Stone Mountain (and a tribute to MLB opening day)

We had been talking about going to Stone Mountain for a while now. But by the time we had some free time to go last year, it was blazing hot, and that just didn’t seem like much fun. Then once it started to cool off in the fall, we had football, so we didn’t really have time. But then this spring rolled around. We had no t-ball game this past Saturday, the weather was nice, and we had no other plans, so we decided to go. We left around lunchtime & drove over there. It was Zachary & Liam’s first time there (Liam kept calling it “Snow Mountain”). Josh & I had been before, but neither of us could remember the last time we were there (for something other than a conference or a wedding). When we got there we decided to do the SkyRide to the top of the mountain first. The boys enjoyed the ride up, and I think when we first walked out onto the mountain top they thought it was cool – but the novelty soon wore off. We stayed up there for probably half an hour – it was SO nice up there! It was breezy, and just felt great. We took some pictures & just sat & rested a little bit (it was a long walk from where we parked, and we did not bring the stroller, because we weren’t really sure if it was practical).

After we’d had enough, we headed back down, and walked over to the Crossroads area. They have really done a lot there – we didn’t remember any of that from when we were there before. We had sort of promised the boys ice cream, so we went on an ice cream hunt until we finally found some. We got them each a cone & sat in the shade while they ate it.

The ice cream was right next to the train station & mini-golf. So after they finished their snack, we went over to play some mini golf. It probably would have been fine if it had just been Josh & me, with Zachary. But Liam added a whole new dimension to mini golf. He’d walk his ball right up to the hole & then try to push the ball in, using his putter like a pool stick. He’d even wander up to the next hole – while people were still playing on it! Bad golf etiquette, I know. We probably made it through about 7 or 8 holes (out of 18) before the train rolled back up. So we abandoned our game, and made our way over to the train platform. We decided to make a quick bathroom stop before boarding the train (which almost made us not make it on that train – but they found a few more seats, so we were able to get on). By this point (it was about 3:45), Liam was a hot mess. He’d had no nap, and was absolutely screaming. I felt bad for the people around us, but at least the train is open-air, so it’s not like we were trapped inside an enclosed train car with the screaming toddler. As soon as the train pulled out, he fell asleep.

At this point we decided to head on home – there wasn’t much else we really wanted to do that day, plus the boys were tired, and we knew they’d be getting hungry for dinner soon. Only, we did have to make one stop on the way home. That morning I had taken Zachary to get a haircut. We’ve taken him to the same place since his very first haircut right after he turned one. But the ladies working on Saturday all looked new. I didn’t worry too much – it’s not like he has a super-complicated haircut. Although I was a little nervous as she cut, because she’d ask me how I wanted something done, and then she would do the opposite. But it looked somewhat OK when she finished so we left (although his hair was still wet, so it was hard to tell for sure). It wasn’t until later, we were sitting on the train at Stone Mountain, and I noticed how lopsided & uneven it was. It was really bad. As we walked back to the car I called the place to see if they could fix it for free, and they said no problem, but we had to come that day. So on our way home we went back to the haircut place to get his hair fixed. Only, they had gotten so busy it was going to be about a 30 minute wait. It was getting close to dinner time, and I knew if we waited, they would be climbing the walls. So we got them to agree to let us come back another day, and we headed out to go get some dinner. Dinner was pretty quick, and we were finished by about 6:15, so I asked Josh if we could go back to the haircut place to try again. So back we went, and this time there was no wait. One of the ladies I’ve seen in there lots before was there, and fixed it for us. It was worse than I thought – the first lady had really butchered it. There was even one spot that she couldn’t fix – we’re just going to have to let it grow out & fix it the next time. Needless to say, I will be requesting this lady from now on when we go in for haircuts.

And, in the spirit of major league baseball's opening day today, here is a video of Liam singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".