This year’s spring break was March 13th-17th, and we did something a little different. We go on a beach trip with my side of the family pretty much every summer, but we’ve never taken a trip with Travis’s mom and his sister, Alisha, and her family altogether. We had been discussing the possibility for a while, and we were glad that we were finally able to make it work!
On Monday, March 13th, we left our house after lunch and got to Atlanta around 5 PM or so. We were actually staying at an Airbnb in Marietta, so it was a little closer to home when coming the back way from Huntsville.
This rental was perfect for what we needed with the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms and plenty of space for the kids to play and everyone to spread out. It was even nicer than the pictures made it look, so we were excited.
The kids had fun playing and running around outside before it got dark…
We roasted hot dogs and smores for supper around the fire pit. Yum!
The house had separate living areas upstairs and downstairs, and it was even stocked with games and toys for the kids. They especially enjoyed playing chess and building with bristle blocks. It was obvious that the owners tried really hard to think of all the little things to make their house a great one for guests.
We had 3 full days in Atlanta, and we decided to spend our first full day (March 14th) at the Georgia Aquarium because it was going to be the coldest day of our trip. We tried to get there as close to when it opened as we could, which was a good move since it got more crowded as the day went on.
Abigail really liked the sea horses and sea dragons!
All of the kids loved popping up inside all of the areas where they could climb “inside” the tank and look up through the glass :)
The main thing I remembered from my last visit to the Georgia Aquarium (before we had kids) was the big tunnel. It was a big wow moment for the kids, especially seeing sharks swimming overhead.
The kids sat at this big glass wall for a long time just looking at everything. They are all animal lovers, and it was special to watch them enjoying their time together.
How many kids can fit in one tiny space? Haha.
So into it!
The sharks were a big favorite, as well as the shows we were able to see. We weren’t supposed to take pictures during the shows, but I snapped this one before the dolphin show got started. I loved seeing the kids’ reactions to the dolphins doing flips and jumps during their show.
Sweet cousins leaving the show :)
Ready to see the sea lion show!
The sea lions were so fun, and we loved seeing them dance!
We enjoyed our time! We were able to see pretty much everything at the aquarium by about 3 pm or so. Of course, we had to make a stop by the gift shop on the way out. The girls picked stuffed animals (big surprise!). Abigail picked out an otter, Savannah got a seal, and Brooklyn got a sea lion.
We had seafood gumbo for supper, and then most of the crew played Uno Attack before the kids went to bed.
It was a great first full day there!
Grownups ended the day with Ticket to Ride and snacks to celebrate ;)
March 15th was our second full day in town, and it was mostly a day of downtime at the house. Alisha made some yummy smoothies for breakfast. My girls are used to eating cereal every morning, so anything else is a special treat ;)
Cici, Alisha, and I did slip out and go to IKEA so that Alisha could buy something that would have been too expensive to ship. I’d never been to an IKEA before, and it was a fun experience just walking around and seeing everything. I resisted the urge to buy a bunch of stuff and only ended up getting some hooks for our cleaning closet in the hallway. I enjoyed browsing though and could definitely see myself shopping there more often if we had one back home.
While we were gone, Travis and Tyler took the kids on a walk, and they played lots of board games.
There was plenty of time for playing and relaxing, which was nice. We ordered pizza for supper that night from a local pizza place in Marietta and zoomed into our bible class back home after the kids went to bed.
On Thursday, March 16th, we went to the Atlanta Zoo. It was a little chilly when we first arrived but turned into a beautiful sunny day. None of us had ever been to the Atlanta Zoo before, and it was definitely smaller than the ones our family had been to most recently (St. Louis and Cincinnati). But the perk of a smaller zoo is that it doesn’t take as much time or walking to see everything!
First up were the elephants!
After seeing the elephants, we headed straight for the wild cat area. The lion exhibit had 3 male lions…all brothers! And they were all awake and active!! I feel like we always see the lions asleep, so we felt really lucky. I think it helped that we went to see them fairly early in the day while it was still cool outside. One of the lions paced back and forth in front of the glass, and another one let out a couple of short roars!! Two of the lions were up and moving around, and the other one was awake but sitting down. It was so cool!
One of the lions even climbed to the top of the rock in the background of the picture. Brooklyn loved it!! Lions have been one of her favorite animals for a long time.
The Sumatran tiger was lying down in front of the glass at first, but then she got up and also paced in front of the glass. We had such good luck with the big cats today!! We also saw a clouded leopard that was awake and moving around.
All the girls were on cloud nine by this point!
One of the neatest animals we got to see were the giant pandas. None of us had ever see pandas in person before. They were so cute!! I didn’t realize until later that the Atlanta Zoo is one of the only zoos in the U.S. that still has pandas right now. Most of them have been returned to China where they are from.
Brooklyn read a book called “The One and Only Ivan” a few months before our trip, and I didn’t realize that it was based on a true story. The main character, a gorilla named Ivan, actually lived the final years of his life at the Atlanta Zoo until he died in 2012, and they built a statue in his honor. Pretty cool!
Proof that Travis and I were at the zoo too ;)
By the time we ate lunch, it had warmed up outside and felt so nice!
The otters entertained us for a while by swimming from one end of the pond to the other and climbing out, only to get back in the water a few minutes later.
The komodo dragon was huge!!
We brought our own monkeys to the zoo ;)
Face to face with a turtle!
Toward the end of our visit, we got in line for the giraffe feeding. The zoo had 2 or 3 giraffes, but only one of the giraffes apparently participates in the feedings. This giraffe would come over and eat for a few minutes, and then walk away and then eventually come back. The line took a while because the giraffe just kept wandering off…haha. We finally made it to the front of the line but then the giraffe wandered off again right before our turn! We waited a few more minutes and then decided to get out of line so that we wouldn’t waste any more time. The girls were sad to miss out because they’ve never fed a giraffe before. We’ll have to try it again at another zoo with a more cooperative giraffe.
While we were waiting on the giraffe, we did get to touch an ostrich egg, which was pretty cool. The zoo employees were asking trivia questions and showing off the egg to help pass the time we waited ;) Apparently they are used to the giraffe not cooperating!
It was a great day at the zoo!
We grabbed donuts on our way back to the rental house. We thought we were stopping at a local doughnut shop, but apparently Hero is a chain. They were still good though!
After we got back to the house, the kids played, the dads watched March Madness, and we just really enjoyed being together. Definitely blessed!
The next day was Friday, March 17th, and it was time to head back home. One nice thing about only going as far as Atlanta is that you can be home by lunchtime on the day you leave. We had a great time with Cici and the Loveless crew, and we are looking forward to doing more trips like this in the future!
