georgia aquarium

we decided to go to the georgia aquarium in atlanta on our way home from nashville.  but, to save $35 on the already pretty pricey tickets (especially for a family of six), we left at 4 am and arrived at the aquarium as it opened.  it was absolutely worth it! they have whale sharks. it was amazing.

to nashville

on a bit of a whim, we decided to take a trip to nashville.  some friends of ours were going to be up there and we had been hoping to visit steve's sister, so we just went.  and i am so glad we did.  the drive was a little less than 10 hours, but the boys did great (thanks to lots of toys, movies, snacks and rest stop races)!

we stopped halfway up and climbed stone mountain. i was a little nervous about whether or not the boys could make the climb (it has, after all, been about 15 years since the last time we were there).  i really should not have worried. they bounded most of the way up exclaiming, "mom, lets take the rockiest path!" and once we got to the more difficult part at the end, they finished strong.  then, we rode the skyride down.

we spent the rest of the week with katie and david.  they live in a little town just north of nashville, with their sweet dog, stanley.  we were so grateful to have a place to settle in after each adventure, and really enjoyed spending time with katie and david. one of the days, they took us to burgess falls.  the climb down was easy at first, but towards the end, it was definitely, as the signs indicated, "treacherous"! gabe and ezra were able to climb it all on their own (holding a hand at times, since the drop was steeper than their mother was comfortable with), and steve wore jonah on his back while carrying titus for the worst parts.  we all made it down (and then back up later) in one piece, and had a great time exploring the falls. also, thanks david for the amazing video!

on our last day, steve and the boys and i went to a little creek.  all the big boys still say that exploring the creek as their favorite part of our trip! 

for a few more pictures from our trip, check out danielle's posts here and here!