Our 2013 Summer Vacation

Shocker!  We are back!  Actually, we didn't go anywhere recently, but our computer hard drive failed, so there were some attempts at restoration before it was properly diagnosed, replaced, restored, etc.  This has been the year of computer problems for us, and I hope that we can have a respite from this particular challenge for a while.  I have learned that I can survive without a computer...ok, I guess I didn't really HAVE to survive without a computer because we had our laptop and phones, but the laptop doesn't have all the pictures, which is what this blog is about.
So back where we left you, before the first day of school, way back in August, The Happy Ones went on a big trip.  We flew!

We flew to Atlanta first and spent a few days there.  Our favorite place was the Atlanta Botanical Gardens...definitely a must-see for a stop in Atlanta.

Lukas showing the length of a bean.

Then it rained...we had brought jackets, but we didn't stay after it really started pouring.  Instead, we went to...

...the World of Coke!  Indoors!

Natalie loved meeting the Coca-Cola bear.

It's like a museum for Coke.  The kids had a fun time!

Here we are posing with one of the torches from the Atlantic Olympic Games.

At the end of the World of Coke, you get to taste sodas from all over the world.  I liked the mint soda from the Mid East.

Dominik got more soda than I would give a child...but hey, you only visit the World of Coke once!

Then we went to Centennial Olympic Park.  You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get a picture of all the kids in one shot.

We didn't have extra clothes along, but Lukas still wanted to jump in the Olympic ring splash pad...and he got a little wet!

  

Tom having a glass of Coke with Pemberton, the inventor of Coke.

Then after lunch it was back to the Botanical Gardens...because it had stopped raining!  The drive wasn't more than 10 minutes, but Dominik fell asleep in the car, so I stayed with him during his nap while Tom took the rest of the kids back inside.

That evening on the way to dinner, we drove by Georgia Tech and saw the percussion section practicing...so we stopped and listened for a bit.

That was the first few days of our trip.  And we were gone two weeks...so check back for more pictures from the rest of the trip.