Mommy and Me Trip with Xander…

Xander and I took a special trip…just the two of us…to the Atlanta Zoo and to the Georgia Aquarium.  We drove down on Sunday (that was the quietest car ride I’ve had in a long time…he worked on his road trip binder, listened to books on CD, looked out the window, watched a DVD, colored in his dolphin coloring book, played a few games on my phone, ate snacks, and rested).  We spent the afternoon at the zoo.  He did all of the navigating, and his favorite parts were seeing the otters and going for repeat rides on the carousel and the train.  We made it to our hotel in downtown Atlanta around dinner time and walked down to the Waffle House for dinner.  Xander was super pumped about his bed at the hotel and loved cozing up under the down comforter with his dolphin pillow pets and looking at his books by the light of his built-in reading lamp.  He passed out pretty quickly after our long drive and afternoon at the zoo.  He enjoyed going downstairs in the morning to have breakfast at the hotel in his pajamas. We walked to the aquarium through Centennial Olympic Park, and Xan-Man was over the moon when the first thing he saw was a statue of a dolphin just outside the entrance. We were both pretty much walking around the aquarium the whole time with our jaws on the floor.  I just followed his lead on the exhibits he wanted to check out.  We checked out the Ocean Voyager first which was absolutely amazing with whale sharks, manta rays, and countless interesting fish swimming in tanks overhead and in a tank as big as a movie theater screen (that was my favorite place to be…so peaceful just sitting and watching).  Next, we walked through the Coldwater Quest and visited with the penguins, the beluga whales, and the sea otters.  After that, we spent some time looking at the Tropical Diver with the jellyfish, beautiful coral, and brightly colored tropical fish.  There was actually a diver in one of the tanks…cleaning, adding coral, and feeding the fish.  He had a microphone on him while he was in there and talked about it all with the crowd who gathered around to see.  We enjoyed watching one of the bigger fish nurse from the fish food bottle…so funny!  It was time for a snack after that.  Then, we headed to Dolphin Tales for the reason for the whole trip to Atlanta…the dolphin show!!!  I was totally amazed at Xander’s patience waiting in line and waiting for the show to start.  He sat on my lap the whole time, mesmerized.  It was hands down one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life and SO can’t-find-the-words special to share it with my dolphin-loving Xan-Man.  The pictures do not come close to doing it justice…dolphins diving and flipping, skating on the water on their tail fins, gracefully pushing their trainers around the pool so it looked like they were walking on water, and winning the hearts of children and adults alike in the process. We passed through the gift shop on the way to lunch at Baja Fresh and picked up a few dolphin friends for Xander and a few souvenirs for his brothers.  After lunch, I was delighted to find that he was ready for a rest at the hotel.  We walked back through Centennial Olympic Park and checked out the Olympic Ring splash pad and fountain.  When we got back to our room, we rested in the quiet and in the dark, cozed up in down comforters for a good hour and a half. Then Xander flipped on the lights and said, “I’m ready to go now, Mom.”  I’ve never met a little boy who knows himself better than Xan-Man. It was such a privilege for me to be able to take the time to slow down and enjoy life at his pace…what a sweet pace it is. We headed back to the aquarium and enjoyed Deepo’s Wondershow in 3D, complete with some pretty cool special effects.  Then, we headed to the Aquanaut Adventure which was super fun and educational…Xander got to walk around with an iPad…navigating, answering questions, and completing challenges.  After that, we hit up the face painting station so he could get a dolphin painted on his face (I wish we had known about this earlier in the day so he could’ve enjoyed it for longer, but he still loved it).  At the end of our long day at the aquarium, we were both pretty much done and ready for dinner…so we grabbed a Subway and some ice cream, picnicked in the park, and played on the playground.  We got into bed late that night, and you can see tired Xander in the pictures at a park in Chattanooga where we stopped to stretch our legs on the way home.  What a wonderful, tiring, beautiful trip with my precious Xander that I will remember for the rest of my life!!!!  Here’s to many more I hope for in the future…

Click on the “Atlanta with Xander 2015” page to the right for more pictures…