A high priority on this trip was visiting with friends and relatives during our drive back to Texas. So after visiting with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Bristol, Tennessee our next super fun stops were visiting my friend Robin in Greenville, South Carolina and my friend Catherine outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
We arrived in Greenville to visit Robin (and her husband, Bryan (Skippy)) on Monday afternoon, and immediately we all went to their neighborhood pool for some fresh sunshine and relaxation. After fun at the pool we headed back to the house for a delicious dinner and playtime with Doug and Skippy's games.
Amelia and John LOVED Robin and Bryan's dog, Doug. They wore him out, taking him to the backyard and throwing his toys and having him play fetch. John later loved playing XBox 360 racing games with Skippy. Robin and Bryan were both so welcoming and relaxing in welcoming us into their home - we had to much fun visiting with them! I love that I have had the privilege of visiting Robin just a few times this past year and enjoying each visit more and more! Plus, my kids didn't want to leave this house come Tuesday morning!
No photos of the group, but cute pics of Amelia with Doug!
Tuesday morning the kids and I drove two hours south towards Atlanta, where we were planning to meet up with Catherine later that day. We tried first to visit the attractions at Stone Mountain (my favorite Atlanta attraction!) but since the local schools were already in session the attractions there were not open on weekdays. So we changed course and went towards downtown instead.
After an interesting lunch at the Varsity downtown the kids and I went to the World of Coca-Cola.
John is a soda freak so he was in heaven during this trip to the World of Coke. But Amelia does not care for the taste of soda so she is turned off completely by all things soda-related. However, she had a good attitude and was open to experiencing the history/culture-related exhibits at the museum. She later told me that she was surprised by how much she enjoyed visiting the World of Coke.
A cool feature was that since Coca-Cola is a major sponsor of the the Olympic Torch, the museum had a replica from the London 2012 games on hand so participants could have their photo taken with the torch. Below are photos of my kids with the torch.
The finale of the tour was a visit to the tasting room. The kids and I had the opportunity to taste sodas that are sold around the world. Below is an exhibit of the tasting station from Europe.
After a fun afternoon at the World of Coke, the kids and gladly made our way to my friend Catherine's house. Catherine and I first got to know each other in middle school and we remained friends through high school and beyond. The last time Catherine and I spent time together was 10 years ago at our high school reunion pre-kids, so this was super fun way to catch up in our new and very current lives as working parents.
Catherine and I hit it off immediately, and our kids warmed up nicely together too! John is on the left, with Sofia (2nd grade) and Caroline (kindergarten) sandwiched between Amelia on the right. Catherine's girls are gorgeous!!, and were perfectly sweet in welcoming my kiddos into their home that evening.
So great you got to visit with everyone.
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