Remember the Alamo!

*clarification: the date on this post is Thursday, but I actually posted in on Saturday, 8/4.*

The girls & I spent the last week in Atlanta with my parents while Chris was in San Antonio for business....business and eating at places like Casa Rio and Alamo Cafe! I was very jealous of him getting to spend time in S.A. as we both love that city, but I had a good time in Atlanta, too.

He took the camera with him when he left Monday, so I had to rely on Mom's camera after that. She tried emailing me all of the pictures but for some reason it wouldn't work. I was able to upload a couple of them onto my blog from her house and then just save the post as a draft, but I didn't have the patience to upload anymore. They have dial up *ugh* and it was driving me crazy to do pretty much anything on their computer. I didn't realize how dependent I'd gotten on DSL!

Here's a run down of our past week or so:

~Thursday, July 26th~Gracie had her birthday sleepover! Lots of fun for all involved. I'm glad it was only the 3 girls + Katie of course. They were all really good but for a house our size it was just the right number.

~Friday, July 27th~Gracie had her last day of art camp. She really enjoyed the whole week and said that next year she'd like to go full day. They will have a reception on August 18th for all the campers. I look forward to seeing her artwork on display. She was able to bring some of it home.

~Saturday, July 28th~Gracie's 7th birthday! (see post below for a letter to her) Katie made Gracie a plate for her birthday. Here she is explaining what everything is. We headed to Atlanta where we had a mini family birthday party. Just us & my parents. Mom cooked chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese and broccoli for dinner. Some of Gracie's favorites! She had already opened some gifts from us but opened a few more and opened gifts from Grammer & Pappy. I brought some cookies that I'd ordered from a bakery here. We ended up bringing a lot of the cake from her party also.

~Sunday, July 29th~We went to church with my parents where we actually got to see quite a few people we haven't seen in awhile. Two of those were Rob & Traci (Dunn) Browne with their children, one of whom is a newborn. They're not always even in the country as they serve as missionaries in Russia much of the time. Mom cooked a delicious roast dinner with potatoes & carrots. It's definitely one of my favorite meals!

That night, their church actually had a potluck dinner so I got to see some more people. Their church is over 1000 people, so they don't typically have potluck dinners churchwide but they did that night. It was well attended and there was plenty of food! I love a good potluck. They just feel so "homey" to me.

~Monday, July 30th~Chris & my dad left the house about 4:45 that morning to head to the airport. Sure am glad Dad doesn't mind getting up early! I did get up to see them off but then went back to bed. Mom & I and the girls went to a children's museum in downtown Atlanta. The girls had a lot of fun. I think I really like our "local" one better, but they had a really good time and there were different things to do than what we have here. The special exhibit was 'Sesame Street' so they got to sit in Big Bird's nest and learn Spanish color words and sit on the stoop that you typically think of when you think of 'Sesame Street.' I have a cute picture of it, but of course it was on Mom's camera.

We also went to The Varsity to eat lunch. I LOVE their 'pimento cheese burger' and fried apple pie. Needless to say, I am trying to eat much healthier this week.

Chris was excited that day because while he was in San Antonio, he got to go to the Dallas Cowboys' training camp. So convenient that he needed to go to S.A. on business during training camp, huh?!!?

~Tuesday, July 31st~Mom and the girls & I headed out to do a little shopping that morning. I was able to get some things at the Carter's outlet, Osh Kosh store and spend a store credit at Gymboree. Would have been smarter to wait until Thursday which started the tax free weekend, but that would have made too much sense so of course I didn't. HA!

After Chris' classes that day, he drove over to Uvalde, TX which is where we lived before we lived here. He was able to eat & visit with 3 families from the church who were, and still are, special to us. He took pictures of the new church building, our old house and the school where I taught. That seems like AGES ago! Gracie was born in Uvalde and we moved from there when she was about 9 months old.

I had Gracie's 7 year pictures taken at MasterPortrait. They turned out pretty well. She looked precious but her glasses needed to be pushed up in some of them. I keep wanting to reach through the picture and push them up! LOL They have really fast service so the album & extra prints were already here at the house when we got home yesterday and they actually turned out better than I thought they were going to from the proofing session. I hope to have Brett take some soon too.

~Wednesday, August 1~We went to a really neat shopping area that morning & early afternoon. It had neat stores like Williams Sonoma & Pottery Barn Kids. It was all outside and very pretty. "Fancy-Schmancy" you might say. We don't have such stores in our little town, so it's always fun to look when we get near one. Mom bought some cedar planks to use when grilling. There were 4 in a package so we split them up. I'm excited to grill some salmon on them!

We ate lunch at Jason's Deli then picked up Pappy at work and headed downtown to go to The Coca Cola museum. I had been to the old one years ago, but this one has just opened up in the last year or so. It is really neat and definitely something you should do if you're ever in Atlanta.

They have a couple of short videos and one of them is really, really neat! It's 3-D and the seats move and you get sprayed with water. At one time, these dragonflies are flying all around and it looks like they're flying right into your face because it's 3-D. Just when you feel like they're going to hit you, this thing jabs you HARD in your back! Quite interactive and yes, I jumped! The girls liked getting to "meet" the Coca Cola polar bear (again....there's a cute picture on Mom's camera!) and I enjoyed the last part where you get to drink as much of any Coke product as you want! diet Coke was my choice of course!

We went to a food court at a mall for dinner where I had to run into JCPenney's & buy Katie a new shirt before we could go to church. I didn't realize we weren't going back home before church so I hadn't brought extra clothes and Katie had somehow managed to get a little bit of everything on the front of her shirt throughout the day! She was really dirty!

~Thursday, August 2nd~We ran some errands that morning then went over to Pappy's work to see some of the people he works with. After we left him, we went to Garden Ridge-yet another store we don't have around here. It is a fun store to get lost in! We ate lunch at Steak 'n Shake then headed home for Katie to take a nap. Trust me, she needed it! She was quite grouchy at different times throughout the week! Still precious, but grouchy nonetheless. I asked Mom what I was going to do and she basically said keep doing what I'm doing and one day it'll click. *sigh* I hope so because she is pushing & testing each day. I remember Gracie went through a really bad patch around this age but it was just after Katie was born so we attributed it to that. Maybe it was just the age?!?! Anyway.......

~Friday, August 3rd~Mom & Dad left early this morning to start out on the "longest garage sale in the world." Yes, I'm serious. I guess it runs through Tennessee & Kentucky & probably part of Georgia. Mom has 2 booths in an antique mall so she was anxious to add treasures to her collection so that she can turn around and sell them to someone else who wants them! The girls & I got up quite a bit later and packed up and headed down to the airport to pick up Chris. They were very excited to see him-me too of course! He doesn't travel out of town for business much so it's weird when he does. Definitely not something we're used to. I'm glad we were able to stay with my parents. It made the week nicer.

We stopped for lunch then headed home. We stopped to visit with Caroline's family for a little bit. She had just been extubated so we didn't get a chance to actually see her (the girls weren't planning to go in of course) but we visited with her Mommy in the hallway outside the PICU for a few minutes. I went to the movies late last night with a couple of friends. Today Chris worked in the yard and the girls & I went out for a bit. We saw Gracie's beloved P.E. coach at the mall and she was very excited to get a hug from him! We all 4 went to Wal Mart to grocery shop later in the day. Honestly, I think next time I'll leave them all home and go by myself! LOL I accused Chris of acting the way he was so that he wouldn't have to come with me again. He didn't deny it! Men, right?!!? LOL

Tomorrow is church then Chris will go to "real" work Monday. 2 weeks from Monday and my baby will start 2nd grade!!!!!!