The Careys: Grandma Pam, Aunt Sherry, Daymian and Jordan Visit Georgia

Grandma Pam, Aunt Sherry, Daymian and Jordan drove down on June 24th and stayed through July 3rd. We had fun with them while they were here! Ava really seemed to enjoy hanging out with EVERYONE, and continues to ask why they all can't come to our house more often. :-) (She must've forgotten the 15 hour drive to Michigan last Christmas! :-)

While they were in town, we visited the Georgia Aquarium, spent the day at Stone Mountain, saw the Stone Mountain laser light show, and spent a day at Whitewater (a water theme park). Doug even took the boys (minus Liam) camping for two days in Cloudland Canyon (northwest area of Georgia, next to Lookout Mountain).

The day we went to Stone Mountain, it couldn't have been hotter or more humid! Fortunately that seemed to be the only really hot day. The kind of day where you can't help but sweat in the SHADE! Of course the Michiganders might disagree with my statement about that being the only really hot day ;-) While everyone was out on top of Stone Mountain, I hung out in the building at the top with Liam and Mom. Poor little guy was so thirsty... I gave him some water from our water bottle.

While at Stone Mountain, we all took the tram to the top. The boys hiked down with Doug. Sherry, Mom, Ava, Liam and I took a trainride around the park to cool off. We then hung-out on the lawn, had a picnic and waited for the laser light show to start. Doug and I haven't seen the show in at least five years, so we were pleasantly surprised to see the new things they added to the show. Quite a few really cool fireworks, set to the music of the show! Ava rocked out to the first few songs with Aunt Sherry and then fell asleep on Daddy's lap. Quite a big day for everyone!

We played some ladderball in the backyard while Ava and Jordan went wading in our creek. Both Jordan and Daymian were really helpful with Ava and Liam. Jordan would help Ava in the creek. Daymian helped push Liam around in the stroller.

The boys had really nice weather for their camping trip and had fun shopping / preparing for the big adventure. They bought freeze-dried food, camelbacks (backpacks that carry water), etc. While there, they hiked down to see the bottom of the waterfall, probably going up and down 1,200 steps that day! Needless to say, they slept well that night. I will be sure to add those pictures some other time.

While the boys were camping with Doug, Grandma Pam got extra snuggle time with Ava and Liam back in Marietta. Sherry had to work on Monday night, so she flew back to MI. We put a little pool in the backyard and cooled off in it. Liam is so active, I couldn't take my hands off of him while he was in the pool, for fear he would slip somewhere... We also went to Monkey Joe's (I think this is Ava's favorite). Liam enjoyed watching Ava bounce all over the place. We also went to Play Place. Liam seems to have just as much fun as Ava, running around the place.

Everyone seemed to love Whitewater. Ava went down a waterslide that was intended for children seven and up. She is a little daredevil, but as you can see in the picture of her sliding down (the second time), she decided to cover her eyes the entire way down... There was an overhead shower at one point on the slide... in anticipation, she covered her eyes down the entire way. :-) Daymian, Jordan and Doug hit the big slides (dragon's tail, the tornado). We all hit the wave pool together for some fun. Everyone (including Ava) enjoyed the lazy river. We only live a few miles from this park... we somehow forgot it was so close and how much fun it was!

It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but we really enjoyed spending time with family. Thank you Grandma Pam, Aunt Sherry, Daymian and Jordan for taking the time to visit us! We love you all!

Peace, love and mini-family reunions :-),
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

P.S. - I apologize if the pictures aren't formatted nicely... There were so many I wanted to include!

Grandma Pam and Liam at Whitewater

Grandma Pam, Liam and Ava at Whitewater

The Dragon's Tail (slide at Whitewater)

Daddy gives Ava a kiss after he and the boys return from camping

Monkey Joe's - as you can tell from Ava's hair, she is in a state of perpetual motion at this place!

Monkey Joe's

Liam's curls.

One very thirsty kid. At the top of Stone Mountain

Taking the tram to the top of Stone Mountain

Catching some "rays" at the Georgia Aquarium

We woke Liam up at night to see them when they first arrived. :-)

Liam at Whitewater

Shelly and Ava in the lazy river

Ava goes down a "big" waterslide

Ava, on her way down the waterslide

Doug and Liam at Whitewater

The wavepool at Whitewater:
Shelly, Jordan, Ava, Doug, Liam, Daymian

The boys return from camping. I'm not sure who was more excited about getting to go camping... Doug or the boys? :-)

Ava having fun in the backyard pool.

Liam sliding down the slide in the backyard pool

Liam fishin'

Liam and Mama

Notice I can't let go of Liam... This was a full-time job, making sure he wouldn't slip under / fall out, etc. :-)

Monkey Joe's

Ava doing her thing at MJ's

Liam at MJ's

Liam liked watching Ava

Ava at Playplace, climbing up a slide...

Liam, wishing he could do the same. :-)

At Stone Mountain, taking a break from the heat. Ava called Gatorade "the rainbow color drinks". At first I didn't know what she was asking for, while we were sitting on the lawn, but then figured out that we had one Gatorade in just about every color... :-)