Travels With Archie: Busy Week in Atlanta

Amelia as Stellaluna is the reason for our latest trip to Atlanta. We have been enthusiastically anticipating seeing Amelia “star” in her Drama Club play, Stellaluna. It was presented to the student body and parents during the day on Good Friday. Of course, Amelia was amazing in her interpretation of the little bat who ended up in a nest of little birds who couldn’t understand why she preferred to sleep hanging upside down. The grimace on her face as the mother bird fed her a grasshopper was priceless. The costumes were cute and the dance added to the end of the story was precious. Bubba and I stayed for both performances and enjoyed it both times.

Starring Amelia as Stellaluna

Stellaluna hanging from the nest to sleep.

Proud Grandparents

Proud Parents

That night Bubba and I stayed with Amelia while Amy and Darryl went out to celebrate their 17^th Wedding Anniversary. (Boy, does time fly!) Amelia and I spent the evening making our Easter Bunny cake which turned out to look look and taste good.

Saturday was spent getting some things together for Easter. We attended church on Saturday night and heard an amazing sermon by Andy Stanley.

Sunday after the Easter Bunny came, Amy and Darryl returned to church to serve in their volunteer capacities. I worked in the kitchen finishing up our Easter lunch so we could eat when they returned home. We had honey baked ham, deviled eggs, broccoli and cheese, pineapple casserole (so good!), and macaroni and cheese. My cousin, Vicky, and her husband, Robert, joined us for dessert later. The Easter Bunny cake received compliments along with the lemon ice box pie Amy made.

We had some discussions about our upcoming trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Darryl strongly recommended that I get some hiking shoes and since he gives pretty good advice, we went to an REI store he recommended. I wasn’t too keen on the idea, but the young lady working in the shoe department helped me find a shoe that felt good and was a price I could tolerate. They even had a place that looked like a stack of rocks so you could check out how they felt going up and down a hill. Then I got a pair of $12 socks that Amy had recommended to wear with them and I was all set. In the meantime, Bubba found a slip on pair that he liked and he bought them. Hang on to your hats!!!! This is twice in a one-month period that Bubba and I both bought a pair of shoes on the same day.

Tuesday evening was the Fine Arts Festival at Amelia’s school. The walls of the school were covered with student’s art work. It wasn’t just cute things they had made; each had a label stating the technique they were studying by doing the project. They also had tables set up in the cafeteria for the students to make things while they were at the festival.

At 7:00, the chorus presented their program. Coming from a county where it seems there is no interest in the fine arts, it was refreshing to see such a large group of children from grades 2 – 5 present such a terrific program. Instead of begging students to participate in the chorus, they limit participation to 80 from each grade. I was so excited to see Amelia’s happy face as she sang her little heart out. Not only is there this group that meets for practice before school, there is also time set aside for music during the school week.

During the week, we both enjoyed Amy and Darryl’s big treadmill with the big screen tv to watch while exercising. It is set up in their basement. I walked 2 ½ miles several times, which probably helped offset all the food I ate that was not Weight Watchers friendly.