Atlanta!!!

Santa brought our kids a road trip to Atlanta with our dear friends, the Pughs for New Years to see Lebron and the Cavs play the Atlanta Hawks. We kept it a secret until Christmas morning when they opened the tickets with a note inside the present.

these cute girls could have really cared less about the NBA game, they were just excited to go stay in a hotel together. We really could have taken them to Abingdon to a Super 8 and they would have been just as thrilled:)

These boys on the other hand were ready to see some NBA action!!! As we were finishing up supper before the game, we received a text that said that Lebron was not playing. Kyle scrolled furiously around the internet from his phone and found nothing. Then as we were walking into the Phillips arena, the sportscenter bell went off on Kyle's phone and sure enough, no Lebron. He had a sore knee. I really thought the boys would be devastated-Joel saw one little kid in the concourse bawling, but our kids were bummed but not devastated. They were just excited to be there and to be together.

This might be one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. Before the game there were little games and stuff the kids could play in the concourse. For playing, the kids got NBA drawstring bags with headbands and wristbands in them. The girls decked themselves out! Our cute little NBA girls:)

Before the game, Joel took the big boys wandering around the arena. Kevin Willis was signing autographs and the boys got to meet him. We were so blessed with our hotel. It was literally next door to the arena and we did not have to leave our hotel lobby to go to the game.

The Phillips Arena is beautiful and before the game they lit it up for the National Anthem and such. It is really a cool place.

Lebron did not even dress out, but here he is (bottom left corner of the picture) giving a high five to the singer, Usher.

The boys had a blast despite Lebron's absence and they danced, cheered, and had a great time.

Fox sports was doing the post-game show afterwards and the kids had fun watching that and trying to get on TV:)

After the game Joel took his boys and Kyle to try to meet Dominique Wilkins who used to play for the Hawks and is now in the Hall of Fame. He is a diabetic like Jack and Joel was deterined to try to meet him. Sure enough, Joel sweet-talked his way onto the court after the game and got to meet him with the boys!!

The next morning after the game, these girls were a little sleepy and sent Kyle to Starbucks to get them their "coffee" to wake them up. Our hotel was in the CNN center which had a great food court inside. It was great to have so many restaurants right in our hotel. The CNN center is very cool!

While the Pughs went to the Peach bowl, we went to the Coca Cola World downtown Atlanta. We just had to walk a few blocks to get there from our hotel.

We toured the Coca Cola world and one of the newest exhibits is to visit the vault that holds the special recipe for Coke.

We watched a cool 4D movie about Coke and here are the Robinson girls sporting our special glasses for the show.

This was probably the favorite for all of us. Inside Coca Cola world is a tasting room. It is huge and you can sample 100 flavors of Coke from here in the USA and overseas. Mike took pride in sampling every.single. one. We are pretty strict with our kids on sodas, so this was total heaven for them! You cold drink as much as you wanted and try as many as you want. It was pretty cool.

After the Pughs returned from the Peach Bowl and we returned from Coca Cola World and Underground, we headed up a block from our hotel for the Hudson Grill to eat for New Years. We all were starving and it was wonderful! After our yummy meal we took the kids to ride the SKyview Ferris Wheel.

My motion sick prone husband stayed with his feet firmly on the ground, but I braved it with our kiddos. It was gorgeous to see the city from the top all lit up! None of us will ever forget being at the top of Atlanta on New Years Eve all warm and toasty in the ferris wheel.

After our ferris wheel ride we were tired but wanted to see some more of the city. We stopped along our travels for a pit stop and DAvid sat down to rest. We looked over and with his crooked toboggan he looked like a homeless man:) The thought crossed our mind to put a cup out in front of him to let him collect coins:)

Around 10:30 New Years Eve our long day caught up with us and we headed back to the room. AFter Mike helped me get the kids to sleep, he and Kyle wrapped up and headed to Underground to watch the Peach drop. They had a great time watching the peach and enjoying the fireworks.

Despite Lebron's sore knee we had a wonderful time in Atlanta. It was fun to give the kids an "experience" versus stuff this year for Christmas. It was also awesome to make new memories with some great friends in a great town. Thanks Atlanta for a fun trip!