, "just passing through" takes hours and hours, so you might call that an unpleasant visit). So, as a Valentine's Day/Birthday present, we joined Jess in Atlanta and had a WONDERFUL time. Our hotel was right on Centennial Olympic Park--this convenience was KEY because Jess had to take the car to Fort Gillam and actually work. The kids and I enjoyed our yummy free breakfasts (best hotel breakfasts EVER are at Embassy Suites, maybe cause they're free. Then we walked across the park to the Georgia Aquarium. I hesitated going there, the world's largest but a bit over-hyped aquarium, but then I saw this great deal and decided to surprise the kids. We LOVED it! On a Thursday morning, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. We wandered in and out of the exhibits one, two, sometimes 3 times. We sat in front of the 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide viewing window for almost an hour. My camera took horrible pictures (ok, ok, maybe it was partly my fault) but you can get an idea. . .

Josiah was scared at first, but loved it after only a few minutes.

this ray was smiling for the camera

inside the 100 foot long tunnel

sliding out of the whale's mouth

my favorite, the belugas

After some pb&j at our room and a little rest, we headed out to the park for ice cream and play on this really neat little playground.