Escape (Or Not)

We tried to escape from the Kidnap Room today. Wow. It was hard! We needed about 10 more minutes, I think!

Laser Tag

Take Off Tuesday with the Morans to Laser Tag (and these were the only two pictures I took).

The Laser Challenge was done with flair

(and Christian killed me at air hockey.)

Stone Mountain

We have lived in Atlanta for almost nine years, but have never hiked to the top of Stone Mountain.

 I'm not sure why we decided that the HOTTEST day of the year would be a good day to mark it off our list!

But we made it!

 Fun with the pano setting on my phone :)

 Needless to say, the view was worth the hike.

 But going down was way more fun!

Christian took us on the scenic route down...

 We even stopped at the museum and got certificates to prove we made it up and back.

Last Take Off Tuesday

The boys ditched us today, so we made it a girls' day out!

Shopping for back to school clothes, lunch and a mani/pedi. :)

Rock Climbing

Today's Take Off Tuesday was to Adrenaline Climb for rock-climbing.

 Should I be concerned that my boys were belaying Carolyn? (And each other, ha!)

 They are all like monkeys!

Bouldering to the top

Three climbers and only two belayers, so I jumped in, too. :)

Fun day, with an added bonus of wearing the kids out.

Take Off to the Atlanta History Center

Today's Take Off Tuesday begin with lunch at the Landmark Diner and then a visit to the Atlanta History Center.  Our first stop was the Swan House (built in 1928) where we were treated to punch by one of the Inman's maids.  She also showed off some of the newest gadgets that the Inmans owned-including a toaster and an electric freezer.

 Does this look familiar?  The movie Catching Fire was filmed here!

 We also visited the Tullie Smith farm (circa 1845)

 and toured the museum exhibits, including the wing devoted to the 1996 Olympics.

 We ended our day with milkshakes from Sonic.  We love Take Off Tuesdays!

First Take Off Tuesday of the Summer

I was so excited to find out about a New Orleans snowball place in Atlanta!  So our first Take Off Tuesday of the summer was down to Decatur.  We started with lunch at Taqueria del Sol (YUM) and then went down the street to see if The New Orleans Snoball Cafe was legit... and it is!  We will definitely be repeat customers!

Our orders:
Andrea-Cafe Du Monde
Christian-Chocolate Decadence
Coleman-New Orleans Pink Lady
Carolyn-Big Easy Paradise

They were all delicious, but I think Carolyn's was the best. ;)

Take Off to the Food Truck Park

After visiting the Food Truck Park with Dawn, I knew it would have to be a Take Off Tuesday destination with the kids.

They were not disappointed!  We sampled from 8 different trucks:

Lamb Masala from Masala Fresh 

Crabcake Sliders from Phenomenal Surf and Turf

Chicken Parmesan Meatball sliders from Mighty Meatball

Peanut Butter and Banana Waffles from Nana G's Chick'n Waffles 

Lumpia from the Filipino Food Truck

Peach Tea from Bubbles

Italian Ice from Little Jimmy's

Praline Pretzels from Chay J's New Orleans Candies

Take Off For Lunch

We had another busy Tuesday, but we made time for a quick take-off to West Egg Cafe for lunch. 

 (Followed by a trip to IKEA, but I was the only one excited about that stop!)

 I highly recommend!

First Take-Off Tuesday of the Summer

Sandwiched between doctor and dentist appointments in the morning and practice in the evening, we headed to Movie Tavern for lunch and Now You See Me, followed by happy hour at Sonic.  We had Jim's car today, so we had the top down and the tunes up!

Christian is volunteering at FCA Camp this week, so he wasn't with us-bummer!

Election Day Take Off Tuesday

The kids were off from school for Election Day last Tuesday so we decided to go see the special exhibits at two of our favorite museums.  Our first stop was the Fernbank Museum to see the Water exhibit.

After we got into the exhibit, we realized we had already seen this traveling exhibit when we were in Dallas last summer!

If only they were always this sweet...

If only he concentrated this much on his homework...

Obligatory picture in front of argentinasaurus

By the time we left, we were all starving.  We ended up down near Emory, where we had a hard time deciding where to eat lunch-there were so many yummy-sounding choices!  We ended up at the original Dave's Cosmic Subs.  Totally a college-kid hang out!  I'm sure all of the co-eds were wondering about the mini-van mom and three kids invading their turf!

The sandwiches were delicious

and LARGE.

After Dave's, we headed over to The Atlanta History Museum to catch the Lincoln exhibit.  

No photos allowed, but it was really good.  A lot of reading, so some of us (me) got more out of it than others (Carolyn).  But the exhibit had some really interesting things, including the items from Lincoln's pockets the night he was assassinated-2 pair of glasses, a pocket knife, etc. and a bloody playbill from Ford's Theatre.

We enjoyed both of the exhibits very much!  It was nice to do something non-sports related for a change!

Take Off to ... The Mall?

When we woke up this morning it was POURING down rain. Our tentative plan had been to go tour the Governor's Mansion, but none of us were really in the mood to drive all the way into Atlanta and deal with the rain. We decided to go to Discover Mills Mall instead. We ate lunch in the food court (which for some reason my kids think is so much fun!) and did a little back-to- school shopping.

I ALMOST bought this notepad. Hysterical!

Definitely would have bought this if I thought it had a CHANCE of working!

We spent a loooong time at the lego store.

Coleman believes in being hands-free.

There is an electronic? remote control? race track in the mall

and the kids did a race.

All in all, a fun afternoon even without a lot of bells and whistles!