Summer Vacay 2015: Flight to ATL + Our Week in GA

The girls and I flew to Atlanta on Sunday, May 31st to spend a few days at my parents' house before our week at the beach. Unfortnately, Derek could only join us for the second half of the trip, so I was flying solo with the girls for our flight!

Leading up to our trip, the girls' naps had been a little off. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they devised a plan to tag-team me. Almost every afternoon, one of them would nap and the other wouldn't! It was crazy! Our flight was in the evening, so I was terrified one or both of them wouldn't nap and it would be a horrendous flight with two over-tired girls! As luck would have it, Hadley didn't nap and Shelby only napped for maybe an hour (it took her over an hour to fall asleep b/c she was playing in bed)--grr! But despite their lack of naps, the girls were downright AMAZING! The flight was a total breeze!!

Waking Shelby up from her nap to get ready to head to the airport! :)

Getting ready to go!

All loaded up!

I packed the girls a dinner to eat on the plane, but I quickly grabbed some Steak N Shake for myself to
scarf down real quick before we boarded. Thank goodness I ordered a milkshake, too! It was the perfect
distraction for the girls while we boarded! ;)

This is how Hadley spent at least 60% of the flight--hamming it up with the nearby passengers ;)

And this is how Shelby spent at least 60% of the flight--reading. :)  She is seriously the best kid ever!
And the best travel buddy, too!

Coloring on the plane

I wised up after our first couple of flights with the girls and realized bringing any toys onto the airplane was a COMPLETE waste of time & space b/c they never held the girls' interest for any significant length of time. So now my game plan is always to bring them a meal to eat on the flight (super easy way to kill a good chunk of time!!) along with a few new books, crayons/paper, and tablets. Works like a charm! It'll be even easier in a few more months when a tablet will actually keep Hadley's attention, for now it only works for her for a minute or two. ;)

This was our first experience flying Southwest. We ususally fly Delta, and they don't give us lids
when they bring out our beverages. Southwest's lids were a huge plus for us!! :)  This was also our first
flight where Hadley had her own seat. She thought she was big stuff with her own buckle and truly
surprised me by staying buckled in her seat for the entire flight without any trouble at all! It's amazing how much
easier this flight was with her in comparison to when we flew with her before at 15 & 20 months!

My mom took this pic of us after we landed in Atalnta--we made it!! :)  The girls were seriously the best travelers and were such good troopers considering they didn't really nap and didn't get to bed until midnight eastern time that night!!

We met BooBoo & Pop-Pop for dinner one night at the mall, and of course we had to hit up the carousel!

Shelby wanted to ride a spinning cup on the carousel :)  I thought this picture turned out so cool!

A post-breakfast trip to Grammy & Grampy's neighborhood playground in our PJs :)
Shelby was gathering a pile of leaves & sticks to cushion her in case she fell sliding down the pole.
Life with a 4 year old..you just can't make this stuff up!

How Shelby & Hadley spend their free time at Grammy & Grampy's house :)

Despite the fact that Shelby's naps were hit & miss before our trip, this girl napped HARD every single day of our two week trip! Three plus hours every single day!

I had the pleasure of getting together with Niki, one of my high school BFFs/college roomate, one day and watching our sweet girls play together! So, so fun!!
Shelby (4), Mia (3), Hadley (2), and Molly (not pictured, 4 months)

Baking with Grammy!

We had a great week in GA! We made our traditional stops with the girls--a trip to Sims Lake Park & visiting Grampy's "workey turkey." We also visited my mom's friend Linda one day and took another day to go to McDonough to visit my sister's school/classroom & see the site of the new house they're building. It was a really fun week!

Next up..beach pics!! :)