Growing up, I saw half of the country, tagging along with Daddy on some of his many business trips, so when Jeremy asked the boys and me to join him at Allstate's Regional Meeting in Atlanta, I couldn't say YES fast enough.
When we got to town, we dropped Jeremy off at the Georgia World Congress Center. Because our room at the Omni wasn't yet ready, we decided to kill a couple of hours around Centennial Olympic Park (
which is SO MUCH MORE AWESOME than it was when I lived in Atlanta). Our first stop was the massive ferris wheel.
In full disclosure, I should say here that Jones Pressley wanted NO part of this 20-story-high structure. Even telling him we'd get to ride in "spaceship" capsules didn't make him any less terrified. At the same time, though, Freddie was super psyched about it, and I know Jones well enough to know that we're probably going to have to (literally) push him on a lot of things, so I forced him on. Not surprisingly, he calmed down pretty quickly after we'd boarded. He never totally relaxed - until we were done, anyway - but he definitely chilled out significantly. When we left town, in fact, he told me the ferris wheel and the hotel were his favorite parts of the trip.
Go figure.
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He called this "the bumpy slide."
It was his favorite! |
Freddie, on the other hand, LOVED it. Baby Brother wanted to see the city from every possible angle. When we finally disembarked, Jones was practically bouncing with pride, acting like he'd been so zen the entire time, but the truth is, it was Freddie Bear who loved it most - and from start to finish.
From there, we strolled down to the AMAZING playground opposite the Aquarium. The boys played for a LONG time - most of our hour or so there, they were the only kids around! Then we went to the Chick-fil-A that's attached to the College Football Hall of Fame. I got a new Stadium Cup, which may be the highlight of my trip (Jeremy HATES my Stadium Cup addiction). After lunch - and a stroll through the Hall of Fame gift shop - our room was FINALLY ready, so the boys took a nap.
They napped GREAT, which is important to remember later.
After their naps, we met my friend Christy Lynn Wilson at Mary Mac's Tea Room - a favorite spot of mine when I lived in Atlanta - and then we headed back to the hotel for baths and bedtime. Now. When we'd discussed the sleeping arrangements in our room, we'd planned to take this little portable cot Mom and Daddy had gotten the boys a couple of Christmases ago. After thinking it over, I told Jeremy we should just skip the cot and try putting the boys in the same bed. I planned to put them down in separate beds - the same way we do at the lake and the same way they so easily napped! - and then transfer them over when Jeremy got home after his dinner.
What kind of fool am I?
Well, first, they bathed - for some reason, they discovered the slanted end of the tub could be used as a sort of slide, and so they slid, and they slid, and they slid. Our tub has this same slanted end - don't they all?!? - yet they've never used IT as a slide, but anyway. They had the time of their lives slip sliding (literally) in the tub, while I finished watching the first half of the UK / Tennessee game.
It's when I put them in the (separate) bed(s) that things all came crashing down. The short version is that my boys, whose bedtime has ranged from 7-8 p.m. since their birth, DID NOT GO TO SLEEP UNTIL 11 PM. It's not because I didn't tell them to - or attempt to enforce my demands in a VARIETY of ways - they just DID NOT GO TO SLEEP for cackling and cutting up together.
When Jeremy came in at 10:30, they were still wide-awake. More frustrated than I have probably ever been before, I said, "They're YOUR problem now," and I went and laid on the bathroom floor. About 30 minutes later, Jeremy came and got me: "They're asleep," he said.
FINALLY.
I don't know what he did to make this happen, and frankly, I don't care. In fact, I don't want to talk about this occasion any more or ever again.
They slept until about 4 a.m. when Freddie sat up and said, "Mama?" Even his super soft little voice was enough to wake up ALL THREE OF THE REST OF US, AT WHICH POINT I CLIMBED INTO THEIR BED AND LAID THERE UNTIL THEY WENT BACK TO SLEEP AT 6:30 a.m.
This scenario, you should know, is my own personal vision of HELL.
They were back up at 8:30, and, though we'd hoped to get a late check-out, the hotel was booked, so we couldn't, which means my sleep deprived preschoolers and I were left to occupy ourselves around Atlanta until Jeremy finished up at 4 p.m.
The very thought gives me hives.
I'd thought about all of the different places we could go - Lego Land, the Children's Museum, the Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta - but knowing how tired the boys were bound to be, I hated to spend money getting into some place that we'd probably end up leaving in a hubbub of fits and tears ... some of which, let's face it, would very probably have been my own.
So we did the only thing we knew to do. We went to Chick-fil-A. My plan became to let them play for awhile and then to drive up 85 North and let them sleep before turning around to head back and pick up Jeremy.
This plan was going just perfectly. I was sitting right outside the playground - I always try to get the tables where I can see in the playground without actually having to BE in the playground - and the boys were playing great, until I heard an all-too-familiar wail. It was Freddie. By the time I pulled him out of the tunnel slide, he ALREADY had a squishy knot under his right eye. It was about the size of 2-3 bee bees.
As I unpacked the situation, I learned that Jones - who'd gone into hiding as soon as I went in to get Freddie - had KICKED FREDDIE ON THE FACE. HE HAD KICKED HIM ON THE FACE. IN THE CHICK-FIL-A PLAYGROUND! So I plucked them both up - "If you're going to kick your brother in the face, Jones, playtime is OVER" - and started the long drive up I-85 toward Commerce. They were pretty quickly asleep and stayed that way for most of the 90 minute drive to Commerce and back downtown.
When we got back downtown, I let them play some more on the playground that they'd loved so much the day before and then, mercifully, Jeremy got finished about an hour earlier than expected, so we hit the highway back home (and ahead of traffic)!
I know I whined a lot about the sleep situation, but in all honestly, I'm SO glad we went. With that GLARING exception, the boys did REALLY well, and I cannot even TELL you how grateful I am to have a husband who actually WANTS to have us around. Here's hoping my boys - like their mama before them - will see half of the country tagging along with their daddy.
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This is one of the few pictures where
I think the boys look alike.
Here, they look just the same to me! |
While Wex went to visit her friend Casey, Brooke and I got brave, taking Jones, Freddie, and Ah-to-the-J to Opry Mills. We strolled around in the morning and then went to the Aquarium Restaurant, which was a HUGE hit. All three of the boys did laps around the massive, floor-to-ceiling fish tank. They even got to see a scuba diver feeding the fish and "vacuuming" out the tank. It was a huge hit. Next trip, we're gonna try the Rainforest Cafe.
