Atlanta Vacay Day 5 ~ Happy 90th Boo!

What better reason to drive 16 1/2 hours with an 85 year old and a toddler than to celebrate your grandmother's 90th b-day? My entire family travelled to Atlanta for my Annie Boo's birthday party at Park Cafe in Duluth. My Mom specifically selected Park Cafe because it is in downtown Duluth where my grandmother grew up. Unfortunately, it didn't strike up a long-term memory that she could share, but she was having a very good day. We were joined by my great-aunt Pat, Annie Boo's only remaining sibling, and my cousin Denise, who's mother was my grandmother's sister.

My mom with Aunt Pat:

Annie Boo thoroughly enjoying her ice cream:

Happy Birthday, Boo!!! We love you!

Atlanta Vacay Day 4 ~ A little piece of History

Maison continued the whirl wind of meeting new family members...tonight was Adam's Aunt Kelli, Uncle Howard, and cousin Henry. Howard and Henry had not met Maison before and Kelli had not seen her since she was 6 months old. Maison was learning about her Maslow family history in Atlanta's oldest continually operated restaurant, Horseradish Grill.

It hasn't been featured on Food Network, at least not that I'm aware of, but it was featured in the local paper the day we ate there. I'm certainly not the foodie in the family but it was good enough of an endorsement for me!

Atlanta Vacay Day 3 ~ Rollin in the Doh

My mom, Maison, and I had lunch with my Aunt Gail today. Since she wouldn't see us before Christmas she went ahead and gave Maison her Christmas present. One of her presents was a Hansel and Gretel PlayDoh set. Maison has several PlayDoh sets but we rarely play with them because they make such a mess.

After lunch, we had to put take Christmas flowers to the cemetery and run other errands. By the time we got back to the hotel, Maison really wanted to play with the Hansel and Gretel set. We are in a hotel, so why not 'give it a go'. I have never seen a child have so much fun with 2 cans of dough and 2 molds. It was endless amounts of fun.

Best part of playing with play doh for hours? I didn't have to clean up the twitters of purple dough = best present ever!

Atlanta Vacay Day 2 ~ Hanging with Guy

Everyone knows that if there is a restaurant featured on Food Network or Man v. Food and Adam is involved then we must eat there. Adam is still in Dallas so tonight's dinner locale was not at his suggestion.

We were having dinner with my Aunt Susan and Uncle Jack so my parents suggested that we eat at Marrietta Fish Market. They had all been there before and raved about it the entire drive there. Let's just say the bar was set really high and it did not disappoint. It was delicious!

No one knew Guy Fieri had eaten there when he was in town to feature their sister restaurant, Marrietta Diner, on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (or DDD). The menu and website both claim that Guy said Marietta Fish Market, "this was one of the most incredible spreads of food he's ever tasted or seen." That's high praise, considering he tastes food for living!

Atlanta Vacay Day 1 ~ Drive from Hell

Apparently I have short term memory loss...

I'm positive that when we got back from Gulf Shores in June I swore I would NEVER go on a road trip again. Yet here I am...just completed 16 1/2 hours in a suburban with my parents, Nannie, and Maison from Dallas to Atlanta.

The trip should take only 14 hours but when you are driving with an 85 year old, a 2 year old with digestive issues, and a car sick passenger (yes, that would be me) you tend to make a lot of stops. Not to mention, it started raining in Jackson, MS and didn't stop the whole way to Atlanta.

Honestly, Maison was the best behaved of the entire trip. As long as a DVD was playing she was fine. Next on the 'to do' list: check flights from ATL to DFW...

Say what?

We have decided to go to Atlanta for my Annie Boo's 90th birthday party despite the fact Maison still has c-diff. I took her to Dr. Wong to see if her ear had gotten any worse and to see what I would be up against during our travels. Dr. Wong confirmed Maison has another ear infection. Given her c-diff infection, she cannot take antibiotics to treat the ear infection so Dr. Wong concurred with Dr. Russo and recommended that we proceed with the ear tubes...today. Say what? Today? As in right now? Before we leave at 5:00am for a 14 hour road trip???

Yes, that is exactly what she meant. She referred us to an ENT, Dr. Huang (also pronounced Wong), for a consult. Dr. Huang agreed that doing the ear tubes was a good preventative treatment for the c-diff infections but she also recommended taking out her adenoids which is too invasive of a surgery to do on the spur of the moment. Besides they can't even book an OR that fast so surgery is on hold until we get back from Atlanta. Looks like tomorrow we will head out with a 2 year old with an untreated ear infection and a c-diff infection...sounds awesome!

Missing the "Lake"

I left this morning at 5:45 am in the 38 degree pouring down rain to go run the Dallas White Rock half marathon. Given that Maison is sick again and I haven't done any athletic events since spraining my ankle, this really wasn't the best idea. I missed my last training run of 10 miles due to Mais being sick so on top of everything else, I wasn't sure I was prepared.

If I didn't have doubts on the drive down, I definitely had doubts after lining up at 7:30am in the pouring rain and not crossing the starting line until 8:13am. It literally poured the entire first 5 miles. It was raining so hard the water dripping off the bill of my hat was blurring my vision.

This race is referred to as "Run the Rock" in reference to the course which follows White Rock lake. I think today's race should been referred to as "Run the Lake" or "Running through White Rock Lake" because that is more what it felt like.

This is the first race I have ever done where I did not remove something that I was wearing. I was so wet and cold I kept every stitch on until the bitter end. I ended up finishing in 2:10 which was a PR for me. I guess the freezing rain moved me faster than the heat I normally compete in.

After wringing water out of my sports bra which was my 3rd layer down and seeing Andrea (friend I ran with) ask for pancakes post-race so that she could use them for warmth, I thought I should have listened to my gut and sat this one out....but then I remembered I was thinking about me and unless I'm physically injured I don't ever sit one out! Besides a little rain never hurt anyone...