What a summer!

Whew! We stayed really busy this summer.

First, as soon as the kids were out of school, we took a trip to Savannah. We all had a great time, and we hope to go back soon.

After that, it was two weeks of summer camp for the kids. First camp at the Atlanta History Center, about the history of the Atlanta area. Then ballet camp for DD and guitar camp for DS.

We attended the Roswell Storytelling Festival for one evening, and definitely plan to return next year, this time better prepared. We didn't realize that we could bring coolers, and ended up paying a huge price for not that great food.

So that was June, although I'm sure I've forgotten some things.

July 4th we drove down to spend time with my Dad and have a cookout.

The second week of July was a second week of History Center camp for DD, this one about the settlers and Native Americans of early Georgia. DS was supposed to be able to do fun things with me that week, such as going to the zoo and the aquarium, but since he wouldn't clean his room like I had been asking him to for two weeks, he missed out on most of this. He actually managed to get it clean by Thursday night, after his father intervened. So on Friday DH and I took him to Fernbank to see the Polar Bears and Penguins exhibit. We also had lunch out and discovered a new restaurant we really liked, the Crescent Moon Cafe in Decatur.

I think we mostly stayed home and rested the third week of July. Oh wait, the 18th was my birthday. We went out to lunch at Cafe Sunflower, a popular vegetarian restaurant that I'd somehow managed to never go to. It was okay, but I don't think we're in a hurry to go back. We'd intended to make a daytrip to Macon to go to the museum and LNS there on the 19th, but we didn't get ourselves ready in time to make the long trip, so on the spur of the moment, we decided to go to Medieval Times instead, since they were running a promotion with a free kid's ticket for every adult ticket you bought.

We had a blast! They did keep us wandering the bar/gift shop area for quite a long time before seating us. The food was much better than we expected (I was able to get a vegetarian meal!) and so was the show. We are planning to go back for DS's birthday in October.


The fourth week was History Center camp for DS, all about the Olympics. Since DD's room was clean, she got to do all the nifty stuff DS missed out on.

On Monday, we went to the zoo. DD finally got to see the giraffes. Every other time we've been this year, they were off display. We saw the warthog baby, and video of the new lion cubs. We made the rounds of the zoo pretty quickly. Most of the animals were sleeping or hiding. We rode the train and the carousel, and then headed off for lunch. We drove over to Decatur to the Crescent Moon, and after that visited Fernbank. We even managed to squeeze in one of their animal encounters before we had to leave to pick up DS.

Tuesday, we went to the aquarium. We were working on earning their Deepo badge for Brownie Scouts. We managed to complete all the activities for that, yay! Now I just have to sew it on her vest along with the million other patches she earned this summer. After we were done at the aquarium we took a walk through Centennial Olympic Park. Then a snack, and we went to the children's museum. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with it. I certainly don't think it was worth the admission price, but DD had a good time, if a little rushed, since we had to pick up DS.

Wednesday we chilled out at home. Thursday I was going to take her to see Nanny McPhee at the free summer movie, but she said she'd rather go home to relax on the floor and watch Scooby Doo, so that's what we did. Friday was back to the zoo, since DD wanted to go again.

That Saturday, we went to the aquarium again, this time with DH, DS, and my father. We also went to Ikea (we'd never been before) and bought a cabinet for my stitching room. I ended up with a bigger one than I'd planned, but that's good, because now I can remove stuff from the bookcase I've been using, and it can be a bookcase again.

After much pulling apart, epoxy-ing, and a bit of swearing, the cabinet is put together and in place. Pics after I have everything moved in and set up.

Yesterday we went to a show at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Afterwards there was a question and answer session with the puppeteer, and he talked about what it's like being a puppeteer. At the end, he invited us up onstage to see what it looks like back where the puppeteer is. Very cool.

This morning, I put the kids on the bus for their first day of school. They are both excited to go back.

The excitement isn't over, though. Friday is DD's birthday. Instead of a party, we are taking her to the American Girl Bistro for brunch on Saturday. On Sunday my father is coming to see her and we're all going to Fernbank again for their Sunday Snow Day activities.