we’ve had three outings this month.
all of them glorious.
first: imagine it children’s museum of atlanta
i’ve checked out just about all the museums in atlanta-proper.
if you can get to it in a reasonable time frame by marta,
we’ve probably been there.
by far, for the 3-6 age range, imagine it! is the BEST.
we spent a good three hours there
with ALL my girls
by myself
and i had to pull them out
because i knew they were tired.
they spent a good hour in the waterplay area alone.
if i were to stay here a bit longer
i’d get a membership.
since we don’t plan to,
their target free second tuesdays will suffice,
every second tuesday from 1 – 7 pm.
don’t come at 1 pm.
the line will be down the street and around the corner.
come at 12:15 with a sack lunch and eat while you wait
if you want to get in at 1 pm.
i think the better thing to do
is let the “i-need-to-get-in-first” crowd do all that waiting
and come after 3 or 4 pm.
even so, as crowded as it was
— probably AT capacity —
even i had a wonderful time just watching my children explore.
second: zoo atlanta
the weather was perfect.
hot with a cool breeze.
it must have been the effect of being amongst the dense vegetation of the zoo
and the fact that i had a 50% off coupon
AND a military discount.
we packed a lunch, took marta there and back
and ended up staying until closing.
the animals must have been loving the weather too
cause they were all out for us.
the only (small) disappointment was there were no animal shows.
an owl or eagle had escaped in an earlier show
and in order to keep the animals in the other shows safe
they canceled the remaining shows.
near the end of our visit we took a rest from walking
and rode a few rides.
the carousel operator let us ride the carousel twice.
we took the train around the zoo.
by the time we’d played for 30 minutes at the children’s playground,
we heard a closing announcement over the loud-speaker.
i couldn’t believe that we’d stayed that long!
the girls had happily skipped or ran throughout the entire park.
for one of the first times
it actually felt EASY to be with
all of them by myself
instead like a labor of love.
subhanAllah!
…is this how people end up having 7 children?…
third: grandma alice invited us to ride down with her
to mama tine’s
— “tine” as in ernestine —
in sandersville, GA, for the weekend.
by this time, the girls knew the drill:
if older cousins are around they can go exploring
without adult supervision.
and they were GONE!
even aya.
it was the second day that topped it off.
uncle troy is a country cowboy
and we all rode out to OUTSIDE of sandersville
— can you GET more country? —
to check out his horses.
subhanAllah, what beautiful, powerful creatures.
pet — some country cowboys lack imagination — on the left,
is due any day.
ishaq reconnected with his inner cowboy.
sanaa was singing “riding the range” from backyardigans during her ride.
even mama alice got up on a horse in her skirt.
she’s a country gal, y’all.
we left sandersville that night dusty,
our spirits uplifted from connecting with the rhythm
of these powerful, handsome animals.
we might come back down for the round up at the end of july.
good tree montessori homeschool 