Another Day of Firsts - Downtown ATL and centennial Park

Well, we had intended on a trip to the GA Aquarium today however, by 11am the wait time in line to go in was about 2. 5hours so, we readjusted our plans while enjoying a Coke (in a glass bottle) and a few strawberry minute maid ice treats.

Colten had free run of the park between the aquarium and Coca Cola Museum.

 We decided to take advantage of the nearest playground where Colten climbed up steps for the first time and used a slide for the first time - weeee! 

We also took a family photo op:

and Drake just hung around...

Afterwards we walked to Centennial Park just in time to see the fountain musicals and the joined in the fun!

 

Southern Summer Fun!

A day worth blogging about...

Today started bright and early - Avery had a game at 10am. It was already hot and humid but it was a nice morning anyway. Drake went with his Grannie to eat breakfast so, it was just me & Colten to cheer on Avery since Andrew was on the field too. After we had a bite of lunch, Andrew practice kicking in the front yard and Avery put on a dance outfit and headed out to cheer him on (and catch butterflies in the process; her new found passion). Once Drake came home it was time to head back to the ball park for his 2 pm game - and what a game it turned out to be!

  

So far this season the Cubs have had a tough time pulling off a win but today it happened and it was a great game... the energy in the bleachers was great too. Drake scored what was the tieing run in the 4th ining and in the 6th had an important 2RBI single. Ending score 16 -15. The boys were so proud and happy, it was a great ending to our day at the ballpark. Afterwards, Drake & Avery went home with their Grannie and Andrew, Colten & I went to grab a bite to eat and check out a potential location for the new Fun Fare.

Later that afternoon, Drake was invited to sleepover at a friends house so we headed home to pack his bag. This was his first time sleeping over at a friends house - he was very excited! With overnight bag together and DS case in tow we headed to Elijah's for the night.

With Drake away for the night Avery took full advantage of time with her Daddy so she spent the evening,til dusk, in the yard looking for a pet lizard - still in her black and silver dance outfit and heels. I WISH I had a picture of that! 

Unfortunately, she still has no lizard but we did see our first (2) snake(s) of the season. I guess it's good that they were Kingsnakes... that lessens the risks of coming across a cottonmouth but, nonetheless, I am not thrilled about country living in that aspect.

Pools Open!

 

It was  nice sunny day and the kids took advantage of the newly cleaned pool... what fun!!

 

Day 8: Discovery STS-131 ready for launch!

While at the Space Center we watched the Hubble 3D IMAX movie- AWESOME!!! checked out a few more exhibits and then got in line for the bus to the Causeway (closest public viewing area from Launch Pad 39A)... at this point it's about 4am.

When we finally got onto the bus it only took about 30 seconds before Avery was asleep. Now it's 5am. We reached the Causeway close to 5:15am set out our picnic blankets, bundled up (it was a bit chilly) and began waiting.

NASA had speakers setup so that we could follow all of the communications from Mission Control and the Orbiter. There was a brief moment when a computer system failed and we may have a "NO GO".. but it was quickly rectified and once again we were "A GO".

At 6:04am we were able to see the International Space Station fly over us in the sky. It showed as a bright white light, due to the sun reflecting off of it's solar panels. The ISS was visible for a full 3 minutes - it was awesome!

Finally it was time!!! coming upon the 10 minute marker, we started waking up the children. Anticipation was high... it seemed like no time and forever all at once. 60 seconds: we put our binoculars into focus... 30 seconds: cameras ready... 10 seconds: Ahhhh!!! 

