Goodew Visit

My brother, sister-in-law and niece Ashtyn came and visited us in April, I apologize for the lag time in this posting (I was waiting on a picture...ahem MATT)!  We were so excited to see them!!!  They got here just in time to get Emma from the bus Thursday, we had told her they wouldn't be here until dinner time, so she was SUPER excited to see them as she stepped off the bus!  

We played on a huge playground by our church...

then ate at big pie in the sky for dinner, check out this place by clicking here!

Friday we got Emma out of school about an hour early and headed to the World of Coca Cola!

We spent some time playing in the grass, in a kind of courtyard, kiddos burning energy and us wasting time so we didn't have to sit in Atlanta traffic!

We grabbed dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant and then home to bed!

Saturday we headed to the Big Shanty Festival in downtown Kennesaw.

Ashtyn and Jack enjoyed the view from their strollers :)

Sadly Matt, Diana & Ashtyn had to leave Sunday morning so they could get back to NC before having to work bright and early Monday morning.  We were so glad they were able to come visit us in Georgia and had a blast spending time with them!!!  Here are a few pictures that were my favorites of the weekend...

World of Coca Cola

Saturday we visited the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. Many people (natives and visitors) suggested we visit here, my parents and Jody's Mom were in town this weekend so we decided to all go :) My absolute favorite pop (soda for you southerners) is Coke so what an awesome place to visit!!!

I'll give you some background...The original Coca-Cola Formula was created by John S. Pemberton, a respected pharmacist, on May 8, 1886 (just a few blocks from where the World of Coca-Cola stands today). He was looking for something unique to refresh customers who were coming into soda fountains in the late 19th century.

Here are some fun facts about Coca-Cola:

*Rights to bottle the beverage were purchased for $1.00 by Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead from Chattanooga, TN.
*Sprite was created in 1929, Fanta in 1941 and TAB in 1963.

*Diet Coke was introduced in 1982, the first extension of the Coca-Cola trademark.

*The first change in formulation in 99 years took place in 1985 with the introduction of New Coke.

*In 1985, astronauts tested the "Coca-Cola Space Can" onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. The Space Can featured a special drinking nozzle and a Velcro strip for sticking the can to the space shuttle wall.

*Before it goes to market, each Coca-Cola product undergoes nearly 450 different tests to ensure that ingredient and packaging quality meets the Company's standards.

*The Coca-Cola contour bottle shape is so distinctive it can be recognized in the dark and is one of the few physical objects granted a trademark by the U.S. Trademark Office.
*Today over 450 brand exist worldwide, and you can find Coca-Cola even in the farthest corners of the globe.

*90% of construction waste in building the World of Coca-Cola was reused or recycled.

*If all the Coca-Cola ever produced were put into 8-ounce contour bottles, there would be more than six trillion bottles stacking 468 miles high.

When you enter the World of Coca-Cola there are two levels....

Level 1...

Area 1: Lobby

Area 2: Coca-Cola Loft-Heritage of Coca-Cola, artifacts from yesterday and today.

Area 3: Happiness Factory Theatre-Gives a glimpse of the magic that goes into every bottle of Coca-Cola. A very cute animated movie the kiddos really enjoyed and we adults thought it was pretty funny too!

Area 4: Coca-Cola Polar Bear-Meet and have your pictures taken with the most beloved character.

Area 5: Coca-Cola Connections-Discover hot the global reach of the Coca-Cola system connects people around the world. A movie that shows how Coca-Cola is distributed to the world, by boat, airplane, on foot, by bicycle...

Area 6: Milestones of Refreshment-Revisit the fascinationg story of The Coca-Cola Company and it's products, walk through history.

Area 7: Bottle Works-Step into the center of a real bottling line and get a behind-the-scenes view of the actual bottling process. This was my favorite sign, who knew it was this easy?

Level 2...

Area 8: In Search of the Secret Formula 4-D Theater-We followed an eccentric scientist and his assistant on their quest to uncover the secret formula of Coca-Cola, a multi-sensory movie expereience. We wore 3-D glasses, got sprayed with water, blasted with air, poked in the back by stingers, and were thrown all around by the moving seats, Lizzy didn't like it too much but Jack was amazed!
Area 9: Pop Culture Gallery-see how your world has celebrated the Coca-Cola brand and made it an icon of popular culture.

