I am sitting in a hotel room, overlooking downtown Atlanta, enjoying the quiet and taking a few minutes to "catch up" online. Phil has a Microsoft Tech Ed conference here this week, so I came along for a little break and vacation. My mom volunteered to watch the kids, so they are keeping her busy and she is loving on them as much as she can! I do miss them, but I am enjoying my break from the responsibilities of motherhood. We go back on the 22nd, in time to celebrate Ellee's 3rd birthday, and our 7th wedding anniversary! My nephew also has a birthday this week (how is he already almost 1??), so we will have a party to celebrate all these milestones on Sunday with family.
We left home Saturday morning and landed in ATL early afternoon. We picked up our rental car and checked into our hotel. After driving around and doing a little shopping, we met up with my cousin's family for dinner at Ted's Grill and then went back to their place to visit. We haven't seen each other in about 2 1/2 years, so it was great to spend time visiting with Kara, Brandon, and their two girls- Kayleigh and Abigail!! We got back to our hotel around midnight and enjoyed sleeping in Sunday morning. I tried to convince Phil that we should check out a random church around here for the cultural experience, but we weren't sure we would get back in time to get to the Braves game. Instead we got breakfast in the hotel restaurant (an okay breakfast buffet) and then got ready to walk to the stadium, which is kitty corner from our hotel!
The Braves beat the Phillies and the weather was very nice for sitting outside for a few hours. It looked like it might storm, and we felt a few tiny drops, but thankfully, the storms held off. It was the Civil Rights game, so there were some special guests that spoke before the game started. We didn't get around to picking up sunblock before the game, so we got a little bit of sun, but thankfully we aren't too bad. After the game, we walked back to the hotel and let the traffic die down a little before we headed out to find a grocery store and a Papa John's to get some dinner. We came back to the hotel to eat and watched The Karate Kid before going to bed. The people in the room next to us were having a grand old time, laughing, clapping, talking (loudly) until midnight, so I was thankful to finally get some sleep after their party died down. Unfortunately, the knocking on their door and (loud) talking at 5:45 am this morning ruined my chance of sleeping in. Ugh, why am I such a sensitive sleeper, and why are people so inconsiderate?!?!
I dropped Phil off at his conference this morning, so I could use the car if I wanted to. Instead of heading out to explore, I am enjoying resting with my feet up and watching a little bit of tv. My cousin will get off work in a little bit, and I might spend the afternoon with her. Phil plans to walk back to the hotel (hope it's not raining!) and then drive down to meet up with us this evening. If I have time in my busy day, I will try to upload some photos to facebook.
