Gotta Love Atlanta!

I got this email a few days ago from my friend Michele and had to share it with you. It's so funny because it's mostly true! And if you've ever been to Atlanta I think you'll agree.....

This is for anyone who lives in Atlanta , Georgia , has ever lived in Atlanta , has ever visited Atlanta , ever plans to visit Atlanta , knows anyone who already lives in Atlanta , or knows anyone who has ever heard of Atlanta .

Atlanta is composed mostly of one-way streets. The only way to get out of downtown Atlanta is to turn around and start over when you reach Greenville , South Carolina .

All directions start with, "Go down Peac htree" and include the phrase, "When you see the Waffle House." Except that in Cobb County , where all directions begin with, "Go to the Big Chicken."

Peachtree Street has no beginning and no end and is not to be confused with:
> Peachtree Circle
> Peachtree Place
> Peachtree Lane
> Peachtree Road
> Peachtree Parkway
> Peachtree Run
> Peachtree Terrace
> Peachtree Avenue
> Peachtree Commons
> Peachtree Battle
> Peachtree Corners
> New Peachtree
> Old Peachtree
> West Peachtree
> Peachtree-Dunwoody
> Peachtree-Chamblee
> Peachtree Industrial Boulevard
> Peachtree City

Atlantans only know their way to work and their way home. If you ask anyone for directions, they will always send you down Peachtree.

Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola. Coke's all they drink there so don't ask for any other soft drink unless it's made by Coca-Cola. Even if you want something other than a Coca-Cola, it's still called Coke.

The gates at Atlanta 's Hartsfield International Airport are about 32 miles away from the Main Concourse, so wear sneakers and pack a lunch.

The 8 am rush hour is from 6:30 to 10:30 AM.

The 5 pm rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:30 PM. Fri day's rush hour starts Thursday afternoon and lasts through 2 am Saturday.

Only a native of Atlanta can pronounce Ponce De Leon Avenue , so do not attempt the Spanish pronunciation. People will simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you. The Atlanta pronunciation is "pawntz duh LEE-awn."

And yes, they have a street named simply, "Boulevard."

The falling of one raindrop causes all drivers to immediately forget all traffic rules. If a single snowflake falls, the city is paralyzed for three days and it's on all the channels as a news flash every 15 minutes for a week. Overnight, all grocery stores will be sold out of milk, bread, bottled water, toilet paper, and beer.

I-285, the loop that encircles Atlanta, which has a posted speed limit of 55 mph (but you have to maintain 80 mph just to keep from getting run over), is known to truckers as "The Watermelon 500."

Don't believe the directional markers on highways: I-285 is marked East and West but you may be going North or South. The locals identify the direction by referring to the "Inner Loop" and the "Outer Loop ."

If you travel on Hwy 92 North, you will actually be going southeast.

Never buy a ladder or mattress in Atlanta . Just go to one of the interstates and you will soon find one in the middle of the road.

The last thing you want to do is give another driver the finger, unless your car is armored, your trigger finger is itchy and your AK-47 has a full clip.

Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.

There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Georgia .

There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Georgia , plus a couple no one has seen before.
If it grows, it sticks.
If it crawls, it bites.
If you notice a vine trying to wrap itself around your leg, you have about 20 seconds to escape, before you are completely captured and covered with Kudzu, another ill-advised "import ," like the Carp, Starling, English Sparrow, and other 'exotic wonders'.

It's not a shopping cart, it's a buggy.

"Fixinto" is one word (I'm fixinto go to the store).

Sweet Tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're 2 years old.

"Jeet?" is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"

"Momma-nem" means: How's Mother and all of the other children and other members of the family doing.

If you understand these jokes, forward them to your friends from Atlanta , Georgia and those who just wish they were.

Lordy, I love ATLANTA !

Cisne Reunion

A couple of weekends ago we all went to the Cisne Reunion. It's kind of a celebration/homecoming in my hometown that lasts for 4 days. I love going cause it usually means I get to see people that I haven't seen in a long time. It's also special to us, because it was here that we first met each other 13 years ago. This was actually the first time Brian and I had been there since we got married. And it was the first time the boys had gone (they LOVED it by the way). We had such a good time, so I thought I'd share some pictures.

The first one is the boys waiting for candy to be thrown their way during the annual parade on Saturday - they came home with plenty to share, thanks mostly to their Aunt Neva, Uncle Bill and my dad's co-worker, Mike. The second one is of the "Back Seat Driver" contest that Brian and I entered. The backseat driver had to get the blindfolded driver through this obstacle course of hay bales in the fastest time without knocking over the hay bales. Let's just say I'll keep my usual role as back seat driver. Somehow, as the driver, I ended up knocking over 4 bales and being disqualified! With Brian as the driver, though, we did really well and were just 1 second away from getting a cool 2nd place trophy...we'll definitely practice up for next year!