Area 10: Perfect Pauses Theater-Relive the best of Coca-Cola television advertising throughout the years and from around the world. The kiddos really enjoyed the animation moments and songs.

Area 11: Taste It!-Take your taste buds on a trip around the world, sampling 64 different beverages. This was the best part of the tour!!!

Anna thoroughly enjoyed her tasting, note the redish stains on her face from the drinks (like a Kool-Aid mustache) :)

Area 12: Coca-Cola Store-Take the excitement of Coca-Cola home with clothing, collectibles, gifts and custom-styled bottles. This place was huge and circular in shape.

And that is the end of our Open Happiness Tour, notice we are all holding our FREE Cokes, even Jack :)

Cinderella's Castle!

While we were at Disney we had the privilege of visiting the inside of Cinderella's Castle! They have renovated the Castle since the last time I was there to include a dining area so you can eat with different characters and a suite for a lucky family to stay in! Here are some pictures we took with Cinderella, we were able to eat breakfast with Belle (Beauty & The Beast), Fairy God Mother and Princess Aurora (pictures coming soon)! The girls as you can imagine loved it and we had a great time eating yummy food! Each girl received a magic wand and a wishing star as well as the professional pictures! My brothers even went with, they had a good time too even though they won't admit it! Here's an addition to the original post. . .

Cinderella's Castle was incredible, every girls dream place to live! Here's the inside of the dining area. I didn't get pictures of the windows, but they were stained glass that were of course floor to ceiling, you might be able to see them in some of the pictures? You entered the castle (reservartions only) and received an invitation for your meal (breakfast in our case). We first met Cinderella and had our pictures made, then walked upstairs to the dining room. We sat down at one of the many tables where we were served an all you can eat breakfast (it was so yummy)! The characters came out a little while later after we had a chance to eat so they could sign autographs and take pictures! At the end they had a wishing star (sword in the boys case) ceremony where each girl received a wishing star and a wand. They had to make a wish and close their eyes and when they opened them there were flashing lights all around that reflected the light, it was pretty cool.

Home at last!

We literally just walked in the door about a half an hour ago! More pics coming soon. . .sorry we weren't able to update every day :-( We have so many pictures (hundreds) I didn't know where to start!

Friday & Saturday, on the way to Disney World!

Sorry I haven't updated the blog since we've been at Disney but boy have we been busy!!!

We left Friday afternoon after Jody got off work, drove halfway and stayed the night in Savannah, Georgia. We woke up early, made the other half of the trip and arrived at our Hotel, The Wilderness Lodge, Saturday afternoon. The trip here was good! Here are some of the pictures we took on the way down and as we entered Florida!!

The girls in their Disney World shirts! They were so excited to get there!

We made it!

After a long drive we finally made it! The girls and I left Venice at 3:30am Friday morning to meet Jody and the youth at 8:00am in Jacksonville. I ended up getting there at 9:00am, I got delayed about an hour somewhere on Interstate 4 due to an overturned tractor trailer! We made it back to Wake Forest around 7:00pm and to our house by 8:oopm! It was a good trip but we were all glad to be in our own beds! We don't have internet access right now so I'll try to get the blog updated when I can!!

Last Day :-(

Our last day in Florida was supposed to be the best and most exciting day yet. We had planned on going to the beach in the morning and then swinging by the pool. Emma woke up with an upset tummy and Jess was sick all day (throwing up:-( I manned the fort and my girls and I ventured out on our own while the Braswells were taking naps and resting. We had to go to Target, get gas, etc. for the trip home. We ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant ever for dinner, Mi Pueblo! It is so good! We had to order take-out because of Emma, we weren't sure if she had a virus and didn't want to infect anyone. But it was still awesome! Sorry this is short, I'm leaving Venice at 3:30am to make it to Jacksonville by 8:00am the departure time of S.H.Y. The girls are excited to see Daddy as I, but we are sure going to miss Jess, Rap Master K and Lil Aud! I'll see about getting all our pictures on here for you all to see soon!

