Atlanta, Day 2

The girls got to bed WAY past their bedtime last night.  I was REALLY hoping they would sleep later to compensate, but no such luck.  By 6:30 this morning, they were both up and looking forward to starting their day.  I hadn't slept well, myself, and had set out a bunch of activities in the living area for them, including brand new sticker books and some Melissa & Doug mix-and-match 3-piece block people.  I encouraged the girls to go and play while I slept a bit more, and they were excited enough by their new toys that they complied.

Kind of.

My hope to get more sleep was granted, but it was VERY interrupted sleep.  I can't even remember the number of things Julia came in for.  The stickers in her new sticker book were too hard to get off, so every time she wanted a new one, she needed me to peel it for her.  "Why would somebody even MAKE a sticker book with stickers that are THIS hard to get off!?!"  She wanted to watch tv but didn't know how to turn it on.  She wanted me to see how she had decorated the princesses in her sticker book.  Etc.

I say this all as my excuse for why I didn't get up until it was way past the usual breakfast time for the girls.

When Julia came in for the umpteenth time to tell me, "Mama?  I think, like, it's almost seven, and I'm getting really hungry, so can you get up?"

I looked at my watch.  Ten of nine.  Whoops.

Needless to say, the kids were awfully hungry and thirsty by the time we finally headed out the door to breakfast, not to mention overtired, which explains why Madeleine felt compelled to cry throughout THE ENTIRE WALK to our breakfast restaurant over the fact that she didn't want to be wearing pants.

Once the girls had food and milk in their systems, however, they were back to being happy campers.  In fact, Madeleine had undergone such a marked transformation after drinking her milk at the restaurant that I tried to give her a second cup of milk once we got back to our hotel, wondering if she was feeling dehydrated.  She was not so into that second cup, despite my constant encouraging that she take another sip.  Finally, she told me, with complete logic, "Mom, I'm just gonna take ONE MORE little sip, because I don't want those BACTERIAS getting in my lungs."

I think she's going to be a SCIENCE WHIZ.

Meanwhile, Julia was totally gung-ho about the idea of trying to go swimming, even though our hotel's heated outdoor pool doesn't open until May, and the only pool available is the non-heated outdoor pool at Auntie Shannon's apartment complex.

It was about sixty-three degrees out this morning.  I continually warned Julia that it was very likely too cold to try and swim.  She continually assured me that she was unflaggingly confident that the water would not be too cold for her.

So we drove over to Auntie Shannon's, got on our bathing suits, and headed to the pool, with Julia as excited as could be:

While Madeleine, Ethan, Shannon and I tentatively dipped our toes into the frigid water, Julia bravely went over to the other side of the pool and cannon-balled in, emerging back above the water with a look of sheer and utter panic on her face, dog-paddling frantically to the nearest edge to hoist herself out of the pool and wrap up in a towel.

Madeleine, on the other hand, wound up having a completely delightful time getting dipped into the freezing water:

Even when she had no adult to dunk her in, Madeleine couldn't get her hands off the pool water:

At least one kid enjoyed the swimming...

Later in the afternoon, we took a trip to the playground at Piedmont Park and enjoyed walking along the paths throughout the park grounds.  My mind filled with wonderful visions of getting a family photo in one of the many scenic locations, but apparently I was alone in my hunky-dory, posey family picture idea.  Ethan pretty much NEVER wants to be involved in any such thing, and even my little obedient Julia protested, "Ugggghh!  Why is that ALWAYS what we have to do?  Why do we ALWAYS have to be doing family pictures EVERYWHERE we go?"

6 years old and already embarrassed of the stuff her mother wants her to do.  Uh-oh.

And then there's Madeleine, who decided that for every picture Auntie Shannon snapped, she needed to either a) look completely uninterested and aim her gaze at an angle completely awry from the camera, b) look sullen and pouty because we redirected her body angle to face the camera, or c) stick out her tongue or make goofy faces.

It took about fifteen tries, but I think we FINALLY got one in which every member of the household was looking somewhat cheery and facing somewhat towards the camera.

Our last stop of the evening was Yeah Burger, where we had dinner, and where both kids had completely melt-downs over the fact that they didn't want milk.  Seriously, what kind of a horrible mother am I, making my kids wear pants and drink milk??

They are SO tired.

And, of course, we got back to the hotel late once again this evening, but here's hoping for a later wake-up time for both girls in the morning.  As we approached our hotel, Julia gazed up at the big clock tower across the street and exclaimed, "Woah!  It's three after MIDNIGHT already?"  I asked her what on earth made her think that.  "Well, it says it's, like 3:49 up there or something," she replied confidently.

Julia has been learning to tell clock time at school, as well as playing her telling-time board game from Yiayia at home.  From her assessment of this morning's time to her evening announcement, all I can say is - WOW.  I can DEFINITELY see the progress she is making in her clock-reading skills.

I look forward to more vacation adventures when I wake up at seven ten of nine again tomorrow morning!