hotlanta.

except it wasn't so hot. after this week, i'd probably call it windylanta. but it sure was funlanta!

on wednesday, peter, william, and i drove to atlanta for the week. peter had a dental conference, so will and i, being the dentist-lovers that we are, decided to accompany him.the highlight of our drive up was a stop at Mae's Wings and Things. yep, that's right. lizards, gizzards, whiting, and mullet. what more could you want in a delicious lunch?

and sometimes peter got tired driving, so will helped him out.

btw. peter had to present some research that he'd done at the conference and he did a PHENOMENAL job. and he looked like a total babe presenting in his air force blues. way to go, babe.

but it wasn't all work, we definitely had our fair share of playing. will and i loved the aquarium. did you know that whale sharks (i'm not entirely sure if that's their official name, but i doubt you guys know either though, so it's cool, right?) can grow to be as big as a BUS?! crazy. we saw a couple of those. but, i'd say they were more along the lines of a honda accord. they've still got some growing to do.

the centennial olympic park was a fun place to hang out. they had fountains, paths for walking, waterfalls, and a playground for the kids. our hotel was only a couple of blocks away, so we frequented the park just about everyday.

probably the funnest (i know that's not a word, but i use it regularly knowing it's not a word. you're just going to have to deal with it.) place we went was the World of Coke. let's be honest though, we paid $15 to try 64 different types of soda from around the world. totally worth it. y'all have got to try SMART. it's a delicious green apple soda from china. TO DIE FOR. the night that we went to the World of Coke, i totally dreamed about SMART. i dreamt that we went back to the museum and they let us buy a bunch of 2 liter bottles to take home. i was loving it. the museum also had an awesome Coke-is-awesome-propagandaish-4D-movie that william did not love. every time the chairs rocked he freaked out, so will and i left the movie a little early. it's okay though, he got some really cool glasses to chew on, so he was fine. the olsens, our friends who are stationed at Eglin AF Base in florida were in atlanta with us, so we had some good times hanging out with them.

here are the betrothed william and london. remember their first meeting?

london got to atlanta and told will that she's been sitting up on her own. so, she taught him how. then they had a sit-off.

here we are, relaxing at piedmont park. lately will doesn't really love getting his diaper changed . . . he's always trying to roll away.

will had a nice picnic of peas and milk while peter and i enjoyed just watching and laughing at our funny little boy!

up-down vote

To commemorate "an historic up-down vote on health care reform legislation" this Sunday, we decided it was time to let William start exercising his own rights. So we gave him a variety of new activities to try out for the first time and let him vote on whether or not he liked them. We think he will be a civic-minded individual after this day of voting. Feel free to vote yourself on whether you think he enjoyed each particular event.

First up. So that Will won't ever forget his Deep South roots, he got his first back woods photo shoot. He voted yes for some and a definite no for others.

Event #1: Sitting alone in the woods. Will's vote: yes

Event #2: Sitting on a log in the woods. Will's vote: no

Event #3: Playing/looking/grabbing/trying to eat nearby grass/weeds/sticks. Will's vote: yes.

Event #4: Flying with dad under the trees. Will's vote: yes

Event #5: Swinging in the swing. Will's vote: yes

p.s. thanks to Jill for the photo tip.

Event #6: Sliding down the slide. Will's vote: definite no

Event #7: Bouncing on the pelican: Will's vote: no

William had a busy day. Too much voting. Let's just hope Obama gets the votes he needs too this weekend.

my giveaway today

hi everyone!

make sure to check out My Giveaway Today for a chance to win a free individual entrance to the Saints to Sinners Bike Relay. They're also offering a discount for teams. Check it out and get cycling!!!!

5 months old. (updated)

our baby is 5 months old. crazy.

for those of you that have noticed, our baby has a very round head. we put a perfect circle around his face. this is how close it is...

nerds.

yep, it's made of 100% nerds. awesome.

it kind of makes my mouth water. not for liz lemon. or tina fey. but for some nerds. yum. now i don't know why the artist, andrew salomone, did this . . . (make sure to watch the video). all that effort . . .

Beijing Super Buffet

so there is this classically awesome chinese buffet not too far from our house. we joke about eating there almost every time we drive past it.

well, tonight emily was in the mood for chinese and since that happens once every 12-18 months, i knew i had to latch on if we were going to get all super beijing-y.

and this is what happened.

please don't read into this. i will lay the facts and that's all. let there be no speculation, for it would be baseless and uneventful.

so, after a wonderful meal, filled with much more than you would expect at a chinese buffet and admiring the many, many variations of hunting camo (vest, jackets, brim hats, shirts, shorts, etc, etc) that can be worn at such a dining establishment, we decided our fate with the traditional fortune cookies.

emily went first: her's read:

The coming month shall bring winds of change in your life.

so i said: ooh, a baby. then i read mine:

Through greater effort and hard work a precious dream comes true.

so i said, ooh a family, a sibling for little william. emily was not amused.

so we turned our fortunes over.

mine is on top. emily's is on bottom.

and i'm pretty sure, the egg roll refers to this (from a book called: baby-gami, teaching the ancient arts of wrapping your baby).

you know, the chinese are rarely wrong when it comes to this sort of stuff.

on an unrelated note, we decided last night, that it's time for Will to start pulling his own weight around here, so we made him start feeding himself. i think he figured it out alright.

fat tuesday

today was the day. fat tuesday. today's celebrations were the pinnacle of two weeks' worth of building anticipation. and William was excited. here he is getting ready to head to new orleans for parades, floats, and beads galore. he could hardly wait.

new orleans has had a great two weeks. first, the superbowl, and then mardi gras. so we got all dressed up and went to revel in the festivities.

it was pretty wild out there with beads flying . . .

roses flying . . . (good catch Will!)

and masses of people everywhere.

so now we can say we did it. we're only down here for a year (we think/hope . . .), so we had to experience mardi gras in all of its glory. and oh, how glorious it was!

BN-BFF

BN-BFF: brand-new best friends forever.

Will met his soulmate on Friday night. At least that's what the four of us parents were thinking.

She glanced up at him...

He looked down at her...

They kicked, they danced, they bonded.

They started the beginnings of a long and beautiful relationship.

At least we all hope so.

The cute girl baby pictured is London. She was born 2 days before Will, but this is the first time they've met. They are total twins. When we took them out, people thought they were in fact twins and were really confused how they were born two days apart.

For the weekend, Emily and I drove to Fort Walton Beach, FL to visit Mark and Ashley Olsen and their daughters Sadie and London. No, not the Ashley Olsen of Mary Kate and Ashly Olsen...

It was a short trip. But totally worth it. We stayed up late laughing and talking about how identical our babies were. Same size round head, same bloated cheeks, same chubby thighs, same cry, same laugh, same cough, yada, yada, yada. It was pretty hilarious. So of course we want them to grow up, meet each other at BYU and link our two families together for life.

While we were there, we also got a preview of the blindingly beautiful white sand beaches at Destin, we can't wait to go back when it's warm enough to hit the beach for reals,

Snagged a few more Mardi Gras beads at yet another parade, Will really got into it this time, as you can see, London really got into it too, she's even trying to snake a few beads from Will,

Ate at a restaurant with over $900K in dollar bills fastened to the walls and ceiling, delicious pub food, and creepy red lighting,

And almost made it to a rally for saving the oceans and drawing big red lines on oil drills...

All in all it was a pretty rad weekend.