good morning, atlanta!

we rolled into atlanta around 6am.  matt drove all night because that is just the way he is.  i didn't get much sleep because the lights were just too bright (next time i will bring an eye mask) and i felt like i should keep him company.  although, i think he would have preferred if i had just slept...

after a bathroom break at dunkin donuts, we went over to shannon's house before breakfast.  madelyn and mason were very excited to see her puppies!  i think that the puppies were pretty happy to see them too.

mason discovered their dog toys and played tug-of-war with them.  he thought that it was pretty fun once he realized that the growling didn't mean that he was going to get bit.

uncle derek met us at the restaurant for breakfast and then we walked around decatur where they were having a pretty great book festival. our first stop was the little shop of stories where shannon has been buying madelyn books for years.  it was a really impressive children's bookstore!  and shannon bought madelyn several more books.

and then we went for a walk through the book festival.  i couldn't believe that i had never heard of this while in school - maybe because it was mainly children's books. i (and probably madelyn) could have stayed all day.  shannon and madelyn paired up and somehow madelyn ended up with a few more book (autographed by the authors) and lots of swag from the different tents.

the kids both took a try at hoola-hooping.  it didn't go all that well...

madelyn and shannon bonding.

it was so nice to spend some time in the (hot) fresh air and walk around before getting back on the road. 

but we wanted to make one more stop before leaving atlanta - emory.  our 10 year reunion is in a couple of weeks and we will not be there.  the kids are too young to care, but we showed them the landmarks that are important to us.  the campus has changed so much and it took us a while to find the bookstore.  and then we spent way, way too long there trying to find something to buy.  i don't know why we were so set on getting something. the kids had fun trying on the golf hats.  notice madelyn busting out a 'pose' for the camera.

a quick stop just south of town for lunch and we were back on the road headed to our final destination - fort myers.  love.