boys weekend

Caleb recently celebrated his 8th birthday.

To celebrate, Joel took him on a boys weekend away, just the two of them.

Joel bought him tickets to see his first professional baseball game in Atlanta. He gave him the tickets on his actual birthday, giving him something to look forward to for several weeks.

Saying goodbye:

Upon entering our totally cool swagger wagon, Caleb found a new baseball hat waiting for him on the seat, to get him ready for the big game.
Joel packed all the essentials: a camera, coffee, and new baseballs for autographs.

This picture was taken as the big adventure started:


Once they arrived in Atlanta, they threw their sparse belongings into their hotel room, and walked to the stadium in time to see warm ups.

Little did they know that on this night, Bobby Cox's number was being retired. There were many old players there to sign autographs, so they stood in line (#177!!) and waited.

Once they got their autographs, they found their seats and waited for the game to begin.

They ate pizza and Powerade. Caleb's favorite.

The game was a blow out, with 10 runs! What a fun game to be at!

When the game was over, there were fireworks.

It took a long time to get back to the hotel room, and by the time they were there, we had one tired boy. "Mom," Caleb said, "we walked at LEAST 1 mile."

The next morning, they ate a manly breakfast at the hotel and then experienced the World Of Coke. Caleb was highly impressed with the various flavors of Coke from around the world, such as Fanta Magic (but no Fanta Fiesta, like we enjoyed in Rwanda! bummer!) You are allowed to sample as many different brands of Coke as you want, make your own Coke concoctions, and even watch old Coca Cola commercials!

After their World Of Coke tour, they ate lunch at the Varsity, a legendary grease pit attached to the Georgia Dome, where they enjoyed plenty of onion rings. When Joel asked Caleb what he wanted to drink with his meal, Caleb said, "Anything but Coke."


They stopped by the CNN Headquarters and found some fun things:
Once they made it home, we heard all about the fun they had and the things they saw. They passed out gifts for all of us, including Vanilla Coke lip smacker for me, and plastic classic Coca Cola cups for the kids.

We love to build memories with our blessings, and spending one on one time with them is one of our favorite ways to do this. Nothing says I love you more than wanting to spend time with JUST you!