Georgia Trip
Getting ready to fly to Atlanta
Originally uploaded by aswitzer.
This past weekend, Carrie, Tobey, and I took a quick trip down to Georgia to see the my sister Amy’s family and new abode. It was a short trip, but we squeezed all that we could into it!
In December of this past year, just a little over 3 months ago, Kaelina Marie Matthews was born in St Paul, Minnesota. Then, just a month later, Amy and Brian moved from Minnesota, down to Alpharetta, Georgia. So, for my family, this was a chance to meet Kaelina for the first time, along with Kuli, their new labradoodle, along with their new house and living location, along with Brian’s sweet new Mini Cooper. Needless to say it was a lot to take in!
My family took Friday off (yeah!), dropped Twizzler off at our new awesome dog-sitter, and headed to the airport around 9:00AM Denver time. We had plenty of time before our flight took off so we got some reading material, snacks, and lunch in the concourse for the flight. While doing that, we spotted the cool plane that you see Tobey holding in the picture. It was very appropriate because in Tobey’s favorite TV show (Curious George on PBS) George got a very similar looking plane at the airport in an episode when he was going on a trip with “The Man with the Yellow Hat”. Luckily, Tobey didn’t lose his plane like George did in the story and have adventures all thru-out the airport trying to find it. 
When we arrived in Atlanta, we hopped on the MARTA train and took it to a stop right near Brian’s office. He picked us up and brought us to their home in Alpharetta, which is about 30-45 minutes north of downtown Atlanta. Kaelina was awake and we got to meet her right away as we took a quick tour of their home. Lots more space to work with than in Minnesota, with a big kitchen and family room. Brian prepared some delicious steak while Amy tried to get Kaelina back to her nighttime routine and off to sleep. I think she was too excited with all of us having just arrived to meet her! She finally fell asleep in the faithful swing, a heavenly device that now has helped provide many well-rested times for both Kaelina and Tobey. Tobey stayed on Colorado time and enjoyed staying up with the adults a little. We talked and enjoyed a bit of March Madness at the same time.
The next day, we got a late start as we remained on Colorado time, so it was a little after 9:00 when we got going. We had another awesome meal, this time scrambled eggs stuffed with extra flavors along with sausage. Yum! We briefly toyed with the idea of heading out to a nearby airport to have new pilot Brian show Tobey and I the type of plane he flies, but realized there just wouldn’t be time. Our time to head to the world’s largest fish gazing building - Georgia Aquarium, came up fast anyway.
The aquarium was incredible and easily lived up to its billing. It’s hard for the pictures to do the entire building justice, but we did our best to capture some of the best parts. The Olympic park that we strolled thru to get to the Aquarium was beautiful all on its own. I spotted nearby Phillips Arena as we walked, so we’re already planning how we can catch an Atlanta Hawks NBA game there possibly, next time we head to Atlanta for a visit. Upon entering the aquarium, it felt like an enclosed theme park. Distinct areas of the aquarium (Cold Water Quest, Ocean Voyager, and Tropical Diver come to mind) were themed with large signs identifying each entrance. Tobey enjoyed the fact that he could carry around a laminated guide to the fish in the Ocean Voyager area. Several of the displays were breathtaking. Two in particular were the clever moving walkway area where you gazed at the fish, sharks, and manta-rays overhead, and the great room with the huge wall-to-wall window into an incredibly large tank full of schools of fish of all sizes.
I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that fact that I got a great chance to catch up with Amy and ride in Brian’s Mini Cooper at the same time on the way to and from the aquarium, while Kaelina contently slept while we were in motion behind me in her carseat.
Sunday morning brought another incredible breakfast - Pumpkin pancakes with cream cheese frosting…. I was in heaven. We had just enough time for a trip to a local park that Amy runs at. Fresh air for Kaelina, and fun equipment to run around and climb on for Tobey. Alas, it was then time for Brian to drop us off at the airport. The weekend went too fast, but we all felt like we took advantage of the opportunity to meet Kaelina and Kuli, ride in Brian’s Mini Cooper, and see where the Matthews live! Thanks to our most excellent hosts!
Flickr photopages from the trip:
PS Hope you enjoyed the new sidenote feature introduced in this post. I was having a little extra web design fun.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:19 am
You are an amazing writer & web designer! Thank you for sharing your weekend in Georgia! Amy happily cutting Chives from her yard & you riding in the Mini with you knees in your face will always be a treasured memory. Loved the new sidenote feature! Love, Mom
March 21st, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Thanks Mom - glad you enjoyed it. The way I tend to tell a story like this, the sidenote’s end up being the best part, so I’m glad you enjoyed those.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
You took me again on my virtual trip to Georgia. The side notes made it all the more interesting.
May 6th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
We loved having you guys here for a visit! Thanks for posting your account of the weekend. It will be fun to look back on this trip with Kaelina when she’s older so we can talk about when she first met her Uncle Alan, Aunt Carrie and Tobey. Like Mom said in her comment, I love the sidenote feature (especially the one on my love for getting chives from outside : ).
May 8th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Thank you very much Grandma and Amy for your comments - I really appreciate the feedback!