Atlanta and Iowa City

I finished my thesis and said goodbye to England on September 17th. I left early that morning and got in to Atlanta to see my brother's family, Luke, Angie and Abby, at about 9 pm that night and I stayed with them for just over a week. I had a lot of fun and it was good to see them. Abby was a lot of fun. As soon as she got used to me, anyway. Then she would always bring me toys and books wherever I was and pile them up on and around me. The rest of the time, she was just happy to have me follow her around as she pushed chairs around the house. And she always liked bringing this ball over all the time.



Once, Angie, Abby, and I went to an aquarium for the first time in my life (that I remember, my parents took me when I was younger). Luke had to work so he couldn't come with us, as with the zoo later. I really liked it. The Georgia Aquarium is very nice and well done. The best part was the small corridor with lots of fish and sharks swimming above it, like this one...



And this one.



This is the view from the Georgia Aquarium, which is right in the middle of Atlanta.



After the aquarium we walked through Olympic Park to the fountain show.



We got there a little before it started and kids were playing in it, and Abby joined in and had fun playing in it.





Another day we went to the Zoo, which was also really good. Well, we must have caught the animals at nap time. Except for the gorillas and orangutans, which were pretty entertaining. The orangutans even have a computer that they use just to the right of this next picture, in the tree.



We got to the petting zoo part near the end. Abby liked petting the animals at first, until a goat beat her up. Well, I didn't see it, but I'm sure that's what happened. Abby was petting one and must have pushed the wrong button, and the goat bumped her in the head with its head, and Abby was done with animals. Angie said they'd been back a couple times but that Abby still won't touch the goats.



Other than that, we hung out, I got my root beer and double stuffed oreos as requested, and it was all good. Too bad I couldn't have stayed longer. Also, we went to Ted's Montana Grill. It was really good, but I should have gotten one of the burgers like Luke and Angie. I got Buffalo Rib. Yep, Rib (singular). We couldn't believe how tiny it was, especially since it cost a few bucks more than Luke and Angie's meals, and they got way more food. I tried some of Luke's burger, though, and it was amazing, so I know what to get next time. Also, Atlanta is a very nice city, I was impressed. And the people were very, very nice. I mean, I'm used to nice people in the midwest but I'm used to small towns. Here we were in a big city and people were just incredibly friendly and helpful wherever we went.

After Atlanta, I flew to Iowa City to see another brother's family, Mark, Tiffany, Bennett, Brady, and Susanna, from Atlanta. It was also a lot of fun to see them and stay at their place for a week. On the way back from the airport we got a flat tire, which was pretty fun. I made the same request at their place: root beer and double stuffed oreos. Don't ask me why, but while being in England for a year those were the things I wanted to eat and drink most. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures at their place, and the ones I did were on Tiffany's camera, which she already posted on her blog, so I'm just going to steal some of hers. Like this one of most of us having a pumpkin party after hanging up all the Halloween decorations.



One day we went to an apple orchard to pick apples and eat really good apple turnovers, and afterwards we ate at Texas Roadhouse, which was really good. This picture's of Tiffany and Susanna with me and Bennett in the background at the apple orchard.



Another day we went downtown. We went to the library, the University of Iowa and the Old Capitol building, which, as its name implies, was the Old Capitol building of Iowa before they moved the capitol from Iowa City to Des Moines. We went to a museum to the Old Capitol building and then to a museum. Here's me, Bennett, and Brady overlooking Iowa City from the Old Capitol.



And here's me sitting with Susanna at the foot of the stairs, with Bennett and Brady higher up.



Bennett and Brady and Susanna kept me running the whole time. It was one big game of baseball, soccer, or our own brand of football, among other things. They're a lot of fun and sometimes they had me be a dragon and attack them in their castle (they have a toy castle thing in their lawn that fits all of them inside with room to spare) and of course we played monster. And they're smart little kids too. Bennett and Brady (who is only 3) would read out loud every day. Mark and Tiffany left to celebrate their anniversary and so my parents came to help with the babysitting, but until later that first night, so I had the kids for most of the day. We picked up Bennett from Kindergarten and thankfully the kids were pretty good most of the time, with only a minor rock-thrown-at-head incident or two. Oh, and the poop. And pee. But mostly the poop. I noticed Susanna was stinky and went to change her diaper, only to realize, to my horror, that the diaper had failed and poop was all up and down her back. It was nasty and even though I thought I was being careful, it got everywhere, including on my shirt. I've changed poopy diapers before but this one took the cake. And dumped it out again. Everywhere. And of course Susanna was screaming her head off the whole time, which was the only time she cried with me the whole weekend. My parents got there later that night after I'd put all the kids to bed, and they helped watch the kids for the next couple days with me. Susanna was very attached to me after a very short time, and even started doing her scrunched nose smile thing which is very cute.

Anyways, the whole trip to Atlanta and Iowa City was a lot of fun and it was great to see everyone and spend a good amount of time with them. Thanks for letting me stay guys! A few days after getting back to parents' in Laurens, I drove up and saw my sister's family, Tamara, Ronald, Sage, Sara, Sawyer, and Sicily in Spirit Lake, Iowa. We just hung out for a couple hours because I got there just a little bit before bedtime, but it was good to see them and hang out with them. So in a couple weeks I saw 8 of my 10 nieces and nephews, with only my brother's family, MJ, Maria, Logan, and Isabelle left to see. I am hoping to hear back about a job in Seattle so maybe I'll see them soon enough! And then of course there's my brother Andrew, at school at BYU-Idaho, and brother Matt and his wife Whitney at BYU. Still, it was good to see as many as I did in that short amount of time and stay with them in their homes.