Ethan's First Day of School

Ethan had a little more to say about school than Elliott did yesterday. We were coming home, and Elliott was telling us that he learned counting in Spanish today so I asked Ethan what he did at school today. "I think we didn't learn anything...we just played and eat lunch and take a nap". He mentioned lunch a few times, so that must have been the highlight of his day! There were quite a few kids missing their mommies this morning in his class, so I'm surprised they had time to do anything at all! I'm sure things will settle down and he'll "learn" something in the next few days.

Elliott's First Day of School

I think Elliott was most excited about getting to use his Buzz Lightyear backpack for school today! We didn't get much of a report from him at all - he apparently "forgot" anything that he did at school. The preschool director said he had a good day, and Elliott did say he likes his teacher and that there were more girls than boys (apparently important since that's all that he remembered!). Ethan's first day is tomorrow so we'll write more then!

Signs we're in the Midwest

I asked Ethan what he wanted to drink this afternoon, and he said "pep-uh-see" (Pepsi). Both the boys pronounce it like this, and I was wondering why and started thinking that we never drank "pep-uh-see" in Georgia, but there's a lot more of it up here. It was definitely available, but Brian and I both prefer Coke, and I really can't think of ANYONE that I know that lives in metro Atlanta and drinks Pepsi. The more I think about it, the more surprised I am that the Pepsi man even comes to the grocery stores down there. But he does, so someone in metro ATL drinks it....I've just never met them - ha!

Anyway, it made me a little homesick and also made me wonder what other influences our move to the Midwest will have on the boys. I'll never be a Pepsi drinker, though! But I do think it's funny how the boys say it.

Blown away!!

Last night we experienced our first scare with unpredictable weather here in the midwest. We haven't had rain in days, and the forecast didn't call for any until Thursday or Friday. Brian and I went outside to watch the meteor shower late last night and noticed a lot of "heat lightning" (at least that's what I call it). No thunder or anything, just lightning far away and seemingly way up in the sky, and we didn't think anything about it since we weren't supposed to get rain for days. About 30 minutes later, out of NOWHERE, we heard the wind pick up full force and it started blowing things around outside and shaking the windows...I honestly thought there was a tornado right on top of us and that we wouldn't be able to get upstairs to the boys in time (of course, I am a little paranoid about tornadoes). Anyway, I grabbed the boys out of bed and rushed them down to the basement. I expected Brian to come down and say that we were overreacting, but he said the weather man said he was a little concerned about the squall line but he hadn't seen any rotation. It all ended up okay (just wind gusts of 60 mph!), and the boys just thought we were having a little adventure.

The glass in our patio table didn't fare so well. This was the 3rd time that it has been blown out of the table since March and didn't make it back in one piece this time. You can see it shattered to pieces in the second picture. It landed in the lot next door again (there just happens to be a house there now). I'm just thankful it didn't hit their house - they just closed on it on Friday and are moving in today (that would've been a great "welcome to the neighborhood" present, huh?).

Anyway, thought I'd share our excitement of the day!

Family Vacation

Every other year, my family takes a family vacation together. This year everyone was pretty much out of vacation time (used it mostly for Erin and Ryan's wedding in April), so we decided to maximize our time and meet in St. Louis. This was great with us since it meant no long car trips with the boys! I wasn't sure if it would feel like vacation since it was literally just 15 minutes from our house, but it really did....no laundry, no making dinner, no cleaning the house, and getting to do all kinds of fun things with everyone - it was great!

We ate at the Spaghetti Factory Friday night (the boys got balloon swords which I regretted the rest of the weekend)and then spent some time on the go-karts at the Nascar Speedway Park. Saturday we went to Grant's Farm. The first thing we did was get milk bottles for the boys to feed the goats, but as soon as we got into the gate the goats started jumping on us and pulling on our clothes (one was literally eating my shorts!). This did not go over well with the boys who were crying and almost screaming to get out by this point. We decided that the other side of the fence was a much better place to feed those ravished goats!

As if that weren't enough, poor Ryan walked up to a llama that welcomed him by sneezing on his right shoulder - sorry Ryan, we had to laugh!

My sister, Erin, enjoys history so she always finds us a presidential museum, library, etc. for us to visit. This time it was the Ulysses S. Grant museum at Grant's Farm. Amber and I stayed back in the "kid-friendly" (not so much) part of the museum with the boys while everyone else watched the movie and headed out for the tour of the house. We found these cool costumes the Julia and Ulysses would have worn on their world travels, so we had some fun dressing up!

We also visited the Museum of Transportation - really cool place if your kids like trains! There are a lot of trains that you can board, tons of different ones to see, and even a trolley and a miniature train to ride. The train that Ryan is standing beside is the "Big Boy" - the largest steam engine. YOu can see that the wheels are even taller than Ryan!

Of course, we had ice cream one night (if you're with my family, you eat ice cream...it's a given), went to the pool, and some other things. It was just nice to hang out with everyone and have fun.