9. . . 8. . . 7. . . 6. . . 5. . . 4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1

The 6:21am ingnition lit up the sky and ocean, it was beautiful and surreal. To know you are watching 7 human beings literally being blasted out of this world is such a huge idea to wrap your mind around. It was like nothing else. Unfortunately, I am not able to show any pictures like the ones I have in my head, I wish I could, because it was just stunning and is something I hope my children will never forget... I know I won't.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html

Day 7: Wait, Wait, Wait

Today we packed all of our stuff, loaded up the truck and checked out of our resort... with no particular place to go for another 14 hours. We had some lunch, made a quick shopping trip,  observed a falcon in an eagle's nest, rode along a coastal neighborhood checking out the houses and real estate, found a park and played a bit, had some dinner and prepared to head to the space center.

Arrival time was set for 12am. For the first time in Crook family history we were on time, in fact, we were raring to go!

Day 6: Kennedy Space Center

Today we visited the Kennedy Space Center so we could inform the children of all the happenings of space exploration and to prepare them for the launch on Monday morning. We took a bus tour where we were able to observe the shuttle on the launch pad. By this point we were about 36 hours out from the launch.

I took as close of a picture possible from about 1.5 miles away. >

^This is the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building), today it is the fourth-largest structure in the world by volume.

 Just to give you an idea the American flag painted on the side measures: 209 feet (63.7 m) high, and 110 feet (33.5 m) wide. Each of the stars on the American flag painted on the building is 6 feet (1.83 m) across, the blue field is the size of a regulation basketball court, and the stripes are as wide as a standard road lane.
 

At the end of our tour Drake saw a unique rainbow in the sky.

 

Day 5: Cocoa Beach

It was a nice relaxing day in Cocoa Beach... we used this time to recover from our Disney all nighter.

Andrew and Avery dug into the sand looking for shells... yes, DUG into the sand.

& Drake played in the surf...

Colten & I hung out under the umbrella and took pictures.

Day 4: The Magic Kingdom

The day belonged to Princess Avery and began in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique located in Cinderella's Castle.

She had her hair and nails done, and everyone (I mean everyone!) oohed & ahhed at her dress and sllippers. One cast member stopped me and said " working here everyday for 10 years, I see alot of dresses but this is the best one I have ever seen".

After her appointment Avery caught up with the Fairy Godmother (who, afterwards, spoke right to her from the float during the parade). 







During the parade, we enjoyed some popscicles. Cinderella waved to Avery and Ariel blew her a kiss!

After the parade, we met with Cinderella and she told Avery how she had heard so much about her from Fairy Godmother. It was great!    

The night belonged to Drake.
After dinner, outside of the kingdom, we went back in for round 2. Because the day had been so HOT and crowded, it was hard to stand in line to get on many rides. Thanks to FASTPASS, and most normal people taking their kids home for a good night sleep, (not us!) we were able to maximize the ride experience. Drake rode pretty much everything in the park, worth talking about - his favorite was of course Space Mountain. Avery's favorite ride was Splash Mountain and Colten's was a tie between Monster's Inc scare floor (he laughed and bounced alot) and It's a small world (he was very still and looking at everything).

We spent a total of 16 hours at the park and it was worth it! It was a great time and I am so glad that we were able to share this as a family and enjoy each other at Disney World. It was a magical day for sure!

Day 3: Cocoa Beach

Today was a relaxing day! We chartered a boat and went on a nature tour to a remote island where we saw a sting ray, baby sea turtle, jellyfish, a school of other fish, lots of different birds, dolphins, gators, manatees, and collected some really cool shells.

We topped off our night with some sunset kite flying on the beach.... it was awesome!!!

Avery had a Parrot and Drake had a Discovery Space Shuttle

Day 2: Cocoa Beach

What another BEAUTIFUL day at the beach,

We built a sand castle...

played in the waves...

collected seashells and even  buried the kids in the sand...  

Colten loved it so much... he kept eating it!

Day 1: Cocoa Beach

After the morning rain... the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. We checked out the beach and since The Easter Bunny came early for Drake, Avery &  Colten bringing disney shirts, giftcards, candy, beach toys & alot of How to train your Dragon stuff, along with a movie giftcard, we took the hint and went to see it on our first day in Cocoa Beach - Great movie!