Hotlanta
Our March Madness travels flowed right on into April with a trip to Atlanta to see the Wolffs. Uncle Matt turned 29 (for the first time), and Grandma and Grandpa were going down to celebrate with him, so Henry and I hopped a flight to join them.
Henry is now old enough to be an excellent little traveling companion. He doesn't need any special gear. He's great on airplanes. He eats anything and can be taken to restaurants after 5:30 p.m. He appreciates seeing people and going new places, and is old enough to remember it for quite awhile.
Mr. Henry R. Reitz, Global Services flier.
First up was birthday dinner with Uncle Matt, his girlfriend, and the grandparents at a sushi restaurant. Henry sampled every single thing on the table, from pickled squid to seaweed salad to salmon sashimi, and pronounced every one of them his "favorite" (even while making horrified faces at some bites). He tries so hard to be game! I love that about him. But really, his heart belonged to the lava cake. He wept huge tears when we told him he had to come back to Aunt Judy's house with me and would not be sleeping at Uncle Matt's apartment.
On Saturday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was every bit as insane as you would guess for a major indoor tourist attraction at noon on a rainy Saturday, but it is a super awesome aquarium. Henry was awed by the giant whale sharks and loved the touch tanks where he could feel the stingrays. He stayed so long at the tank that he almost fell asleep with his face on the wall.
Sunday morning was Easter and we hid a few eggs for him to find. He was a little slow to catch on to the whole finding/eating aspect of the Easter eggs, but once he caught on, he insisted we re-hide them over and over again. Then the cousins were nice enough to come from all points of the compass for brunch. It was great to see everyone in one place -- the last big get-together was Annie's wedding in 2006, so it's been quite awhile! The kid-cousins are getting so big. My kids are now the same ages that Ava and Ellie were when they were in our wedding. Henry had a really good time with Jonathan and had a huge crush on Ava, Ellie, and Abby; he kept asking when he could see the "big pretty girls" again. I'm ashamed that I failed to take any pictures.
Grandma and Grandpa left on Monday, so Henry and I continued the whirlwind tour to visit my college and law school friends. It seems everyone is moving to Atlanta these days. First we visited Hanah and the twins -- it was a shame we didn't have Ingrid for this, so we could have the triplets together. Henry was amazed that some people have their own playgrounds in their suburban backyards. We enjoyed some nice backyard time and catching up over lunch.
On Monday afternoon, we met up with my college friends in Candler Park. We had just seen each other in Austin, but having the kids together ended up being a blast. Mack was a little indifferent to visitors at first, then realized Henry had brought candy, and within three minutes the two of them had become blood brothers (or at least spit brothers). They disappeared into the yard with toy guys and sticks and we didn't see them for an hour. And then they disappeared into the pantry. Someone finally asked what they were doing in there and Mack called back, with great satisfaction, "Making a mess!" I guess the next WU girls reunion should be with families. Or at least with four-year-old boys.
Henry was on a high from all the excitement and wasn't ready for bed when we got back, so he helped me pack up and close up shop at the condo. He (sometimes) loves to be involved in a task like that and can be so sweetly, exuberantly helpful. We talked about all the things we had done as we packed away our birthday dinner clothes, Easter eggs, the presents from Judy and the cousins, and Spidey-suit that smelled like seawater. He had so much fun seeing everyone, and I love that he's big enough now that he can travel to see all of these lovely people we have in our extended family.
Meanwhile, Karl and Ingrid had a very nice daddy-daughter weekend. Karl did a million things around the house, and they did music class together. I'm sorry I missed Karl dancing in a circle with gauze scarves. I think it was good for all of us to divide and conquer for the weekend!
Henry is now old enough to be an excellent little traveling companion. He doesn't need any special gear. He's great on airplanes. He eats anything and can be taken to restaurants after 5:30 p.m. He appreciates seeing people and going new places, and is old enough to remember it for quite awhile.
Mr. Henry R. Reitz, Global Services flier.
First up was birthday dinner with Uncle Matt, his girlfriend, and the grandparents at a sushi restaurant. Henry sampled every single thing on the table, from pickled squid to seaweed salad to salmon sashimi, and pronounced every one of them his "favorite" (even while making horrified faces at some bites). He tries so hard to be game! I love that about him. But really, his heart belonged to the lava cake. He wept huge tears when we told him he had to come back to Aunt Judy's house with me and would not be sleeping at Uncle Matt's apartment.
On Saturday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was every bit as insane as you would guess for a major indoor tourist attraction at noon on a rainy Saturday, but it is a super awesome aquarium. Henry was awed by the giant whale sharks and loved the touch tanks where he could feel the stingrays. He stayed so long at the tank that he almost fell asleep with his face on the wall.
Sunday morning was Easter and we hid a few eggs for him to find. He was a little slow to catch on to the whole finding/eating aspect of the Easter eggs, but once he caught on, he insisted we re-hide them over and over again. Then the cousins were nice enough to come from all points of the compass for brunch. It was great to see everyone in one place -- the last big get-together was Annie's wedding in 2006, so it's been quite awhile! The kid-cousins are getting so big. My kids are now the same ages that Ava and Ellie were when they were in our wedding. Henry had a really good time with Jonathan and had a huge crush on Ava, Ellie, and Abby; he kept asking when he could see the "big pretty girls" again. I'm ashamed that I failed to take any pictures.
Grandma and Grandpa left on Monday, so Henry and I continued the whirlwind tour to visit my college and law school friends. It seems everyone is moving to Atlanta these days. First we visited Hanah and the twins -- it was a shame we didn't have Ingrid for this, so we could have the triplets together. Henry was amazed that some people have their own playgrounds in their suburban backyards. We enjoyed some nice backyard time and catching up over lunch.
On Monday afternoon, we met up with my college friends in Candler Park. We had just seen each other in Austin, but having the kids together ended up being a blast. Mack was a little indifferent to visitors at first, then realized Henry had brought candy, and within three minutes the two of them had become blood brothers (or at least spit brothers). They disappeared into the yard with toy guys and sticks and we didn't see them for an hour. And then they disappeared into the pantry. Someone finally asked what they were doing in there and Mack called back, with great satisfaction, "Making a mess!" I guess the next WU girls reunion should be with families. Or at least with four-year-old boys.
Henry was on a high from all the excitement and wasn't ready for bed when we got back, so he helped me pack up and close up shop at the condo. He (sometimes) loves to be involved in a task like that and can be so sweetly, exuberantly helpful. We talked about all the things we had done as we packed away our birthday dinner clothes, Easter eggs, the presents from Judy and the cousins, and Spidey-suit that smelled like seawater. He had so much fun seeing everyone, and I love that he's big enough now that he can travel to see all of these lovely people we have in our extended family.
Meanwhile, Karl and Ingrid had a very nice daddy-daughter weekend. Karl did a million things around the house, and they did music class together. I'm sorry I missed Karl dancing in a circle with gauze scarves. I think it was good for all of us to divide and conquer for the weekend!
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