The Georgia leg of the trip

The last week of August we traveled to Atlanta to visit Garrett's baby house buddies, Charlie and Jon-Jon. I dreaded returning to that terminal. (See my October 08 post for all the gory details). But this time around my experience was all good (it definitely pays to buy tickets, no more flying standby for this girl). Except Garrett got sick while driving to Charlie's house. He seems to upchuck after every time he flies. Once Charlie and he were together, the two started playing hard, but he never strayed too far from the big pukin' pot. I wish I had gotten a photo of it. It was twice the size of Garrett's head. Despite it all, we throughly enjoyed our overnight visit with Charlie and Anita—they're like family to us. We missed hubby and dad, John by one week; he was to return the following Sunday from a six-month assignment in Iraq and I know he was sorely missed.

The next day Charlie had school, so the four of us poked around the charming, turn-of-the-century Marietta town square. We discovered a great Australian bakery (of all things) and enjoyed a delicious lunch and dessert. Time flew and before we knew it was time to pick up Charlie and head north to Gainesville (yes, there is a Gainesville in Georgia—that's where Holly Trawick and her family call home) for the first annual Uralsk reunion. Before we got there, Charlie took a terrible spill outside. Scrapes on his knees, elbows and insides of his hand—and the biggest knot on his forehead. Apparently, Garrett and he were playing and Gman accidently knocked him down. (I'd say.)

After recovering from that mishap, we were on the road. And, let me tell you, the rush hour traffic in Atlanta sucks. I think it rivals Los Angeles. It took us well over two hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to Gainesville. But the trip was so worth it. Holly and her family (husband, Josh and three kids Alexis, Jackson and Jon-Jon) put together an amazing reunion. Her MIL generously donated her home for the event—a farm with acres and acres of breathtaking scenery. Here's the view from her backyard: I joked because it reminded me of a Cialis ad—I could totally see two people in separate claw foot tubs, holding hands while gazing at the sunset. Ha. But let's get back to the reason we were here—the boys from Uralsk. Here they are having the time of their life. Besides the Trawick's, Khin's and us, there was one other family who made it. Not sure of their last name, but the mom was Celeste and her son Kiernan (who is also from baby house #1) Here are the four Uralsk boys: from left, Garrett (age 7), Kiernan (age 5) and Charlie (age 5-1/2). Jon-Jon is seated upfront and is the baby at 4 years old. It was very hard to get four wiggly boys to sit still as you can imagine.

















A BIG thank you to Holly for making this event a reality. It gave me such joy to watch our boys play with each other—knowing that their friendships will only grow over the years. And it was wonderful to meet her children, pretty, 11-year-old Alexis (who is a budding vocalist and who we may see on American Idol one day). Here she is making bubbles: On the way home, Charlie declared his love for Alexis. (Fine choice, young man.) And handsome Jackson who seemed to enjoy hanging out with the boys from Uralsk. Here he's doing some manly thing with a stick. We had a hard time leaving everyone and didn't hit the road to Greenville, SC until way late. Next up is Aunt Laura, Uncle Jeff and cousins Natalie and Carlie. Stay tune for the finale.