We ended up getting another complimentary breakfast at the hotel.
We were all ready to leave, but ran into issues getting our Starwoods Preferred Guest bonus points for "Going Green" (ie eschewing housekeeping).
Instead, they offered us complimentary breakfast, which was nice. My wife was all set for us to leave, especially since breakfast ended at 10:30 AM and it was 10:10 AM. However, we convinced her to have breakfast, so that we could drive back on full stomach.
The drive back was uneventful, which is the best kind of drive. Kids alternated between playing iPad and looking at scenery.
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Monday, August 6, 2018
Atlanta Trip - Day 3
This was probably the best day of the trip.
We used up the remaining 2 attractions on our Citypass.
We had a complimentary breakfast at the Sheraton Atlanta Downtown, where we were staying. The kids had orange juice, coffee, and lots of food. Zoey especially liked the raspberries.
In the morning, we drove to Fernbank Museum of Natural History.
I was really surprised by how nice of a museum this was. It's very impressive inside, 3 floors, and Fernbank Forest is behind it.
The kids enjoyed the special exhibition - Food: Our Global Kitchen.
It had smell-based samples of foods such as popcorn and cinnamon, which were activated by pushing a button. Michael held Zoey up so she could smell it, which I thought was a great sibling moment. They're a great team.
We had lunch at Chipotle (we just stumbled across Chipotle when we were heading back to downtown Atlanta from Fernbank Museum), and went to the Georgia Aquarium afterward.
Georgia Aquarium is incredible! Both kids loved it. We went to see the Sea Lion show immediately upon arrival. They seemed to like that. However, they were especially fascinated with the River Scout section, which had a kid-sized tunnel and faux-portholes where the kids could stare through the fish-filled water at parents and vice versa. They really got a lot of mileage out of that.
The dolphin show was also amazing. Unfortunately when I was watching, I was hitting a low-energy point and starting to nod off, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.
The other thing that really captivated the kids was the people mover and glass ceiling tunnel in the Ocean Voyager section. They kept going on the people mover (it was a VERY slow people mover) and riding it to the end and then starting over again.
In the evening, we went to eat dinner at Oriental Pearl. The kids ate very well, which made us happy.
We used up the remaining 2 attractions on our Citypass.
We had a complimentary breakfast at the Sheraton Atlanta Downtown, where we were staying. The kids had orange juice, coffee, and lots of food. Zoey especially liked the raspberries.
In the morning, we drove to Fernbank Museum of Natural History.
I was really surprised by how nice of a museum this was. It's very impressive inside, 3 floors, and Fernbank Forest is behind it.
The kids enjoyed the special exhibition - Food: Our Global Kitchen.
It had smell-based samples of foods such as popcorn and cinnamon, which were activated by pushing a button. Michael held Zoey up so she could smell it, which I thought was a great sibling moment. They're a great team.
We had lunch at Chipotle (we just stumbled across Chipotle when we were heading back to downtown Atlanta from Fernbank Museum), and went to the Georgia Aquarium afterward.
Georgia Aquarium is incredible! Both kids loved it. We went to see the Sea Lion show immediately upon arrival. They seemed to like that. However, they were especially fascinated with the River Scout section, which had a kid-sized tunnel and faux-portholes where the kids could stare through the fish-filled water at parents and vice versa. They really got a lot of mileage out of that.
The dolphin show was also amazing. Unfortunately when I was watching, I was hitting a low-energy point and starting to nod off, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.
The other thing that really captivated the kids was the people mover and glass ceiling tunnel in the Ocean Voyager section. They kept going on the people mover (it was a VERY slow people mover) and riding it to the end and then starting over again.
In the evening, we went to eat dinner at Oriental Pearl. The kids ate very well, which made us happy.
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Atlanta Trip - Day 2
We went to Zoo Atlanta first thing in the morning.
Neither kid was tremendously impressed.
Zoey did like the swimming otter, and also liked the Orangutan that climbed into its hammock and took a nap.
The Zoo was cool in the morning, which was a relief given how hot it had been.
The pandas were fast asleep, which was disappointing. My wife and I had great memories of going to Zoo Atlanta together before the kids were born, and taking incredible video of the pandas sitting proud and crunching on bamboo.
In comparison, looking at sleeping pandas backsides was a letdown.
Afterward, we went to Legoland Discovery Center Atlanta, in the Phipps Mall.
Both kids enjoyed this. They had a pretty cool ride where you shoot at invading Lego skeletons. Zoey got the highest score out of all 3 of us (me, Michael and her).
She has great eyesight and excellent aim!
Neither kid was tremendously impressed.
Zoey did like the swimming otter, and also liked the Orangutan that climbed into its hammock and took a nap.
The Zoo was cool in the morning, which was a relief given how hot it had been.
The pandas were fast asleep, which was disappointing. My wife and I had great memories of going to Zoo Atlanta together before the kids were born, and taking incredible video of the pandas sitting proud and crunching on bamboo.
In comparison, looking at sleeping pandas backsides was a letdown.
Afterward, we went to Legoland Discovery Center Atlanta, in the Phipps Mall.
Both kids enjoyed this. They had a pretty cool ride where you shoot at invading Lego skeletons. Zoey got the highest score out of all 3 of us (me, Michael and her).
She has great eyesight and excellent aim!
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Atlanta Trip - Day 1
We decided to take the kids on an end-of-summer vacation road-trip.
It was a bit of a spontaneous trip, we decided a week before that we would go.
The first day was rough. We got up at 6 AM to hit the road.
We arrived in Atlanta around 1 PM and bought the Citypass.
We took the kids on the CNN tour.
We took them down to World of Coca-Cola next.
This had better results, World of Coca-Cola was much more engaging for kids.
More importantly, we started letting them use the Nikon D7200, our prized Digital SLR under the condition that they wear the neck strap and are SUPER careful.
Both of them enjoyed trying their hand at photography and taking family photos. It was pretty cool to see the photos that they took.
Zoey was really excited because she found an air conditioning vent that would do wind effects with her long hair. This was not one of the specific attractions of World of Coca-Cola, just one of those small things that kids find to entertain themselves that completely fly under the radar of parents.
It was a bit of a spontaneous trip, we decided a week before that we would go.
The first day was rough. We got up at 6 AM to hit the road.
We arrived in Atlanta around 1 PM and bought the Citypass.
We took the kids on the CNN tour.
We took them down to World of Coca-Cola next.
This had better results, World of Coca-Cola was much more engaging for kids.
More importantly, we started letting them use the Nikon D7200, our prized Digital SLR under the condition that they wear the neck strap and are SUPER careful.
Both of them enjoyed trying their hand at photography and taking family photos. It was pretty cool to see the photos that they took.
Zoey was really excited because she found an air conditioning vent that would do wind effects with her long hair. This was not one of the specific attractions of World of Coca-Cola, just one of those small things that kids find to entertain themselves that completely fly under the radar of parents.
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