Piedmont Park
Atlanta has one of the most beautiful intown parks. Piedmont Park has a large lake, lots of walking trails, two playgrounds (one from the 70s I do believe), and tons of interesting people to watch. Last week I had to go to Boston for work. Before I took Abby to our good friends where she would be staying while I was gone, we spent the afternoon at the park. It was a beautiful early fall day and we both had a great time.



How cute is she!



Watch me mom!!



There is a Willy's at the park. You can't beat their black bean burritos!



Swinging on the 1970s swing. This thing goes HIGH! The 1970s slide is really fun and exciting for kids because it is huge, metal, and FAST. The ladder, however, is about as far from safe as it can get. It is a wonder anyone survived the 70s.



Beautiful girl in front of the Free Nelson Mandela structure.

Weekly playdate with Alyssa and Jack
Abby and Alyssa play so well together and it is so much fun hanging out with them. They are both very similar temperments and just truly get along.



Follow the leader.



Best buddies.

Labor Day at the Children's Museum
We went to Imagine It (the Atlanta children's museum) for Labor Day. It is a great place for kids to explore and play and touch everything.



One section of the museum includes this crane where the kids move balls from one section to another. Abby has never really been able to manipulate it before but this time she did it with great perfection!



I don't remember what these building things are called but the giant size ones sure are cool. They can also be weapons for some of the kids. One little boy thought they were really for bonking other kids on the head. And of course, this kid is the one who had not a parent in sight.



Very fun tunnel thing under the water section.

Family photo
One night I decided to see if I could get a picture of Abby, Lucy, and me all in one picture. By the end we were laughing so hard. Getting Lucy to sit still and look at the camera was just a concept she simply could not grasp. The end result was really funny. Here are just a few of the pictures that managed to have at least some portion of all three of us them.

Playdate with Alyssa
Every week we try to get together one afternoon wtih Alyssa and her baby brother, Jack. We go to a park or somewhere for the kids to play and then go out to dinner. Every single day we don't get together both Abby and Alyssa ask if they will get to play after school. They are the best of friends.



When we go to Alyssa's house, Abby and Alyssa immediately pull out Alyssa's princess dresses. They both love dressing up and will play all afternoon looking like 2 adorable little princesses.

Grandma Margaret's birthday
My grandmother's birthday was at the end of August. Abby calls her great-grandmother Grandma Margaret. Abby loves to assist in the blowing out of candles and the opening of presents. And, basically, any aspect of birthday celebration.



Grandma Margaret reading to Abby.



Abby putting a new pin on the birthday girl's shirt.

Artwork
Abby has really gotten interested in drawing and coloring. And I may be a bit biased but I think her drawings are quite good for a 3 year old!



She now draws people. I love that she includes eyebrows!! She told me she didn't know how to draw hands so I suggested she trace her own hands. I just love this picture.



She still likes to draw abstracts too.



The artist at work.

No more naps
Well, I don't think I was quite ready for the naps to be done but Abby had gotten to the stage where naptime was a battle and she really wasn't going to sleep at all. Combine that with all the sleeping problems we had upon returning from vacation (let's just say it was a rough month), and it became evident that it was time for no more naps. We still have "quiet time" after lunch and Abby goes to her room but she can put together puzzles, look at her books, play with blocks, etc. This has helped so much with bedtime.

There are still days, however, when Abby is absolutely worn out after school and will fall asleep on the way home. It's funny because it is a 12 minute drive but a couple of times that first week or so she would crash so hard that it was hard to wake her up when we got home.



Completely out!

I am happy to write that the combination of no nap and a slightly later (8:00pm) bedtime have worked wonders. Add to that the bonus of "pink milk" every morning she stays in her bed all night long and we have moved back to a routine that is working. Pink milk is really strawberry milk and is a true motivation for her!! And most mornings she earns her pink milk now. I am very proud of her!!!

Alec's birthday
Whew! I am a bit behind in posting. Alec's birthday was at the end of July. It is hard to believe he is now five years old. When I first met him he was just barely two. We met Alec and his mom and grandparents as well as Avery and her mom at the Georgia Aquarium for his birthday celebration. The Georgia Aquarium is amazing and as such it makes it a very crowded place - especially on weekends. That Saturday was no exception. But once we got inside we had a fun time.



Alec, Avery, and Abby watching the fish.



