HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

We woke up and headed to Stone Mountain (about 30 minutes away from where Rich lives in Roswell).  The place was an absolute ZOO on the 4th of July!!  But if we lived near there I would buy an annual pass and take the kids multiple times.  I wish we had been there on a normal day so it wasn't so crowded for the kids to play.  It is a carving of 3 confederate heroes carved into the side of this giant mountain of granite.  Bryan and I are both amazed at how revered generals from a losing side of a war are here in the south.  This project was actually started by the man who carved Mt. Rushmore, however it wasn't completed until sometime in the 60's and the second sculptor to work on the mountain actually blasted the first guys work all off the face of the cliff.  So none of his actual carving still exists.  It is always so hard to get a grasp of scale from something so far away, but when you see the movie of the making of the mountain and see men climbing in and around the ear of the general, it helps you appreciate the scope of what they did.  There are multiple things to do around the mountain and for $30 per person. You can do it all.  The have a tram that takes you up to the top, a museum and movie of the carving of the mountain, a train that goes around the area, a 4D movie, a water/jungle area, a plantation you can tour, a 3 story ball/tampoline/slide play building, a giant wilderness adventure area where you hook into harnesses and climb ropes, etc; and a duck tour that is both land and water into the nearby lake.  Plus places to eat etc  And, a park where you can picnic.  At night they do a laser show and fireworks show up against the mountain as well.  You could definitely spend a whole day there and from the looks of it.....thousands of people were doing just that.  We however, only wanted to spend a few hours, and with the LONG LINES for each activity due to the volume of people who were there for the day.  We only did the movie and let the kids play in the ball/tramoline/slide area for a little bit.  Abby was seriously disappointed since she REALLY REALLY wanted to do the adventure harness area.  Like I said, If we are ever back there I would definitely plan the time to spend the day there playing and having fun!

Of course we had to eat lunch at the Varsity (much to Rich's chagrin).  How could we be in Atlanta and not have that experience?  Random facts about the Varsity:  They have parking room for 600 cars.  They serve 2 miles worth of hot dogs a day! along with 300 gallons of chili and 2,500 pounds of potatoes made into fries, That my friends, is A LOT of FOOD!!  On game days in Atlanta they can serve 30,000 customers in a single day.  The place takes up two city blocks in downtown and can hold 800 people at one time inside.  It was busy busy and the cry of what'yll have? what'yll have? is shouted from the counter.  We consumed hot dogs, chili dogs, cole slaw dogs, onion rings, fries, and an orange dreamsicle shake with a peach pie for dessert.  Bryan LOVED it!  It was everything he dreamed it would be.  So our advice if you are ever in Atlanta, is ignore Rich, and eat a dog at the Varsity!

After lunch we did a little driving of downtown.  We decided to skip CNN and Coke World and drove over to see the Swan House.  The swan house is a gorgeous mansion and you have seen it too if you have watched the Hunger Games.  This house and its gardens were used for the scene of the big party in the capitol for the second Hunger Games movie.  Homes in that neighborhood were beyond belief.  
Next we were off to join up with Rich's friends at a Georgia 4th of July BBQ/Swim party hosted by the Hamstead family.  We were surprised to realize that Kelsey Hamstead had just returned from her mission to Mesa, AZ and guess where she served?  Yep! 30th ward!!  What a small world is that?? Julian and Brenda Hamstead were beyond gracious hosts and supplied pie, potato salad, and fun conversation on their beautiful deck overlooking the pool while the kids swam and played.  We stayed there for hours and hopefully they will let us reciprocate for them when they travel through Mesa driving their daughter out to BYU in August.  Julian is from England and Annie could have sat and listened to him talk all day! (Not to mention King Julian is Annie's favorite character from Madagascar, so she was instantly smitten). Lucky Alyson, she gets to hear that great accent all day long!!  

It gets dark SO late out here on the east coast, so it wasn't until 10 pm when we met up with other families from Rich's ward and they put on their own private firework show right there in the middle of the neighborhood.  Hundreds of dollars were blown up into the air, but it was fabulous and fun and everyone was nice.  We definitely had a front row seat.  As a matter of fact, James got to help them light the fireworks.  There was one shocking moment when one of the fireworks blew up right there on the ground.  (These were not your average run of the mill AZ kind of fireworks.)  This was grade A stuff that they had driven over to Alabama to pick up!  3 police cars came about 11:10 to tell us that the city ordinance required we not make noise after 10 pm.  We waited until they left the neighborhood and promptly set off our finale--it was a doozy!!  All the photos on this blog were from the neighborhood show.  It was fun to be a part of this neighborhood gathering.  It was a 4th of July to remember!!

Thanks Rich and Christian for being such gracious hosts and for putting up with all our TOURISTY things as Christian would call it.  (Abygail would have jumped ship and stayed with them forever if it had been an option.)