Last Vacation

Okay, this is a really long post. So you probably need a good 8-10 minutes to read this! Here it goes...

Our last vacation of the summer took place {and still is} in Atlanta, Georgia! We are staying with very good friend of ours, and our Aunt Tristin! On August 28, my mom, Lillian, Ella, Vivien and I drove for 9.5 hours. At around 6 we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee! We stayed at a hotel called Drury Inn. All of us were exhausted but we still had energy to swim in an awesome pool at the hotel! Part of it was inside and the other outside! You had to go under a wall in the pool to get outside. A while ago, we bought a super cool camera that is waterproof! So, we took a few pictures of us underwater. Before we went swimming, we drove to see the Grand Ole Opry and how much damage the flood had done to it. Unfortunately, they wouldn't even let us in because they were in the middle of reconstructing it! So then we went back to the hotel. The next day we had about a 4 hour drive, and it was SO pretty! There were little islands surrounded by a lake covered with trees. They were really big hills that were also surrounded by trees! All in all, the drive was beautiful! One thing, Emily's house is HUGE! And she has a fairy tale backyard, with trees and a patio, stairs and a lot of other cool things. We got in Atlanta at around 4 and we all are super happy to be here. Emily also has two dogs, one is black and her name is Phoebe. She is pretty old. The other one is Molly, she's 7. They are both fun and really cute! The next day, Wednesday, we went swimming at one of their friend's house, while our Aunt Tristin and Emily worked out. My aunt is going to do a triathlon in about 2 weeks! I really want to do one, I probably will next summer. Emily's family came over for dinner that night. Later in the evening, my dad flew in! So my mom went to the airport to pick him up late at night. On Thursday, we waited for Emily and Auntie Tristin to get home from work. So we went to a sports store called REI, looked around and ended up getting bug spray. Later on we babysat Emily's nephew, Ben, and went to the park. After the little girls went to bed, Auntie Tristin, Emily, Lillian and I went to a frozen yogurt called The Yogurt Tap. They have really good flavors and you can do it yourself and then add some toppings! The next morning we hung out mostly, playing on Emily's iPad, talking, playing outside. At around 11:00, Auntie Tristin, Lillian and I went lap swimming at a pool. It was really nice to get back into the water! After that, we met up with the rest of my family at a bookstore. We looked around for awhile and then went to a yummy breakfast and lunch diner called Thumbs Up. It was SO good! I got french toast and bacon, and it was delicious. That afternoon, we went to a bounce house place called Leapin Lizards with Emily's niece and nephew, Ben and Cara. After that we came back to the house and had Papa John's pizza and watched Marmaduke, and Big Fat Liar. Every single night Lillian and I stayed up until like 10:30-11:00! And yesterday, we went to a big book fair in Decatur. We got a lot of cool books for us and we got them all signed by the authors! Auntie Tristin and Emily came for a bit, but had to leave before we did because they had work to do. My family and I walked for like 3-4 hours around there, and after awhile we got super thirsty! So we got some really yummy Italian Ice, we got Mango and Strawberry Lemonade! And it was SO good! The best Italian Ice I have ever had! Later on, we were going to go see Liz Kessler, author of the Emily Windsnap series. But the editor of the booklet with all the shows' times got the time wrong and it ended up being today instead of yesterday. Lillian and I were bummed because we really like Emily Windsnap! At around 1:15 we left and went home to have lunch. When we got there, we decided to go swimming at the same place we did on Thursday. Auntie Tristin and I went lap swimming for awhile and then our whole family played and splashed around. It was such a beautiful day! There were no clouds in the sky, there was a soft breeze and it was so warm! Right after dinner, me, Lillian, Mom and Auntie Tristin snuck out to one of Tristin's favorite stores. And it was HUGE! Auntie Tristin said "Pick up everything you like and then we will try it on" and that is what we did. I had to shop in the Women's small or teens because there wasn't anything for me in kids. Before we went into the change rooms and after we looked through everything, we looked through our pile of clothes {I probably had 50 clothes!} and put away anything we didn't really want. That lowered me to about 25 things of clothes! So, I tried them on, while Lil, Auntie Tristin and Mom, tried on stuff too! I got super cute stuff including a cute grey and white striped shirt {I am wearing it right now!}, a pink shirt, a cream shirt, a white short-sleeved sweater, a super cute green dress with buttons and a collar, and the cutest jeans in the world! They have awesome stitching, and are just so cute and comfy! When we got into the change room, the store was closing in 25 minutes so we had to try on everything really fast. When we got home, we did a little fashion show for Emily and my dad. After that, we had banana splits! I put tons of hot fudge on it and a little bit of Cinnamon Toast Crunch on it. Then we went to bed. In the morning we ate, finished packing up a bit and then said goodbye because we had to leave! The drive was great, it actually went by fast. It was a 13 hour drive so it was a long day! We ate at Pei Wei for lunch and then at Ikea for dinner. We are now home after about a week of being away!

School starts tomorrow, and I am really excited...