Woodland Park Zoo

We joined the zoo this year since Jake has been asking to go a lot. This is the first time I've gone with my "new" van (2 years old), so it was fun to be able to fit the wagon in the car! The sun-bears were play fighting which was fun to watch. The boys loved the snakes (they want one as a pet), and Jonathan loved climbing all the trees. I enjoyed the new pink flamingo exhibit. Jake will get to spend the night at the zoo in March with cub scouts.

Jake on the low dive

Jake has a lot of fears and it takes him time to try new things. He's been jumping off the side of the deep-end over and over and over...all summer. We've tried to get him to jump off the low dive many times, but always got an adamant "NO!" On this day my mom offered him money to do it. He asked wide-eyed "How much?" and my mom said "how much will it take?' "Two thousand" he said. My mom said "how about $20?" He and Maddie REALLY "needed" that money to buy a new water bowl for Shelley the turtle...so he tried it! Here are some pix- I can't get the video to work. Sure enough, he LOVED it and we couldn't get him off it! He was even trying to do "360s" that same day. He was so proud of himself- and so cute plugging his nose every time.

Duke

Jonathan wants to go to Duke for college. Today he won a Duke basketball at Carowinds amusement park by shooting hoops. We are going to visit the campuses of UNC and Duke this weekend. He's only 12, but with the way time flies by, he'll be in college before I know it (so sad...).

Atlanta Braves Game

We ended up late to the game due to traffic, but luckily it was a super long one, so we got enough baseball action! The Braves got killed by the Washington Nationals (14 to 5 I think...). Jonathan liked watching Chipper Jones bat (before he got pulled from the game) and also liked watching their manager Bobby Cox get ejected from the game (just liked the action). Running the bases got cancelled, but the kids didn't seem too disappointed. Luckily our seats were in the shade and there was a breeze- making the heat bearable.

Stone Mountain, Georgia

Our next stop (after the World of Coke) was Stone Mountain. Only 1% of the enormous rock is showing. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis are etched into the side of the mountain. We took a sky train to the top of the mountain and walked around. Jacob was too scared to go up (ugh). The kids got to zip line and go on a "sky-hike" (walked up high on ropes while holding onto a rope). That was the highlight for them. Then at dusk, we sat on the lawn in front of the mountain for the most amazing laser light show and fireworks display I've ever seen!

The World of Coke

We just got back from Atlanta last night. We had lots of fun. The only bad part was the HORRID traffic on I-85. It took us an hour to drive 2 miles. Frustrating. They were paving, so closed all but one lane (normally 5 or 6 lanes). Anyway... our first stop was the World of Coke by Centennial Park. The kids loved drinking all 64 flavors of Coke from around the world. By the end we were all about to barf.