Monday, June 2, 2014

Mountain of Fun

This weekend we experienced our second big outing of the summer with our big boys. (Our first being a Braves game last month. How is it June already?? I've got a birthday party to plan and Halloween costumes to pick out soon. Gracious.) It was so fun and memorable and hot and exhausting. All the things a good summer outing are made of.

My mom came over to keep Layton for us while we hit the road for Stone Mountain and a mountain of fun. Haha. And leaving Layton with my mom turned out to be so stress-free and easy.

Wait. I must interrupt. When did that happen? The whole stress-free and easy part? I remember when we'd leave Garrison with one of our moms for a date night or something and I'd always go through the mental turmoil of I hope he's not fussy while we're gone. I hope he naps okay. Did I remember to tell her you HAVE to hold him this way or he won't go to sleep? I hope she can get the bottle warmed to the exact right temperature because he's not going to take it a degree off. What if he starves? What if he cries the whole time? Oh mama. The unnecessary anxiety you put yourself through. On Saturday when I left my third baby boy with his Granna my thoughts were I hope she's not bored. It's just her and Layton. I wonder what she'll do all afternoon? I guess the quiet might be nice. Hopefully her and Layton both won't be too lost. Oh how things have changed. I still leave instructions. I still struggle with being away from my babies overnight. I still call to check in. BUT, OH HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. For real.

Anyway. Back to our mountain of fun.

We actually won 2 tickets to Stone Mountain through a raffle at my school's Art Affair in March. SCORE! Plus Austin is free so we only had to pay for Garrison's ticket and parking. I can't even tell you how much our budget appreciated this. It was seriously a huge blessing because I know we wouldn't have gone otherwise.

The very first thing we did was make pictures of course!

 
Then we rode to the top. They were both so excited. Until Austin became just a little unsure of things. He never cried he just expressed a little anxiety over this "ride".
 
Even with his shades on you can see Austin's uncertainty. Garrison however was super impressed at how high we were.
At the top!

 
Garrison made this picture of mama and daddy for us. It only took him 2 tries to get us both in the picture. Then Austin had to have a turn and I think he got in one of our legs. Soo, that one's not pictured. Haha!

After making it down safely (while I held my heavy 2 year old who wasn't thrilled about riding down...but he never cried!), we walked a ways and made it over to play putt putt. After the somewhat long walk and a few complaints from our oldest, our big boys were totally smitten. Putt putt was SO fun for them. Finally Terrell and I just gave up playing our turn and let them play. It was hot and crowded on the course so it just felt easier for us to focus on them and their turns.

Garrison was really good! And he actually played until he got it in the hole. He wanted a hole in one sooo bad but settled for a couple of "hole in two's" instead.  
 
Austin had a ball too but you definitely had to stand clear everytime it was his turn. I think I was hit by his club like 4 times. Haha. He just dropped it and ran to pick up his ball after every shot. Getting it in the hole wasn't a priority for him until our last few holes.  
 
We actually had to leave our golf game short to make it on train ride in time. They loved pup pup pup as Austin called it.
 
The train ride was a nice break from walking and the sun and heat. And a good break and chance to rest for the boys. Austin dozed off once sitting up and Garrison laid down in Terrell's lap once. It doesn't take much to wear us out!
 
After the train ride we decided to try out the 4-D show. It was a little intense for kids under 7 or 8. Neither one of the boys were fans. But it was nice and cool and we got a little wet and it definitely didn't lack excitement. I don't think they'll be scarred or anything. Phew.
 
Then we moved onto the Great Barn. This was a cool place for the boys because it was filled with small, foam balls to put in chutes and cannons and guns. There was also a couple of slides and things to climb. It was a little confusing for us to figure out and make sense of but the boys really liked it so we're calling it cool and fun.
 
Last but not least we let them visit the water tower place. We brought a change of clothes with us so we figured we'd just do this last and then change their clothes for the ride home. Everything was going great and they were climbing and having fun until Austin panicked coming down the big "tower" you see behind the rock fountain. Then I sort of panicked because I was having flashbacks and all and knew it would be really, reeally hard to get up there to him. Garrison was trying his best to help him but Austin was frozen. And I was panicking. And Terrell was staring at me like I was crazy and telling me to calm down. Praise the Lord one of the workers there spotted him and made his way to him and rescued him. He walked him all the way down a different "exit" to where I was waiting. He was good after that... because we made their picture and loaded up for home. =) 
Austin fell alseep before we were out of the parking lot and Garrison talked the whole way home. Ha! It was a super fun outing for us with our bigs and we loved getting to experience this first with them. BIG thanks to Granna for hanging out with Layton most of the day! We were all ready to see our littlest man when we got home! 

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