Atlanta Vacation - Day 1

Family vacation day is finally here!

The girls were SO excited that Saturday has finally arrived when they awoke this morning.

Julia wasn't even sure she'd be able to fall asleep the night before due to her excitement, and even Madeleine knew that once it was Saturday, it would be vacation day, so their collective mood was full of delighted energy when they came down from their bedrooms.

MADELEINE: Mom, we've been waiting ALLLLLL day long so it could be Saturday and we could FINALLY go to New Hampshire!
JULIA: Madeleine.  We're going to ACKLANTA.  Not NEW HAMPSHIRE.
MADELEINE: Well Julia.  Don't you know?  Atlanta is PART of New Hampshire.

The girls remained jolly as we drove into Boston to the airport, and their excitement only increased once we were inside the airport.  Literally EVERYTHING was exciting.  Between the escalators and the moving track through the long corridors, it was truly as if we were at an amusement park in the girls' eyes.  "Mom, can we ride on ANOTHER escalator?" Madeleine would ask, eyes wide with wonderment.  THEN, once we actually got to our gate, the view of planes taking off out the window just pushed the excitement into overdrive.  "DAD, LOOK!" Julia would exclaim, only to be bitterly disappointed that Ethan was too busy checking over our boarding passes to see one of the dozens of planes taking off from outside our window.  Even Julia finally became astonished by the sheer number of planes going up into the sky.  "ANOTHER plane?!?" she began to remark, as if a multitude of planes taking off at an airport was an extremely unusual event.

To increase the unbelievable amazement of the whole airport experience, Madeleine was fascinated by the voice coming through the overhead intercom, making important announcements about things we passengers needed to remember and rules that must be followed concerning checked baggage and what not.  

"Mom!" Madeleine exclaimed, delighted.  "I heard your dad!  Talking from really FAR AWAY!"

So.  Apparently the automated announcer voice at the airport is my father calling down to me from the Heavens.  Glad he had such logical advice for me in my travels.  Thanks, Dad!  I hope you're proud that I *did* check that bag after all!

Thanks to great behavior on the part of both girls, the flight went without incident, and there was much more excitement to be had in the riding of escalators and moving tracks at the Atlanta airport.  Once we rented our car and were ready to roll, however, Madeleine suddenly seemed confused.

MADELEINE: Mom?  Where's our BLACK car?

ME: Our black car is in Massachusetts, honey.  Remember how we flew on a plane to come to Georgia?

MADELEINE: But Mom?  Where are Nana and Gramps?

JULIA: Madeleine.  We're in GEORGIA, not VERMONT.

At least Madeleine had moved on from thinking we were in New Hampshire.

We made a brief stop to our hotel to check in, then met up with Auntie Shannon to go experience Inman Park restaurant week in her neck of the woods.  We enjoyed delicious Mexican food at Pure, where Julia got to eat her #1 favorite food, quesadillas, and Madeleine got to drop her corn tortilla in disgust after taking a bite, telling me, "There's some POISONOUS cheese that got on it!"

For dessert, we ordered the girls a plate of churros to share, with a little bowl of chocolate flan in which to dip the churros.  Madeleine decided the churros were too hot and therefore too hazardous to eat.  Julia announced, "I think I like the way the OUTSIDE tastes, but not the way the INSIDE tastes."

These are FRIED DOUGHNUTS here, girls.  How can you not like them?!?

Madeleine decided to just eat the flan straight from the bowl instead:

Before long, Julia joined in, too, so the adults passed the discarded pieces of churros around and the kids demolished the rest of the chocolate custard.

After dinner, we walked back towards Auntie Shannon's apartment, and Madeleine had a sudden, unexpected question for me.

MADELEINE: Mom?  Do you THINK I pooped in my underwear?

ME: Uh, I hope not.  Why?  Do YOU think you pooped in your underwear?

MADELEINE: Ummmm...no.

A few minutes later, Madeleine was a bit less tentative.

MADELEINE: Mom?  I think you should just CHECK my underwear to see if there's poop in it.

I really, really didn't want to.  I already knew what I would see.  And sure enough, one little pellet the size of a black bean, along with a tiny chocolate smear.

All of our luggage was back at the hotel.  We were on foot from dinner to Auntie Shannon's apartment, planning to pick up doggie Clara and walk to a playground.  

We had no other clothes for Madeleine.  And Madeleine had just crapped her pants a teeny, tiny bit.

So, I wound up taking a pair of underwear that Auntie Caitlyn had left at Shannon's apartment and putting it on Madeleine, using an elastic band to bunch up the extra loose fabric.  And so off to the playground we went:

and Madeleine got to sport an ultra-cool underwear tail:

Never a dull moment!!  

With that, I am off to enjoy a glass of vacation wine with Ethan and get to sleep so I'm ready for another energetic day of family vacation!