I want my straws!

Last weekend, we took a trip to Burlington, N.C. to partake in the wedding festivities of Tim's cousin (Congrats, Katie and Michael!). Because it was an 8 1/2 -9 hour trip, we decided to leave Thursday morning and spend the night in Atlanta. This would break up the trip , a little bit, anyway. Since we were going to be in Atlanta, we decided to visit the new Georgia Aquarium.

We are so glad we did! If you haven't been, you definitely need to go. Tim and I have been to the Chattanooga Aquarium (newly weds,before kids), so I guess I was expecting more of the same. Boy, was I wrong. It was totally amazing! They have about five different exhibits/areas -- Rivers, Oceans, the Arctic, the Tropics, and Georgia (all about fish found in the state). Riley and Walker absolutely loved it. Several friends warned us about the crowds. We were pleasantly surprised...we went on a Thursday, in the afternoon. There were still a lot of people there, but it was manageable. Riley said her favorite thing was seeing the beluga whales. Walker says his favorite was "the fishies". Well, I guess that about sums it up and pretty much encompasses everything we saw, with a few exceptions.


One problem I did have, involved the man that checked Walker's backpack at the door. He opened it and made me leave my bag of straws. I know you are wondering why in the world I care about straws, but these are not just any straws. These are "bendy straws"...the kind that bend at the top. My mother-in-law keeps them in her purse, and I started carrying some with me a few months ago after cleaning up many a spill. It is rare to find a fast food or sit-down restaurant that has these. It never fails that either Riley (who is 4) or Walker (who is 2) will pick up their cup and turn it upside down, as if they are drinking out of a sippy cup. The plastic lid that either wasn't put on very well, or is very cheap, can't take the weight of all that Sprite, so it comes gushing out all over my child. Needless to say, I started carrying these straws so all the kids have to do is bend it at the top...they don't even have to pick up the cup. All that to explain why they are so important to me...and the man made me leave them. First of all, what could a person do with a plastic straw? I guess someone has figured out how to use it as a weapon or put it with other household objects to make a bomb. It is beyond me! I thought about going back to the front door on our way out, to pick up my straws, but decided I would suffer through the rest of the trip without them. As we were eating dinner that evening, we had two near accidents involving the kids and their drinks...if only I had my straws.

The rest of the trip was wonderful. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. We had a great time seeing some of Tim's family we don't see very often, and the 8 1/2 hour trip didn't seem so bad -- thank goodness for the DVD player in our car...what did our parents do without them?