In early winter, we were passed down some clothes for Thomas, and included with them was a full set of snow gear - bibs, coat, and boots - in pristine condition. Then, for Christmas, both kids were given a new suitcase designed especially for airport travel. So what do you do when you have a snowsuit + airport suitcases? You fly to snow, of course!
It might take a day or two to convince your husband that this trip is necessary (you can't waste a perfectly good snowsuit, amiright??!), but once he gives in, you tell the kids and get them excited! And because they have no sense of "three more weeks," you make a countdown chain to help know how much longer til it's time to ride on the airplane. For ours, I drew an airplane for the top and added one loop for each day until vacay time. We tore off one loop each night after bath.
We were all super excited when it was finally time to tear off the last loop!!
Technically, this was Katie Wynn's second time to fly, but since she was only 2 months old for her first flight, we called this the first one for both of them. And I documented all of it. Their new suitcases passed the carry-on size check!
Their Trunki suitcases were the perfect size for a weekend's worth of clothes - including their snow gear. These suitcases are designed to be ridden on. Each one has a curved top for the child to sit on and two knobs/horns on front for them to hold on to. They have a strap that can be used to pull the suitcase, and you can hook them together to make a train (that's what we did!).
They LOVED riding on them; Thomas especially loved being in the back. We got lots of looks and smiles from everyone we passed. They made our time in the airport so much fun!
But even fun suitcases can't compete with big airplanes outside the window. Naturally, they were fascinated by them.
We were split up in twos so Katie Wynn and I sat together and the boys were two rows behind us. Both kids did SO well on our [short] flight.
The Atlanta airport provided more entertainment as they also got to ride their first "train" (airport tram).
While we rode, we did our best to quickly teach them proper pole dancing techniques.
Our objective for our weekend away was to focus on the kids, do what they wanted to do, and be spontaneous! And that's how we ended up on an overpriced ferris wheel shortly after checking into our hotel. Since it was lunchtime on a Friday, we pretty much had the ride to ourselves. We counted three different employees napping on the job, which is probably why we went around approixmately 72 times. Got our money's worth, I guess.
We ate at a fun pizza place for lunch. Katie Wynn took our pictures!
On our walk back to the hotel, we found an awesome playground that the kids wanted to play on, so we did.
A conveyor belt slide!
Our Friday evening was a little bit of a dud. After the kids woke up from late naps, we were ready to do some exploring but found that all the kid-friendly places we wanted to go were getting ready to close. Whomp, whomp. We spent an hour or so at an arcade place that the kids were too little for, and then had an early dinner at Johnny Rockets, where the ketchup is served in a smiley face.
We were back early at our hotel and whether or not it had a pool, I don't even know. I didn't bother looking since I didn't think to pack their swimsuits. But you don't need swimsuits to "swim" in the bathtub for a while.
Early the next morning, we bundled up in our snow gear and headed out for the main reason we chose Atlanta as our vacation destination - Snow Mountain!
Snow Mountain is the winter attraction at Stone Mountain just outside Atlanta.
In the winter, they make real snow and have a big play area for kids and big slides that you ride down in innertubes. We had a two hour pass for the slides but had time to hit the play area first before our pass started.
Thomas was too little to do the individual slides, but he was able to do the big family ride with us. I am shocked that they let little kids do this, but I guess it's because you can hold them. If you look past Matt in the right picture below, there is a steep drop off at the beginning of the ride and you FLY down it! I won't lie, I was a little nervous.
Katie Wynn and I went down one of the other slides in a double innertube and then we sat with Thomas so Matt could do it too. We didn't spend much time on the slides since T couldn't do them and KW was scared, but I'm glad we gave them a try!
Weather-wise, we were there on the perfect day. It was cool in the morning when we got there, but by after lunch time, we could take off our coats and play in the sun. The crowds were not bad either since it was the second-to-last weekend for the seasonal attraction.
The snow was an awesome texture that you could pack together. I've never gotten to play in snow like that since we mostly get ice here! There were lots of sand toys for kids to play with so we made a little snow castle to surround our snowman.
Over in the kids' zone, there were two smaller slides. It took us forever to convince Katie Wynn to try it and once she finally did, there was no stopping her! I think she went down it about 25 times. Thomas could not be convinced, although I did plop him on an innertube and sent him down screaming once.
There was a fun board you could throw snowballs at that was more up Thomas's alley. I included the picture on the right below to show you his first throw. Do you see where his snowball is?
His aim got better and he threatened to pelt me with snowballs!
The other slide in the kids' zone used a sled. We tried to get Thomas to ride on it with Katie Wynn but it didn't work.
He was perfectly content standing at the top and watching her go down.
We left Snow Mountain in time to take good afternoon naps at the hotel. That afternoon/evening, we visited the Atlanta Aquarium. We arrived there just as the last Dolphin Show of the day was about to start and were able to get some of the last seats. I couldn't take pictures during it but it was SO fun to watch the dolphins do all of their tricks!
Albino alligator...who knew?
Our walk to find dinner was way too long in chilly weather - we should've done more research for that. But we finally made it to a pizza place that didn't have an hour long wait and it turned out to be worth the long walk. The kids especially loved getting to color on the paper table cloth.
Our trip was a short and sweet one. We were up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to head back to the airport to head home.
Isn't this the cutest?!?
We switched partners for the flight home so I got to travel with my little buddy. He got antsy so I was thankful for the Wooly Willy game I had in my purse! The flight attendant gave Katie Wynn her own set of wings to wear.
Heading for luggage pickup after another safe flight!
Our flight was so early Sunday morning that we actually made it back into town in time to attend church! Needless to say, we all took a good afternoon nap that day. Next year, I hope we can make it to Snow Mountain before Christmas because I hear they decorate with lots of lights and project Christmas movies up on the stone mountain. Sounds fun!