Atlanta 2013

I love that my children prefer fun family trips over big birthday parties.  Don't get me wrong, we've done our share of parties and they are fun.  I do love to decorate and I LOVE baking their cakes, but trips are great and seeing new experiences through their eyes never gets old.  This year for their birthdays, the boys chose to go to Atlanta to the World of Coca Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.  We also threw in the zoo.  Aubrey, of course, benefits from all of this.  We arrived on Saturday and headed straight to the zoo.  Atlanta really does have an awesome zoo!  There are tons of shaded paths, giant pandas, lions, tigers, elephants up close... and the weather could not have been more perfect!  On Sunday, we took our children on their very first subway ride on Atlanta's Marta.  I'm not sure which they loved more, the shuttle ride to the Marta station or the actual Marta itself.  Aubrey thought it was awesome not being in a booster seat!  Our first stop was to the World of Coca Cola where we took a tour back in time to see how the first coke was made, how it's bottled, and into the vault where the secret formula is hidden.  They never tell you the secret formula, but it is fun to go see the vault.  At the end, there is a huge room with coke flavors from all over the world.  You get a little cup and go around from fountain to fountain, sampling as many as you want.  Some were awesome, some were terrible (Africa and Europe weren't so great).  Talk about a sugar rush!  We all got to take home our own glass bottle.  From their, we walked next door to the absolute highlight of our trip, the Georgia Aquarium.  It was amazing!!!!  Just to see the Whale Shark made the trip worthwhile.  Andrew was in heaven!  We saw Beluga Whales, Rays, Eels, sharks, dolphins, and really cute baby Otters.  We were there for almost 4 hours!  There was a Dolphin show at the very end that was incredible, too.  It was the perfect weekend.  Next year they are campaigning to go to Disney World.  We'll see.  Davis will be 13, after all...

The baby rhino was adorable!  It kept running to catch up with the mommy.

Hanging out in a giant statue of a bird's nest.  Aubrey was pretending to be a baby bird.

Aubrey insisted I take her picture on this statue.  There were new baby gorillas in this exhibit.

Giant Panda, Aubrey's favorite.  She bought a little stuffed one.

Andrew's favorite, the Komodo Dragon.  Our zoo has one, too, but it's nowhere near this big...yet.

Tunnel in the Naked Mole Rat exhibit.  This is the only picture I was willing to take in there.  Yuck!!

My sweet babies.  I really do love vacations with them.

China exhibit, where Aubrey bought her panda.

Davis took this on the shuttle to the Marta station.  He does a good job!

First Marta ride!  They were so excited!

First stop- World of Coca Cola!

Coca Cola signs from all over.

Old fashioned soda shoppe.

The vault that holds the secret formula!!!

The Coca Cola Polar Bear!!

Not sure if he liked this sample or not.

Decisions, decisions...

...this one!  We all liked the ones from Latin America.

Drinking the "Real Thing" after they had tasted all the rest.

Next stop, the Georgia Aquarium, with the giant Whale Sharks.  There were 4 in all.

Beautiful, amazing creatures, along with a giant Manta Ray.

I loved the giant Jellyfish.

Gorgeous Beluga.

Going through the tunnel in the penguin exhibit...

...there was a little boy who kept trying to to backwards, but Aubrey set him straight (did you have any doubt?).

Waiting to touch the Mantas...

...everybody managed to touch one.  This was Andrew's first time since he's always been scared to, which is crazy since he loves them the most.

Touching the Sea Anemone.

Tropical fish. They were beautiful!  Andrew's Whale Shark needed to swim along with them.

Being silly.

Albino Alligator.  Andrew was fascinated!!  At this moment, the other one started swimming towards the glass.

Resting at the end of a very long day.