Alec's grandpa (Bahnka) getting all 3 kids to cheer about something.



The Beluga whales are Abby's absolute favorite (and mine as well). They are absolutely huge but so gentle and have the sweetest faces. This picture is deceiving because it makes the whale look so small.

July 22 - Time to go home
It was really raining while we packed up the cars but it stopped for a few minutes as we were leaving for a picture in front of the house.



The trip home was pretty much a full day affair. The drive back to Philadelphia was about 2 hours. We followed Amanda and Olivia and had lunch with them before we went to the airport. Because of the storms in Philadelphia, our flight was delayed a bit. Abby was wonderful the whole trip. She is such a great traveler. The only problem we had was that Abby is very afraid of bathrooms that are auto flush. Unfortunately every one we tried that day was auto flush. UGH!! I finally remembered a trick I read somewhere that if you put a little toilet tissue over the sensor thing, it won't flush. Fortunately this worked but it took a LOT of convincing Abby that it really wouldn't flush. We arrived home around 10:00 that night.

Our vacation was so much fun and we are already ready for the next one. :-)

July 21 - Ocean City Day 7
Our last full day in Ocean City. We started the day with breakfast out at a great little breakfast kind of place and then found ourselves at a pirate themed miniature golf course. Aside from making the mistake of paying for myself (I wound up just helping Abby) and not being able to get money back even though I realized the mistake about 22 seconds after I paid, we had a wonderful time.



Watch out Tiger Woods!



18 holes with 3 year olds goes pretty fast. :-) Step 1 - hit the ball. Step 2 - Keep hitting the ball. Step 3 - If necessary pick up the ball and drop it in the hole. Step 4 - Proceed to next hole. Special exception - if any holes have scary tunnels, just skip them.



They each got a pirate eye patch after the last hole. I bet the winner in Augusta would much prefer an eye patch to the green jacket.



After dinner out, we went to the beach for our last night. Amanda had brought kites for the kids and they were both dancing and singing about kites before we even got to the beach.



First time flying a kite!! She did great!



One last night of sand castle building and general sand playing.



I love the beach!!!!



Hey - where are our feet?



They are going to miss each other so much.

July 20 - Day 6 continued - Ocean City
After we left Atlantic City we returned to Ocean City and went to the boardwalk there for dinner and general hanging out.



By this point, Abby and Olivia were pretty good at the boardwalk scene. The weather had totally cleared and the evening was perfect for walking.



Yes, they were having so much fun!



It turned out Thursday nights are family nights and they had lots of bands playing/singing all up and down the boardwalk. These women were quite entertaining.



Abby watching another one of the bands. The bands crossed a wide range of music types. It was much cooler that night and we even pulled out the sweatshirts.



We went back to the amusement park after dinner. Amanda and Olivia rode the big ferris wheel. Abby was not interested so we rode the Dumbo ride again.

July 20 - Day 6 Atlantic City
So we woke up to rain. Time to figure out a plan B. The realtor had given me a packet of endless flyers of things to do around the Jersey shore. We found one that told of an aquarium in Atlantic City. Never having been to Atlantic City, I definitely wanted to check it out. So we packed up the kids and headed to the big AC. We decided to first go to the aquarium and then find the boardwalk.

Now Abby and I live in Atlanta which is now home to the world's second largest aquarium so when we arrived at the Atlantic City aquarium, I did smile. It was a very small building with free parking right next to it. Can't beat that. It was also just what we needed that day as the rain only lasted about an hour after we arrived in Atlantic City.



The aquarium was very cute. It was the perfect place to go while it was raining.



They had a tank where you could touch and after the boat touch tank, the girls were pros!



Being one with the fish.



"Do you see any fish in there?"



After the aquarium we headed to the boardwalk. One of the first places we found was the Trump Taj Mahal. It was pretty much how I had pictured it. Lots of gold decorations, lots of slot machines, and lots of very interesting people to watch. It also seemed to be a good place for lunch (and it was).



In front of the Trump Taj Mahal.



After lunch we walked the boardwalk. Abby was pretty fascinated with this Mr. Peanut. She does not like characters that are dressed up and walk around but since Mr. Peanut was a permanent fixture, she kind of dug him.



As we walked down the boardwalk, it got nicer and nicer (and newer and newer). Abby stayed awake the whole time (and walked a lot of the way too) but Olivia crashed and slept through most of it. :-)