Dennie Family Trip to Atlanta: June 16, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

In the middle of the night last night, Whitman tried to get into our bed. He was next to Robby and Robby was able to get him to lay back down in his spot. Whitman protested and told Robby that there were ants down there (or at least that is what Robby thought he said.) Now, I would have let the boy climb in bed with us but slept through all of this. Robby and I were already sharing one pillow so he didn’t want to have to share with anyone else.

When I woke up and heard this story, the first thing I did was check my baby for ant bites. There were none! This morning he did add that there were colorful ants so we are not sure if he was dreaming or just making up a really good story.

Robby ventured down to breakfast before the rest of us woke up. When he came back, I was hoping that it was 2 in the morning and not 7. It was indeed 7 so I was soon in the shower and everyone was getting ready. My kiddos were tired this morning but the promise of breakfast got them stirring pretty quickly. Also, Campbell spotting two elevator repairmen riding up and down on the top of an elevator spurred them on as well.

We went to breakfast and thankfully, the crowd was not bad at all. Reagan had an omelet but everyone else had normal hotel breakfast food. Whitman loved their little pancakes and ate at least 5 of them. After, we ate and chatted we headed back to the room for a few minutes. Our room was already cleaned and before too long we were on our way towards Stone Mountain.

We drove right into the park and Robby quickly found our tickets. We took our family photo and then we were all headed to the ropes course. Keaton was barely tall enough but after a few deep breathes in, she was tall enough. She was so excited...briefly. My poor Keaton tried to be brave and would get her courage but soon lose it. Robby was up there with her and they were able to go across a few things holding hands. She would try to smile but the next second she was starting an ugly cry. Robby said that at the end of the second level they talked about going down but they continued with the level that had a big sign above it saying “super challenge.” I think she was pretty proud of herself for doing it but I am not sure if she will ever do one again.

Now, Campbell started out with the boys and she was soon left and by herself. I would catch her occasionally in tears but after a bit, she would press on. She never quit and even did the third level. She did great and would have enjoyed it a bunch more had she been with Shelley, Dana or Robby.

The others, Anderson, Reagan and Graham, were off and had a blast. They zoomed through the bottom two layers and enjoyed the third level. Reagan said that she fell once and was just dangling and the man had to come nad help her, but that didn’t stop her at all.

My Whitman didn’t really seem to care that they were up high and he was not. He played in a huge sand area for the longest time and was completely happy. Behind the ropes course they even had a kiddoe ropes course that he could do and he enjoyed running through this one a few times.

Once everyone had finished the ropes course, a few of them spent a bit of time on the climbing wall. After everyone was climbed out, we walked to the back of the park and began a game of putt-putt. Les and his people were a bit ahead of us so after skipping a few holes we did catch up. The kids all enjoyed playing putt putt even though I “lost track” on the score and had to stop keeping score. In my defense, it was hot, I was holding a lot of stuff and Whitman wasn’t happy with receiving any needed golfing instruction!

We finished our putt-putt and joined up with everyone in the cafeteria. We all had lunch and Robby and I had to wait forever for our sandwiches and by the time that we received ours, I do think that everyone else was already finished. We still had a few minutes to eat before we all headed towards the train.

They had a nice little train ride that circled the mountain. It was cool on the train and I could have fallen sound asleep. I am not sure why all places think that you have to have a show along with the train ride. Stone Mountain did and it was cute and dinosaur themed like most everything else but gracious, just drive us around and drop us off.

After the train, we all rode up to the top of the mountain on the tram. My Graham was a bit terrified of it but I do think that he enjoyed it once he was on it. Whitman just kept saying, “I can see the whole world” over and over again. It was hot on top of the mountain, The granite atop that mountain was odd-flat but a moon-like crater surface.

On our tram ride back down, our car stopped briefly, and I could tell that Graham could have panicked pretty easily. I was afraid that we were going to be up there for a bit longer than the 30 seconds that the car was actually stopped. Thankfully, the car began moving again and we were soon back down the hill.

The free cokes that came with our ticket helped keep everyone happy during the day. I have Whitman’s stroller in the car but thought that maybe we would come back to the car but we never did and the boy was a trooper. He walked and walked! We saw a 4D dinosaur movie which was quite entertaining.

Then we walked onto a dinosaur exhibit-we thought it was museum like but it was kid heaven. Climbing nets, slides, foam balls and guns to shot those foam balls. The kids all played and played in there. After lots of playing, we herded them onto the wet ropes course. I didn’t know what to expect with this so I came prepared with extra shoes and even bathing suits. Once we saw it, we knew that they wouldn’t even need bathing suits because it would be just more of a sprinkling.

I was wrong-the water was broken so the ropes course when the kiddos were going through it was dry! They still had fun but probably would have had more fun with the water. It was still a lot easier without the water! When they had finished, we met everyone else and headed just a few miles down the road to a Mexican restaurant.

Shelley called ahead and they already had our tables set up. We sat down and were soon ordering. Robby and I split something and were still full-mainly because we had already eaten our weight in chips and salsa. We filled our bellies and then headed back to Stone Mountain for the evening laser and light show.

The weather was perfect and with Shelley’s blanket and towels and a few of our towels, we had plenty of room to sit down. The lawn soon filled with people but the kids still had some room for some frisbee and football playing. Before the show, the announcer invited people to come to the bottom of the grassy area for a dance party-Whitman heard this and he was on his way. We couldn’t see him dancing and Campbell, his chaperone, didn’t give us a report but he must have danced his heart out, because soon, even during the fireworks, he fell sound asleep.

The show was a mix of fireworks and lasers. There were even a few drones and fire and water. It was a pretty neat show with quite a bit of patriotic-ness in it. The grand finale was the Star Spangled Banner and it was a perfect way to end the show.


We hauled sleeping Whitman back to the car and were soon back in the hotel. The kids showered and spread out in their spots to sleep-Keaton is sleeping in Grannymom’s extra bed, Anderson is in their pull out couch, Graham and Campbell are on our couch, Reagan is in our extra bed and Whitman is tucked safely between the beds. My kids could get used to this kind of hotel living!

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