Last week my oldest sister, Stephanie, came to visit with her two boys, Tyler and Reese. They drove from Ohio so I met her up in Atlanta on Monday with the boys. Atlanta has a nice Children's Museum so I headed there first when I got into town. I took Grayson there last summer when we were moving to Savannah. Just like last year, his favorite thing was the ball area and watching the balls up above roll down the different ramps. He would have stayed there all day if I didn't urge him to look at other exhibits! About an hour later, Stephanie met up with us there and we stayed till they closed. Her two boys, age 7, were anxious to get out of the car and be able to run around! This was the first time Steph got to see Ryley too so of course he was smothered in kisses when she could get her hands on him. :)
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| Tyler and Reese playing on the crane to dump balls |
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| Grayson giving it a try... this year he could actually move it! |
After the museum closed, we went across the street to Centennial Park. The boys had a great time running around on the playground and then walking up to the Olympic Ring fountain. Tyler and Reese had informed me that if we were bored one day later in the week this would be a good place to come play. Little did they know that Atlanta was a 4 hour drive from my house! Sorry boys! Maybe next time you come to Savannah you can stop and play there again!
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| He'd run up to the fountain... then run away |
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| Reese |
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| Reese and Tyler |
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| Watching his big cousins play in the water |
We stayed in Atlanta that night and headed to the Atlanta Zoo the next day. Tyler and Reese love the zoo as much as Grayson so it was an exciting day for the boys. :) It started off the morning with rain, but by the time we got to the zoo, it had died down and we stayed dry the rest of the day. The boys tried to feed the birds, but Reese was the only one lucky enough to get one to land on him. We also tried to feed the giraffes since Tyler and Reese never have before. The giraffes weren't hungry that day though. :(
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| Aunt Stephy knows how to win this boy over! ... with a sucker! |
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| After seeing a goat poop, he spent the rest of the time inspecting all the goats bottoms to see if they were going to poop too. Now if only he could be as concerned about his own body functions and be potty trained! |
We headed back to Savannah after the zoo on Tuesday. Wednesday, it was yet another cloudy/rainy day. We headed to the Roundhouse Museum that day to see the trains. Again, we were lucky enough to stay dry! Later on, we headed to Forsyth Park to play for a bit before going home.
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| The goldfish were gone that Grayson and the other kids in his art class had let out into the fountain at the train museum. Now it was filled with tadpoles! The boys were catching little frogs to show Grayson. |
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| The boys were invited up by the conductor to see the engine of the train! |
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| Grayson loves puddles these days! |
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| It was definitely time for a bath when we got home! |
Thursday we didn't get as lucky to stay dry. The forecast called for a small % of rain, and I guess we managed to find just right were that area would be! We went to Old Fort Jackson. Thank goodness they sold bug repellant in the gift shop because we forgot to bring some and would have been eaten alive! Poor Ryley got a couple bites, but they didn't seem to bother him and cleared up pretty quickly. There were lots of Girl Scouts touring the fort and getting a demonstration of how to fire a canon. The boys thought it was pretty cool to watch the canon go off, and even Grayson seemed to like it! I took Ryley into a room to muffle the sound for him, but Grayson stayed to watch. He is typically terrified of loud sounds, but was a trooper and just jumped a bit when it went off and then smiled. After the fort, we went to The Pirate House for lunch and got a little tour around the building from a "real" pirate. The restaurant used to be a boarding house for pirates when they would come in from sea and is said to be haunted.
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| Ryley getting to snuggle and nap with a warm body after we got home :) |
Of course, their trip wouldn't have been official if we hadn't have taken them to Grayson's favorite place... the Ice Cream Stop! :)
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| Tyler reading to Grayson before bed |
The sun finally came out for their last day in Savannah so we headed to the beach after breakfast on Friday! Tyler and Reese have never been to the ocean so the whole way there they would see a river and think we were at the ocean. Once we had arrived, they finally realized what we meant when we would tell them they would only see water.... no land on the other side. They had a blast playing in the ocean and finding crabs. There was a nice old couple sitting next to use that helped me put up the cabana to get some shade for Ryley. Then he went to show the boys were they would find all the little crabs. Little did the man know that his relaxing day at the beach would not be so peaceful now that he had befriended Tyler and Reese! Thankfully the boys gave him a little break from questions and crab hunting! They put all the crabs in a bucket and before we left Steph informed them that they weren't bringing them home. It was quite comedic to see the people walking on the beach come upon all those crabs (probably around 30!) where the boys dumped them out! Grayson had fun just playing in the sand, but ventured out into the water as long as I was holding him.
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| Reese and Tyler showing off a little crab |
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| Their new friend |
The trip seemed to go by way to fast! It was wonderful to have visitors for the week to give me a little break from the boys on my own. Thankfully, Will came home less than a week later! Grayson still talks about Tyler and Reese and had a blast with his big cousins! They may have needed space from him from time to time, but were great sports playing with him! These are just a "few" of the pictures from the week! Turned out we took close to 500 pictures! It was a busy week... but lots of fun! Thanks for coming Monnin family!!
