A Weekend in Georgia

This weekend, my parents took Peter and me to Georgia.  We had decided to have a little mini vacation while it was just the four of us around.  We drove down to my Grandmother's house Friday afternoon, and spent the evening visiting with my grandparents.  Peter and I were glad we got to see them again before we go back to school in just a few short weeks (this summer has seriously flown past for me).  Saturday, after we went for a nice long walk with the dogs, PawPaw brought us Krispee Kreme donuts, and Bambutter made maple link sausage.  Yum yum!  (and so nutritious! :-P)

Next, Mom, Dad and I went to Target, where we bought Peter some back to school shirts and some new shoes.  He had been looking at these red shoes at Target for months, and since the shoes he had planned on wearing that day had gotten wet on our walk, I decided to go ahead and get these for him.  This seemed like a great idea...until he wore them without socks and got blisters!  Poor Peter :(

We chilled a little longer at Bambutter and PawPaw's, then went to the Mexican restaurant so Dad could get some ceviche.  Then we headed down to Stone Mountain!

We arrived with great plans to do all the available activities and have an exciting afternoon...unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  The only thing Mom really wanted to do was the SkyRide, so we headed there first.  We got there and discovered that it was closed due to storms in the area!  Well, Peter and I had planned on doing a few activities we knew Mom couldn't do, anyway, so we headed to our first choice: the Sky Hike.  However, we quickly discovered it was also closed due to the weather.  

By this time, Mom and Dad had gone back out to the car to get our blanket, so we picked out our seat to view the laser show, and Mom and Dad decided to hold the fort, while Peter and I went to see what was open.

We headed over to "Butterfly Adventures!" where they let you feed and hold any of the butterflies contained in their butterfly room.  The line was somewhat long because this was one of the few attractions still up and running, but it wasn't too bad.  I was wearing my Superman t-shirt, and the Park Worker who explained the rules to our group kept calling me Clark Kent.  He also asked Peter where his batman shirt was--this was doubly funny because I had considered buying Peter a superman or batman shirt at Target that morning (so we could match lol) and decided not to. 

We were given butterfly feeders (which we were assured were not q-tips, but were, in-fact, official butterfly feeders lol) and set loose on the butterflies.  

The butterflies rather liked Peter; one landed on his head and just chilled there for quite a while, until I tried to pick it up on my butterfly feeder and scared it off.

Apparently, this butterfly approved of Peter's new shoes.

Me attempting to convince a butterfly to climb onto my feeder.

Finally, I'm actually holding one!

Pretty butterfly

 When we first attempted to play mini golf, the weather had it closed down, too.  But it opened again!  We decided to play, even though it was raining a little at this point.  I told Peter, if we hadn't had so much trouble finding open attractions, we probably would have been doing something inside, out of the rain.  But as it was, we were just so glad it was open, we were willing to do it in spite of getting wet!

While playing mini golf, we discovered the other attractions had opened!  We went back to my parents, and Peter volunteered to stay at the blanket so that Mom, Dad, and I could go do the SkyRide, since that was the one thing Mom wanted to do.  We were a little concerned the line would be long since it had just reopened, but we managed to beat the crowd and get right on the lift! 

The view out of the window on the way up the mountain: 

The Atlanta Skyline

Proof that I made it to the top.
We didn't take a picture of anyone else up there...oops.

 It was kind of funny to watch Mom inch her way toward this fence; she didn't make it all the way down to it.

If you look really close, you can see Peter reading on the blanket
at the top of the lawn! ;)

Coming back down (Mom had to close her eyes for part of this lol)

After I got off the lift, Peter and I raced over to do the Sky Hike.  Scariest thing I did that day.  We didn't get any pictures since we had to lock our stuff up and Mom and Dad were both back at the blanket.  You were harnessed in, but you had to make your way across this skinny ropes and boards.  I was a little nervous.  Or a lot nervous.  

Peter, on the other hand, went up and did the highest part of the sky hike.  Not me.  I bailed after doing the middle set.

Peter and I picked up our food (Mom had gotten tickets that included a meal in the park and free refills of coke beverages all day!) then went to chill with my folks while we waited for the laser show to start.  We had picked up some glow sticks for cheap at Target that morning to have for the laser show, so we got our glow on!

Mom and Dad in front of the mountain, waiting for the show.

Peter, me and Mom with our glow sticks in front of the mountain!

Love my sweet hubby!

This carving is actually A LOT bigger than it looks.
Apparently, they once held a dinner party on top of Lee's shoulder.

So, we were a little bummed at the laser show.  We had these high expectations from our previous visit, and they were not met (well, Peter hadn't been before, so I think he enjoyed the show all right).  The biggest problem was the fireworks that went with the show.  The slight breeze we had had all evening from the storms just disappeared, so the smoke from the fireworks stuck around, blocking the lasers.  And about the time the smoke would clear enough to see what was going on, they would shoot off more stinking fireworks!  We couldn't even see the part where the lasers trace the carving, and then make it seem to come alive because of the smoke.  There was a pretty cool effect where they made it look like the mountain crumbled to reveal the feet of the horses on the carving and they moved for a minute.

At one point, while we couldn't see for the smoke, Peter decided
 to make the sign of the Deathly Hallows using our glow sticks.
 Yes, we are HP dorks, thanks for asking :)