Atlanta Weekend

Hey y’all!!  Well, it’s Monday again, so it’s time for our weekend recap.  It was a special one, this weekend, so here we go!   

Friday evening we decided to stay home and relax a little since we’ve been going going going for several weeks.  We got carryout pizza and then let the kids play outside while we picked some weeds.  And by “we,” I mean Brian because Olivia was being a stage five clinger all evening.  And by “some” weeds I mean half of the front yard… our crab grass is out of control!!  I’m threatening to change weed services because they’re not getting the job done at all and we’ve had them for almost two years!   

Saturday we dropped the kids off at my parents’ house and then headed up to Atlanta for our annual Dave Matthews Band concert.  As I’ve mentioned before, I am a huge DMB fan… Saturday was my 19^th concert and I’ve seen them every year since 2002 with the exception of 2011 when they didn’t tour.  B and I were so happy to have some time for just the two of us!

Just look at us... we didn't even know what to do with ourselves in the car!

The first stop on our trip (after hanging out in traffic forever) was Ikea for some frames for a gallery wall in my office.  While we were there, I also saw approximately 4,520 other things that I want, including this outdoor furniture for our new porch.  We are going to need some new furniture, and Ikea is certainly a good place to go since everything is so affordable… I think I see another trip to Atlanta in our future very soon… 

After Ikea, we headed to SweetWater Brewing Company to eat an early dinner.  When we got there, a bouncer asked to check our IDs before we went in… weird… since when do they do that at restaurants??  We asked him which way to go to order food, and he told us that they don’t sell food.  What?!  Apparently it’s not a restaurant at all.  Oops.  I swear I saw a menu online when I was researching where to eat before the trip, but I must have mixed it up with another place.   

While a brewery tour and lots of beer samples would have been fun, we needed actual food before the concert, so we headed back to the car for Plan B.  Well, there was no Plan B so we ended up at our old stand-by, The Cheesecake Factory, since it was nearby.  I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed.  However, for the first time ever, we didn’t get cheesecake while we were there… blasphemy! 

Luckily we had added a lot of cushion into our timing in case we ran into heavy traffic (or accidentally mistook a brewery for a restaurant), so we finished dinner and got to Aaron’s Amphitheatre for the concert with plenty of time to spare.   

Our seats were rockin’ – 10^th row behind the pit… not too shabby for a venue that holds 19,000 people!  We actually originally had pit tickets, but I let them go because I didn’t want to have to get there five hours early to get a good spot and then not be able to leave to go to the bathroom, get water, etc.  Plus, I’m not very tall, so I probably wouldn’t have been able to see anyway.  It was hard to let them go, but it was definitely a good decision. 

The show was fabulous, as always, and we I danced and sang the night away.  (Poor B pulled his back out last week moving furniture, and pulling weeds Friday night sent it over the top, so he wasn’t able to partake in the dancing.)  It was a blast, and I didn’t want it to end.  Carter, the drummer, threw a drumstick in the crowd, and a dude only three rows in front of me caught it.  WAAAAHHHH!!!!  I want one so baaaad!  One day, one day.  

Sunday, my parents brought the babies home to us just before noon, and I was thrilled to see them.  Jacob squealed, “MOMMYYYY” so happily it brought tears to my eyes, and Olivia wrapped her chubby little hand around my neck and hugged me so tight.  Oh, how I love those babies!  It’s always so nice to get away, but boy is it good to come home to them!   

However, when we went over to Brian’s mom and step-dad’s for lunch to celebrate his sister’s birthday, Jacob and Olivia were both tired and whiny thanks to a grandparent hangover – thanks, Pop and Cokie, for letting them stay up super late Saturday night ;o) – so their sweetness was short-lived and that made lunch super fun.  #Sarcasm

Once lunch was over, we turned them both loose in the back yard where they perked up thanks to an abundance of birthday cake sugar.

   

  

On the way home, Olivia passed out in the car and stayed knocked out during the car-to-crib transfer, and when we got home, Jacob had a meltdown of epic proportions because he, “just wanted to have quiet time” instead of taking a nap.  Nope, not this time, kid.  After 45 minutes of whining, crying, begging, drinks of water, rocking, and patting, he finally passed out.  I think he was delirious from his lack of sleep.   

After naptime, we all headed over to my parents’ house for dinner and got there just before a storm rolled in.  Olivia was in a pretty good mood all evening since she had taken a long nap, but Jacob was as surly as ever due to his overall lack of sleep.  Takes after his Mommy, for sure!  Needless to say, we left a little early to get them in the bed at a decent time and Jacob still ended up not falling asleep until almost ten due to another meltdown.  I would say that probably means that we’re due for yet another meltdown this evening…   

I hope you all enjoyed your weekends, and I hope Monday treated you well.  Mondays sure are always way more tolerable when the Bachelorette is on… something mindless and entertaining to look forward to after a long day back at work (and lots of toddler meltdowns).