Wednesday, January 13, 2010

"Hotlanta"... was actually freezing cold!

Last weekend we made our annual trip to Atlanta for Charlie's work event. I have to admit, this was not our best trip. Isaac's behavior has been a little extra difficult lately, and I should have known that traveling with him wasn't a wonderful idea. The first mistake was packing up this little suitcase that we got him for Christmas. He was obsessed with it and insisted on pulling it all through the airport. The problem is that he has a tendency to walk incredibly SLOW and also to not watch where he is going and run into people a lot. At least he looked cute...


Our flight from Orange County to Dallas was delayed, so by the time we landed our connection time was extremely tight. We were literally running through the airport to get to our gate and barely made it on the flight. Unfortunately, we were faster than our bags. We arrived in Atlanta only to find that our luggage was still sitting in Dallas. Ugh. We picked up our loaner car seat and headed on our way. By the time we got to our hotel it was after midnight and we were tired, hungry, and freezing cold! Atlanta had one of it's coldest weekends ever including an inch of snow. It rarely snows there, and the city didn't seem to know how to handle it. The whole weekend we kept finding restaurants and stores closed "due to weather!" Anyway, I think the low that night was 15 degrees and we certainly were not dressed for it. Our coats were in our suitcases, and I wasn't even wearing socks! The next morning we headed out to Target to pick up a few essentials (including socks) and ended up waiting till almost 3:00 for our bags to show up. Charlie had to go downtown for work, so Isaac and I just hung out at the hotel for awhile.

That evening we were finally able to enjoy a little bit of Atlanta. It is always fun to do some shopping while we are there because we hit all of the after Christmas sales. We didn't find much this time... perhaps because our shopping trips were limited by 1) closed stores (due to that treacherous inch of snow) and 2) Isaac's complete lack of patience in any store that does not sell toy trucks.
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We met up with our friend Felicia for dinner at the Colonnade. We love this place! The food in Atlanta is half the reason I went on this trip. There is no where in Irvine to find anything like it. Dinner for me was macaroni & cheese, mashed sweet potatoes, chicken fried chicken, country gravy, homemade rolls, and key lime pie. I might have gained a few lbs on this trip!

Saturday Charlie had to go back downtown for work. Last year Isaac & I visited the Georgia Aquarium and had a great time, but this year I decided on something different. (Isaac totally freaked out at the Aquarium in San Francisco in August, and had a similar reaction to the indoor tanks at Sea World last month, so I figured we'd find something else to do.) Thanks to Felicia for recommending Monkey Joe's - Isaac LOVED this place! We paid $5 to enter a big warehouse type building full of bounce houses, inflatable slides, etc. Isaac jumped like crazy for two full hours. I had to drag him out of there after he started laying down on the floor not wanting to get up, but not wanting to leave either. They had a few bouncers dedicated to the 2 and under crowd, but Isaac preferred jumping with the big kids because they made him bounce more. He really was having a great time and it was funny to watch him climb the big ladder and go down the giant slide with all of the big kids.


We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and stopped by PetSmart to see all the animals too. Isaac actually loves fish, I think the big aquarium tanks are just a little overwhelming to him right now for some reason. The little ones at the store are just fine. He also loves to see all of the birds, mice, hamsters, chinchillas, lizards, snakes, cats & dogs too.


That night we met up with our friend Jeff and his girlfriend Shauna at the Woodfire Grill. I forgot to get a picture, but we had a fantastic dinner. I have found the solution to keep Isaac good while out at restaurants: hand him my iPhone. He doesn't eat much, but it might be the only way we would actually get through a two hour dinner with him! The food was delicious. I had a fillet mignon wellington with snow peas, au gratin potatoes, baked mac & cheese, and Charlie & I shared a pizookie for dessert. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I wonder if I could actually make a decent wellington? I'll have to be on the lookout for a good recipe.

I can't remember if it was Jeff or Felicia that recommended the OK Cafe to us, but whoever it was: THANK YOU! There was a bit of a wait, but it was definitely worth it. The waitresses all had cute retro 50's style uniforms and were of course super friendly (as is most the city it seems), and the food was awesome. Charlie & I had veggie omelets, home fries, bacon, and buttermilk biscuits. I ordered Isaac a rolled pancake with apples & pecans, but since he wasn't that interested in eating it I had to help him out. We joked that we should just sit there for a couple hours and wait around for lunch.







Our trip home was somewhat miserable thanks to a certain 2 year old, but we did eventually make it and our bags made it too this time. Up next is our trip to London & Barcelona at the end of March. We have been looking forward to it for months, so we are praying that Isaac can cut down on his tantrums a little before then. Otherwise we might just have to leave him home with Cracker!

8 comments:

Amy said...

London & Barcelona - AWESOME!!! Atlanta sounds like a crazy combination of fun restaurants and frustrating moments. Isaac is going to be the most well-traveled kid ever.

CreatedbyKay said...

They don't call them the terrible twos for nothing! Good luck!

Sherri said...

Sorry about all the hard/difficult/2 year old times. At least the food was good!

Daniel LOVES the bounce places too. We should find one somewhere around here and take them.

You should leave Isaac (& Cracker) w/ us on your next trip.

Shannon said...

You guys are such jet setters. Reading your blog made me hungry! Traveling with 2 year olds is not easy. Hopefully it will get better.

Cassi Wood said...

Charlie's comments on the family website made the trip seem normal. I am glad you really filled us in because that sounded pretty rough! The one weekend you're there the weather is terrible...that's pretty unfortunate. I am glad the food was good. Can't wait to try it myself. :)

Mikael@starter home to dream home said...

Sounds like a nightmare in the beginning but that food made up for it, my mouth is watering!!! You are such a sport to travel with isaac (I refuse to ever fly again with a kid under 5 yrs old!!!).
I am sending you the best of luck for your trip to London. HOpefully it will be like Paris was where Isaac fell asleep everywhere... riiiiight.

Love ya Carrie! One day just me and you can go somewhere, that would be so fun!

Unknown said...

I loved meeting up with yall in Atlanta. Good times. Glad you liked OK Cafe! It's one of my favorites... just wait until you try their dinner. Isaac is super cute and loveable! Looking forward to the next time!

Unknown said...

Carrie, I had fun reading your blog. It made me feel like a little hitch hiker on your trips. You are a trooper to put the time into keeping it up. I am glad you guys had fun in Europe, and of course big bummer about Atlanta. If Chris and I ever get brave enough to travel with our little group we'll call you for suggestions, you should be an expert by now.