A Fun-Filled Four Days

We have been having a blast in Atlanta.

On Thursday, we woke up early to go visit Bubbe at work and get our teeth cleaned. I was super excited about it and hopped up on the dentist chair right away. I picked cookie dough and marshmallow flavored toothpaste - yum! The dentist said my teeth looked great. Hazel was a little more cautious and Dad had to take her outside to calm her down. She got nervous when she saw people wearing masks. When she came back in, no one was wearing a mask and she did great too. The dentist even checked Turner's teeth. We had to pull his thumb out of his mouth long enough for the dentist to check them. Afterwards, we all picked out stickers and prizes and headed back to Bubbe's house for lunch. It was a fun checkup. Dad was proud at how well we all did at the dentist, and was happy that our oral care passed muster.

After a nice lunch and a nap for Hazel and Turner, we went to a yummy restaurant for dinner with Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jonathan. We were sure excited to see them again.

Friday morning we woke up early so we could go to the Atlanta Aquarium. It was great. We saw all kinds of different fish. Dad and Turner's favorite were the jellyfish. Hazel liked the beluga whales best. I liked the sea otters best. The penguins were really fun too. They had a room where fish swam all around us. There were giant manta rays, whale sharks, other kinds of sharks, giant groupers, and french grunts. I liked looking at the list of fish and trying to find them.  We had several snacks at the aquarium and walked around a lot. As we were leaving, Bubbe bought Hazel and me a fun orange fish. Hazel named hers Frank, which may be confusing when get back home and introduce him to our real fish Frank.

Friday night, we went to a really fun Shabbat party at the J in Atlanta.  The pool area at this J was a LOT bigger than the J in Austin.  There were water slides and a giant splash pad.  The water was so warm that even Dad jumped right in.  Hazel liked that the pool had a big area that was three feet deep where she could walk around.  Bubbe took all of us to different areas of the pool where we could swim around and show her all the new things we learned.  There was a rabbi singing Shabbat songs and playing guitar.  Aunt Laurie took us over to an arts and crafts table where we made Shabbat picture frames.  Afterward, Hazel and I played in the splash pad for a long time.  We actually closed the whole party out.  We all hope we can go back next time we in Atlanta. 

Saturday morning, we had a nice leisurely morning.  We went over to the playground at Dad's old elementary school.  The weather was beautiful.  Hazel and I climbed up ladders and down slides, then climbed up slides and down ladders.  Mom and Dad even walked on some balance beams.  It was a very relaxed and fun morning.

When we got back from the park, a babysitter came over to watch us while Mom, Dad, Aunt Laurie and Bubbe went to Great-Great Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Sam's 70th wedding anniversary party.  The sitter was very nice and played with us, read us stories and fed us lunch.  She told Mom and Dad that Hazel was quite a talker (which we all knew).  She also said that once Hazel was asleep, Turner made a lot of sounds and noises - apparently, he was just having a hard time getting a word in with Hazel around.

Saturday afternoon, Bubbe set up an alligator pool in her yard. She also put out a wacky sprinkler. We loved running around in the soft grass, playing in the pool, and running around in the sprinkler. After a while, I got Bubbe's watering pitcher and watered her flowers for her. Then I noticed she had a dirty slide, and washed that for her. I washed it thoroughly, filling the giant watering pitcher over and over, walking it across the whole yard, and scrubbing the slide. The slide was very clean once I was done with it. Hazel was thrilled with the sprinkler and kept running in circles around it until she would fall down on the soft, wet grass. Then she'd do it again. I'm sure I was never that crazy. While we were playing in the yard, Hazel ran over to a redbud tree that was planted in Papa's memory and asked where Papa is now. Dad told her Papa was watching from heaven. After that, a few relatives came over and watched us swim.

Sunday, Mom ran some errands to get ready for our return drive while we stayed home with Dad and Bubbe.  Bubbe had a special treat for us.  She made peanut butter cookies and had different color icing, and different shape sprinklers for us to decorate them with.  I made a bunch of different faces and then ate them pretty quickly.  Hazel spent a long time on each cookie, making rainbow colors on them.  They were delicious.

After we cleaned up our cookie-decorating mess, Aunt Laurie came back over to help Bubbe take Hazel and I to Build-A-Bear.  We had so much fun.  I made a bear named Brown who was actually blue.  He has a fish in his hand, just like the fish I got from the aquarium, and makes a monkey noise. Hazel made a rainbow bunny named Hazel that giggles just like she does.  We even got to go on a computer and make birth certificates for our creatures.  Thanks Bubbe for such a fun treat!

When we got back, Mom and Dad had finished getting all of the food ready for our trip back.  Turner was so excited to see us again, he celebrated by taking his very first steps!  He's been on his feet more this week, and stood in the middle of the room without holding on to anything to help him get up yesterday. Then today he was holding on to the table and Mom was a couple feet away and held her arms out and asked him to come to her. And to her surprise, Turner did it! Bubbe was very happy to be there for it.  Everyone was very happy for Turner, especially Hazel.  She ran up and hugged Turner.  Unfortunately, he's not too stable yet, and when she let go, Turner fell down and whacked his head on the edge of a table.  He has a big shiner now.  It's rough being little - I don't miss it at all.

Sunday night, Uncle Jonathan came back over for dinner.  We picked up Thai food.  Hazel and I really liked the "peanut butter noodles." 

Monday, it was time for Bubbe to go back to work and for us to start driving back to Austin.  I'll tell you about our return trip, and post a link to the pictures, in a future blog post.