This is, of course, just a sample. We made about 15-20 of these things. And the neighborhood chipmunks are loving all the birdseed we scattered around! We've spotted several snacking on bird seed this weekend, but so far, the little boogers have been way to fast to photograph!
That afternoon, Aidan had another good session at Brain Balance, and we all played at PLAY place afterwards.
We stopped on the way home for a Red Box movie. Aidan has been dying to see "Spooky Buddies" and it is always rented. That day was no different, so we settled on the movie "Mars Needs Moms." We had a total A-HA! moment during that movie. See, in the movie, the martians from Mars are collecting human mothers to raise the martian babies, while the martian moms work in the colony. The martians overhear Milo, the human kid in the movie, say that "my life would be SO much better if I didn't have a mom!" (He fed his broccoli to the cat, and then lied to his mom about it, so she sent him to bed early.) Milo decides to apologize to his mom, and gets to her room just in time to see her being taken by the martians. Rescuing her is what the rest of the movie is about. Anyway, back to the A-HA! moment. When Milo tells his mom that his life would be so much better without her, she doesn't say a word, but she doesn't have to. The look on her face says it all. Aidan says to me, "Mom, why did you make that face?" I said, "Well, I know how she feels. It really hurts your heart when your child says something mean and ugly to you, even when you know they don't REALLY mean it." Aidan say, "I've done that to you before, haven't I?" "Yes, you have," I said. He grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, I'm really sorry. I get mad sometimes, but I don't ever want to hurt your heart." A-HA! First of all, he picked up on the non-verbal expression on my face, and asked his question. And then, he REALLY understood my answer, and how it related to him and his actions. AMAZING!!
Saturday, we went to Stone Mountain with Gogi, Alana, and Aunt Kris. Gogi scored some Adventure Passes at a fund raiser, and treated us to a fun afternoon - thanks Gogi! We have been to Stone Mountain twice before, but had never gotten to do the fun attractions there. First, we checked out the Pumpkin Festival, and the boys had a blast.
They got to dress up their own scarecrows!
Ash and Ace really liked playing with the hats!
Aidan, not so much. Really, Mom? REALLY?
He thought the hat looked better on his scarecrow.
Next, the big boys played in the kid-sized obstacle course.
We were going to ride the train - Ash would've loved that as he is VERY interested in "too-too tains" these days. But there was a wait, and we decided to ride the cable car up the mountain instead. (I should mention that I am TERRIFIED of heights, and Stone Mountain proved to be a "face your fears" kind of a day for me!) Anyway, the line moved quickly, and we all packed like sardines in the cable car and up the mountain we went. The boys thought it was extra cool!
The view, on the way up.
Their little faces, pressed against the glass!
We made it to the top of the mountain!
The top of the mountain was very cool - and very windy! The big boys loved the binoculars - you could see all the way to Downtown Atlanta!
Group photo, at the top of the mountain!
We clowned around in line for the cable car to take us back down.
Here comes our sardine can!
Our last adventure of the day was probably the most fun for Aidan - it was definitely the most terrifying for me! We climbed the Sky Hike! The Sky Hike is this crazy ropes course that is THREE STORIES high (at the highest point). You've got a harness on while you are climbing through this crazy obstacle course. See?
But still - it was pretty intense for me. Aidan moved through it like a champ - occasionally having to wait for his Mom to catch up! I was amazed at how balanced and agile he was. He only had one fairly intense moment where he got stuck - I was right next to him, but unable to reach him. Some nice girls behind us helped him out, and one of the course workers was right there to help as well.
Aidan had a blast - I was very glad that he and I had gotten to play together for well over an hour, but extremely relieved to have my feet back on the ground! I wanted a merit badge - they let me ring a bell. I guess that'll have to do!
While Aidan and I were climbing the Sky Hike, Gogi and Aunt Kris took the little boys to the 4-D Yogi Bear movie, which got rave reviews from everyone!
After our day of fun, everyone was beat!
Since I'm already WAY over my 600 word goal, I'm just gonna go ahead and finish telling you all about our FUN weekend! Sunday, we picked up Zac and Delanie and headed to Brain Balance Suwanee for their 4th anniversary party! It was great to see Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Lisa, and all of the rest of our friends at the Suwanee Center! And there was TONS of fun stuff for the kids to do!
They painted their own pumpkins...
Got some cool ink...
Bounced in the bouncy house...
Played a little Whack-a-Mole...
Hula-Hooped...
Got scary fang teeth prizes...
And tried to scare Ms. Jennifer with them...
Ate yummy GF cupcakes!
And popcorn...
Ash LOVED the bunny rabbit! They were best buds by the end of the afternoon.
He thought the goat was pretty cool too!
The goat, however, preferred Aidan...
We thought about leaving him in there...but changed our minds at the last minute!
Before we left, Aidan got a big hug from Ms. Jennifer!
And we got a group photo, thanks to Ms. Jennifer's mom...
Ms. Jennifer told Aidan that he could come back and put his handprints on her tree after his Brain Balance graduation! (The Roswell center doesn't have a handprint tree, and it was the very first thing that Aidan noticed when we transferred to Roswell!) How neat is this? Thanks Ms. Jennifer - Aidan is very excited!
Many thanks to Ms. Jennifer, Ms. Lisa, and all of our friends at the Suwanee Center for a wonderful and fun afternoon! Happy 4th Anniversary - here's to many more years of helping kids reach their full potential! Brain Balance is AMAZING!
Much love,
Allie
