Labor Day Redux

So, Labor Day was actually more than a week ago, but I've been busy with work.

We left around 9am on Saturday for the drive to Atlanta. It was later than I wanted to leave, but we waited until that morning to pack, so its actually not a bad start - all things considered.
The Little Ones did pretty well on the drive. It wasn't until toward the end that they got antsy. We had to pull over on I-285 b/c DS had to go potty "right now."
We spent the evening at the hotel and let them splash in the hotel pool. It was small and over-chlorinated, but we needed to let the kiddos get some ya-yas out of their system. I had bought some swim vests at a sporting goods store and was hoping that would help me feel less anxious about them being near the water and maybe make them less anxious about getting wet. DS officially started doggie paddling around the pool! He was so proud of himself - "look, I'm swimming." Keep in mind, he refuses to get his face wet and he was swimming with a psuedo-life vest, but its progress and I was very pleased for him! DH was so proud that you would think DS was Michael Phelps.
DD, of course, thought she could swim too. Which means she wouldn't let me touch her. Until she nearly drowned b/c she can't doggie paddle yet. It was getting late anyway and the kiddos needed to be bathed (chlorine smell was overwhelming and DD would get hives if I didn't get the chemicals off her skin). There was a Shoney's within walking distance of the hotel. Bleeech. These places used to be decent. It was never a gormet experience, but you could get a burger and some mac/cheese. The food was just bad and we should've walked to the McD's or Chik-fil-e instead.
This was a dry run for our Disney trip over Christmas. We were all in a single hotel room, with 2 queen beds. The kiddos slept in one bed and we slept in the other. We left the light on so that DH and I could read. I thought the LOs would be too tired and would just pass out, but I guess the excitement was just a bit much. They settled down, but it took them a while.
The next day we got up way too early. I was hoping my exhausted kids would sleep in the dark hotel room for longer. I hadn't slept well b/c every time DD rolled over, I had to peek and make sure she hadn't rolled off the bed. DH got up once to put her head back on the pillow (instead of at the foot of the bed) and I got up once to do the same thing. She's quite the traveller in her sleep! We didn't even get dressed, I just dragged everyone down to the continental breakfast in the lobby. Nothing very exciting - typical cereal, oatmeal, make your own waffle kind of thing. We had talked about bringing our own coffee maker. I regret that we didn't. The coffee was terrible. But, that's because we've become big coffee snobs.
So, we hung out in the hotel room until about 0945 and then headed for Six Flags. There were no lines, it was a little hot, but not too bad. The kids had a total BLAST riding all the little-kid rides. We got DS onto a kiddie roller coaster, but he didn't like it at all. There were a couple rides that I could see he was totally scared at first, but then realized that it was fun and started having a great time. I get the feeling that I'll be hanging out with DS while DD and DH go on all the big rides when they get older. We both hate heights and neither of us likes to spin around too much. We ate a little lunch and then headed over for the Thomas the Tank Engine area. They had a little playground and thomas train to ride. DS is a little old for it and DD isn't terribly interested in Thomas. But they enjoyed the train ride and really enjoyed the playground. I'm glad we saved that for the end. Otherwise, we would've spent too long at the playground and not enough time on the rides.
We tried to ride the big train back to the front gate. We got on and waited, and then there was an announcement that there was a mechanical problem and the ride was closed indefinately. By this point, DD had pooped her diaper and DS was just pooped. We got off and started trudging along. Wouldn't you know it - we heard the train whistle by us about 5 minutes later. Oh well.
DD fell asleep in the stroller before we even got to the car. Of course she woke up when we got to the hotel and thought it was party time! So we all laid down for a nap. DS got up first and went swimming with DH while I stayed in the room until DD woke up.
We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner and then to Walmart. The reason for going to Atlanta was to attend a wedding and I wanted to get some toys for the brides children and a card. We bought stuff for the kids to color.
The next day, we got up early and headed into town for the Georgia Acquarium. It's a great place. Very stroller/kid friendly - until you get to the play area. They very strictly enforce the height requirments for kids to play on the structure. Which means you had lots of very upset children who couldn't play on the structure with their older sibling! Why didn't they just make a play structure that was appropriate for everyone!? Then to make matters worse, the one slide that DD could go on, they have the slide entrance on the second floor on the opposite wall from the stairs to get to the slide. So, you either had to slide down with the child, or have another person waiting at the bottom to get the child. There was no way to put the child on the slide and get to the bottom to supervise before they were off and running. And you couldn't just stay on the bottom while the child went up the stairs by themselves, it was too far from the slide. It was truly terrible. Since we had gone a little faster through the exhibits than we should've (we counted on the play area keeping them happy for longer than it did), we were done by 11AM!
We ate a totally delicious meal at Legal Seafood.
Then back to the hotel room. DH took the kids upstairs for a nap and I went to get a pedicure. I was back before everyone woke up and had a little snooze. Once we woke up we got ready and drove to the wedding.
The wedding was, . . . .interesting. These are my relatives and they don't have any money. So, there were a few things that were different. The food was bad and they didn't have enough of some things and too much of other things. Oddly enough, the things they had too much of were the more expensive items. The glow-sticks were a big hit. My kids and the brides kids are similar in age and they were running around having a blast. It was nice to catch up with the family that was able to attend. I'm glad we went.