World of Coke

Zachary has enjoyed having a sleepover a few times at my mom's house.  I'm surprised he's had more than one, because the first time he went over there, he apparently yelled at my mom.  But, it's a good thing he's so darn cute, because he has managed to get himself a few more sleepovers over the last couple of years.  His last one was back in February - we wanted to take them to the circus, but Zachary didn't want to go, so we took Liam to the circus, and Zachary had a sleepover at Grandma's. After that sleepover, we decided that maybe Liam was big enough for his own sleepover.  It's taken us until this weekend to be able to do it.  So Friday afternoon my mom met us at Zachary's karate class.  After karate was over, she & Liam headed over to her house for their sleepover.  Sleepovers usually involve a movie & popcorn, and staying up late.  I think they had a good time, and there was no yelling at Grandma either!

Enjoying his popcorn

While Liam was hanging with Grandma Saturday morning, Josh & I took Zachary for a special outing.  He has been wanting to go to the World of Coke, so that's where we headed.  As a bonus, we rode Marta.  You know, because riding Marta is SOOOO fun to a kid.  Never mind the fact that it takes twice as long to get where you're going, and with a few exceptions, Marta never goes right where you need to go, so there's always a long walk.  And double bonus for us...there was something big going on at the Mart, and there were people EVERYWHERE!  We finally made it to the WOC, and walked around.  Josh & I hadn't been since they moved to their current location next to the Aquarium - it's much bigger than before, but you know, it's basically a museum.  Zachary was relatively patient, and behaved pretty well, but the whole way through he kept asking if it was time for the tasting.  We went through each little exhibit, including the mini bottling area.  We also watched the 4D movie.  It was kind of silly, but we enjoyed that.  And it was FINALLY time for the tasting room.  My favorite was Lemon Crush from Bahrain.  Josh's favorite was Tab.  I'm not sure what Zachary's favorite was - he seemed to like a lot of them...but I think part of that was just the novelty of getting to drink soda.  We don't give the kids soda to drink (other than a sip here & there), so the fact that he could drink as much as he wanted had to be just awesome for him.

Posing with the "soda jerk"

Sitting on the Coca-Cola red couch from American Idol Season 4 - Carrie Underwood sat on this couch!

After we finished up there, we headed up to Marietta, & met my mom & Liam for lunch at Gabriel's.  Gabriel's is a restaurant & bakery owned by Johnnie Gabriel, who is Paula Deen's cousin.  It was yummy, and we finished off the meal with one of the ginormous cookies (yeah, we each had our own cookie...).  Liam fussed a little bit when it was time to go - he thought he was going back to Grandma's house.  It had been a long day, and both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home - Zachary was clutching his souvenir bottle of Coke for dear life.  It was a good day.  And even though we weren't child-less for the night, it's amazing the difference going back to 1 once you have 2.  The noise level was way down, and things just seemed easier.  I think we'll need to do it more often...if my mom is up for it!