Hump Day

Today we decided to lay around and "hang out" with the girls! We needed to go to the grocery store and get some more groceries at Publix Grocery. They don't have Publix grocery Stores back in NC or at least not one close to us so I had never been in one. The store was so clean and the people are so friendly! The girls ate at every sample station, tons of food including lemon pie, crab meat, pork chops, cookies, etc. I now love Publix stores and wish they had them in NC! Is there a petition to sign to get one there? I know, how boring I am blogging about grocery stores!!!! We went home, ate fried chicken for lunch and later made our own personal pizzas for dinner! The girls loved putting cheese on their own pizza and the toppings they liked! It was fun for both girls and mommies and they were so tasty :-) Audrey (Jess' second) kept sitting on Lizzy's lap this afternoon. We weren't sure how it started we just heard Lizzy laughing hysterically and went to investigate. She is about the same size as Anna so it was too funny when she kept "backin' it up" on Lizzy! Lizzy just giggled and laughed! Audrey's other new favorite thing to do is climb on the coffee table and dance! I about died and started freaking out when she hopped up there and started dancing all around! Jess just laughed and laughed and said she does it all the time??? Anna saw us all laughing at Audrey and decided it was too much attention for Audrey and had to try it herself!! I can't wait to get back and share all our stories and pictures! The kids are so funny together and we will miss them when we go back home to NC!

Joe-Ja

So I had to add this random story and picture because it is too funny! On the drive down we stopped somewhere in Georgia to get gas, potty and buy snacks. After pumping gas I went in to get a snack. I could hardly hear myself think deciding over what candy bar to buy over the gigglings of girls in the bathroom. I recognized the laughs and went to check it out, you know to supervise. There I found Lauren (one of our youth) standing underneath the high-powered dryer with her shirt raised up(don't freak out Donna & Ronnie it was only a smidge) blowing her skin around, making ripples! Don't worry I didn't get a picture, but apparently all the girls had had a turn including Becky one of our chaperones! Peer pressure, it never ends! Becky bought some peaches while we were there too because "you can't go to Georgia without getting some Joe-Ja Peaches"! Here is Anna enjoying her peach!

Road Trip

Today we decided to visit a local aquarium, Mote Marine in Sarasota. It was a short drive of 30 minutes from Ed & Jess' house. The girls were so excited when we told them this morning! The aquariums here are different than in NC, they have dolphins and Manatees! They loved seeing all the fish of course and there were a few places they could put their hands in the water and touch all the sea life. It's so much fun seeing their little faces light up and ask tons of questions. We decided to treat the girls to McDonalds on the way home since it was nap time and 3 of the 5 girls were asleep! Later that evening we visited a jetty here in Venice. I got some good pictures of the girls and some animals they spotted along the way. On a side note Lizzy has been a real mover and shaker! She has really been pulling up on everything. She had started before we left but she is constantly standing on everything now and learning to balance herself! Here's a good picture of her acomplishment!

Monday, Monday

We started our Monday a bit later than yesterday around 8:00am. The girls didn't go to bed until late last night and Jess and I welcomed the additional sleep. We've been so thankful to have each other to hang out with while both of our husbands are serving on mission. We've been checking out the youth blog and getting updates from Ed daily and are praying for everyone at mealtimes and bedtime prayers! The girls miss their daddys and can't wait to see them Friday (Jody) and Sunday (Ed). The girls know they are doing what God has commanded us all to do, share the gospel even to those within the United States and in our own backyards. We've really been reminded this week especially that we can never under-estimate God and what he can do and will do as long as we are faithful to Him. Even at their young ages the girls see how important God is in our lives. Jess and I decided this week we wouldn't plan out each day and follow our husbands lead and "fly by the seat of our pants"! Today we hung around the house and played with the girls, ate dinner then ventured out to a local park and I got some really good pictures. Tomorrow we may head to the Aquarium, Beach or Pool, I guess you'll have to wait and see :-) It all depends on how the mommies are feeling and the girls are acting!