atlanta mother's day

we headed out at 5am today and drove all day long. the kids were amazing! this is our first long car trip without a potty trainer or nurser and it was so much easier. we were able to drive until about 10:30 before stopping for 'breakfast' at starbucks. and then we had lunch around 2:30 (at one very sketchy, gas station mcdonalds - there were so many flies that maddux won't sit at our table).  those were our only stops in the 12 hour drive! even the atlanta traffic was kind to us. now once we got to the hotel - where there was only very expensive valet parking - we drove around and around before deciding to drop matt off with most of the luggage while i went to have dinner with my friend shannon and her son, ollie. matt needed to get cleaned up for a business dinner for the conference he was attending tomorrow at the hotel.

dinner outside at mellow mushroom and my first beer in a very long time was a great way to end mothers day.

we were earlier getting to atlanta than planned so we had to wait a while for shannon and ollie (shannon had just returned from an alaskan cruise that morning and was kind enough to spend her first mother's day with us!).

maddux showing me how to shoot a bow and arrow, i loved his serious face.

and there is happy maddux!

madelyn and ollie. i think that this was the only moment that ollie wasn't smiling.

the kids were so great. we spent 12 hours in the car and then the first time they get out we go to a restaurant for about 3 hours! (we were waiting for matt to be done with his business dinner so that he could help me unload the rest of our stuff out of the van and into the hotel.) at least we were able to sit on the uncrowded patio, but it was on a busy road and the kids couldn't really get out all of their energy. i also had to run mason to the bathroom at one point because he got very pale and looked like he was going to throw up. i think between the chocolate milk at lunch, the chocolate milk and cheese pizza at dinner and the heat, he had a dairy overload. thankfully, he did not throw up and was soon fine.

shannon got this picture of all five kids.

it was so great to see shannon and meet ollie! i should have taken a picture but i had been up since 3:30am and it just wasn't the first thing on my mind. i was so scattered just trying to keep the kids from getting into trouble and not bothering other diners. we were all ready for bed by the time we said good-bye and headed back to the hotel. yay for a great day of travel! love.