Atlanta, Day 4

Julia is having such a grand time on vacation that even her nightmares about a brown recluse/black widow hybrid are bringing her joy.  Trotting over to me as I emerged from the bedroom this morning, she announced: "Mom, I had a dream last night that I saw one of those BROWN spiders with the red spots on it.  And I wasn't even SCARED.  I was kind of, like, ENJOYING the dream, like I didn't even WANNA get up to go to the bathroom!"

Seeing as Julia feels the need to come out of her bedroom and get us *EVERY TIME* she even thinks she sees a bug, the fact that she was, like, ENJOYING her dream is highly unusual.

Today's big activity was a trip to Zoo Atlanta, where we got to see all kinds of cool animals, as well as make friends with even more statues.  While yesterday's discovery of surf boards at the Aquarium was hugely exciting for Julia, today Madeleine had her turn to fulfill one of her INSESSIONS when she discovered SIMBA!:

Not only that, but she and Julia even got to BE lions:

AND: check THIS out:

Seriously.  We were in SIMBA HEAVEN.

Among the other cool animals we got to see were panda bears, tons of giant snakes, kangaroos, and African elephant, gorillas, orangutans, and tamarins.  Madeleine was especially taken by the tamarins and their ability to leap with speed and agility from branch to branch, climbing all over the place.

In fact, the tamarins had such a lasting impression on her that she decided to do some climbing herself when we got to the playground area:

"Mom!" Madeleine exclaimed in delight.  "I'm a TANGERINE climbing on this ROPE!"

The girls were heartily wiped after four hours at the zoo, so when we got back to our hotel, they chilled out with some tv and animal crackers before we headed out to dinner at a somewhat posh tapas bar.  Julia decided to make me look like Mother of the Year by openly criticizing my choice of Chilean wine in front of the waiter: "Mom!  You should have ordered a margarita, or a California Cabernet!"

Yes.  My child apparently knows not only the type but also the region of my current favorite kind of wine.

After dinner, we took the kids for ice cream.  Both ordered chocolate, but we discovered too late that the server had scooped them BOTH mocha java, complete with whole espresso beans in the ice cream.

I can't wait to see what time they both fall asleep tonight.  Let's play a fun game!  Who can come closest to guessing the actual time my accidentally-caffeinated kids get to bed?  Taking wagers now!  Winner gets to have the kids sleep over one evening so that Ethan and I can actually get some sleep!

Til tomorrow!