Atlanta Trip

We left for our trip to Atlanta on December 23rd. It was an easier trip to start with...but then Bella got very fussy. We figured she was just sleepy from getting up at 5 am, but it was still pretty miserable. We drove to the hotel, but couldn't check in without Aunt Janet. So, we drove to Lee's apartment and tried to get Bella to lay down before dinner--it didn't happen.

Then, we ran to the hotel to get quick showers and got dressed for our dinner with the entire family at Bahama Breeze. This was the first time our girls had met Brian's sister, Lora (and her family). Bella sat in my lap almost the entire time... I noticed after dinner that she was feeling warm. I got concerned because of my strep throat the weekend before, so we took her to an urgent care clinic in the area and had her tested. Yep, it was strep.

Luckily, Aunt Janet was able to take Olivia back to the hotel with her for the night while we tried pharmacy after pharmacy to get Bella's prescription filled (seriously, we went to THREE!) Then, it was back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning, I planned on staying with Bella while the rest of the family went out... Brian woke up up before he left and I ran down to get breakfast while he stayed with Belle. Bella woke up soon after I got back (close to 10am!) and she was energized! I tried to keep her calm while I rested, but after an hour or so, she was driving me nuts! She had already taken a couple of doses of antibiotics, so we figured we could meet up with everyone at Panera Bread for lunch (just have her keep her distance).

After lunch, we went to Harry's Farmer's Market to get food for dinner at Alan and Cheryl's. When we got to their condo, we met their new puppy (the girls had a BLAST with him) and then played Wheel of Fortune on the Wii. When dinner was almost ready, we popped in the Squeaquel and watched it all the way through dinner. The food was great! Mahi Mahi with pineapple and brown rice and broccoli. For dessert, a Yule Log cake (sounds weird, but it was a fantastic chocolate spiraled cake!)

We had to hurry and get the girls back to the hotel to get ready for bed (so Santa could come, of course!) and I took the girls' stockings over to Lee's house to "set them up".

We work up early on Christmas Day and headed over to Lee's. The girls got to see what Santa brought them. Then we made cheese biscuits, ate breakfast, opened gifts and watched the snow! Alan and Cheryl brought their dog (George) so the girls had fun playing with him too. While dinner was being cooked, we discussed the upcoming Disney trip and finalized some of those plans too... Can't WAIT!!!

We had our Christmas dinner earlier than originally expected because the weather was getting bad. We all ate the turkey and ham (with mashed potatoes, squash, green beans and rolls) then ate dessert (Cheryl's homemade Tiramisu)and got ready to head back to the hotel. Aunt Janet came over to our room to watch Ramona and Beezus with us. Then, we went outdoors to see all of the snow before heading into their kitchen area and having a picnic dinner with leftovers. The hotel clerk was wonderful and let us have full reign of the area. Everyone that came in was so friendly...it really was a fun time!

The next day (Sunday), we planned to head to American Girl in the mall. The girls got outfits to match the ones their dolls got on Christmas (stinkin' adorable!!!) and rolling suitcases for their dolls. Allie and Grace also got to go to the doll salon and get their hair done. Hilarious!

Then we met up with Alan and Cheryl at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. SOOOO yummy! The waitress even arranged for the cheesecakes to be brought out with candles and for the staff to sing to the boys since their birthday is in 2 weeks.

After lunch, we went shopping some more (so the girls could use gift cards they got for Children's Place, Claire's and Justice). They both got purses from Claires.

Before we left the mall, we had to get a picture of all 4 of us in our RCDC sweatshirts in front of the AG store! Then, we left the mall, had dinner at Lee's and came back to the hotel.

On Monday, we drove to Tupelo--we had decided to split the trip up and have some fun along the way. So, we stayed at a brand new Comfort Suites and let the girls swim before we headed to bed!

We woke up on Tuesday morning and grabbed breakfast (the BEST hotel breakfast EVER!), packed up, and went to the mall. Then we met Krysten and Hallie at Logan's for lunch (they were driving TO Atlanta).




We left them after lunch and started on our way home... However, we did not drive to the house because we had made plans to meet up with the Fletcher's at Bar Louie (for $1 night...woo Hoo!!). They had picked up Valerie (from NLR dance) and she was with them for the night. Olivia was so excited to see both Julianne and Valerie! Then it was off to the house! Good, and busy trip!