Day Eight

Get up, showered, dressed, and eat more French toast and sausage patties with yogurt so there could be some fruit in there.  We hopped into the hot car and blasted the air conditioning.  But then the car shuffle happened and the girls and I ended up in the car with Mona and my mom with my cousin, Nia.  Off we went to the Aquarium.

Mort had said the kids were dying to go to the Atlanta Aquarium, the largest in the States or the World or something like that, particularly to see the dolphin show.  Hmmm.  There are moments in my relationships when my loved one says something, does something and I think “Eureka!”  this is exactly why I’m so madly in love with that person, why we are in each other’s lives.  My Eureka moments with Jory show themselves when it comes to zoos and aquariums. 

Years ago, we drove to Santa Barbara so he could go to the Santa Barbara Zoo, kill two birds with one stone go to the zoo and see SB.  We were looking at the elephants, but one was hiding.

“Jory, look over there.  There’s the other elephant,” I said.

“Can we go?  It smells over here,” the mini-Oma known as Jory answered back and started walking to the next animal.  A child after my own heart. 

When we went to the Long Beach Aquarium years ago, I thought Jory’s disinterest had to do with his age until I saw Austin’s face plastered to the glass, and he’s two months and one day younger than Jory.  So nope, I realized Jory just doesn’t care.  Maybe the girls love zoos and aquariums, but they aren’t old enough to voice an opinion so we roll with Jory’s feelings.  And his feelings are we could skip the animal thing.  He loves dogs, cats, will play with them when he sees them, and pet them, but these other animal arenas not so much.

Mort’s kids, Mona’s kids might have been dying to go to the Aquarium, but Jory surely wasn’t.   

But it was family time and what do you do for family other than suck it up and go to places you’d rather not go. 

We entered the Aquarium, wow, look at all these fish, water based animals in large tanks.  Happy, happy, joy, joy!  From one exhibit to another we went.   

Jory in front of a fish tank.  For more pictures, imagine TTT in front of glass with water bound animals behind them.

 

Because we rode with Mona, we had no double stroller, which is just bad for my mom’s heart. 

“Where are the girls?” Oma asked.

I looked around and pointed them out.  “Rowan is taking another picture with Nia.”  Nia, I discovered loves taking pictures.  “Layla is with Aunt Lavonia.  And Jory is up front with Vandy.”

“Oh okay.”

Sometimes I wonder if she realizes I have been out with my three kids by myself, even In super crowded places.  Until they literally outgrow the double stroller I need to keep using it to give Oma peace of mind.

As we were walking through the Aquarium on a holiday weekend Saturday, I watched Mort do his thing and was in awe.  For as long as I can remember he was in charge.  In charge of me, Mona, my mom, Aunt Lavonia, and later Renee, when he married her.  Yes, my dad was around, Uncle Bobby, Leonard, and Shane on occasions, but even with those other men there it was still Mort that organized and corralled the group.  And here were years later and he was still at his job, which had increased by the addition of eight children and now the addition of Nia and Vandy.  He has always handled it with such grace.  It has to be frustrating at times, yes, me  and Mona, he can just boss around and we’re pretty go with the flow people.  But he has to deal with the extreme slowness of Renee, it can take her two hours or more to get up and dressed.  Then he also has to work that fine line of being respectful and loving with the two elders in the group, while still getting his point across, getting us all from point A to point B.  He amazes me.  I’ve always thought the reason God gave us so many boys was to reward Mort for his years of service.  Out of eight grandchildren, five are boys.  Five boys to help him as they grew older and he grows older, teach them how to graciously and firmly guide and lead the herd.  I could never do what he does.

Finally, finally, after seeing a short 4-D film, we were leaving the Aquarium.  Yes, I knew there was enough time to make it to the Civil War Museum, this was our last opportunity to visit it because it was closed on Sunday and we were leaving on Monday.  As soon as we got out of the gift shop, Mort looked at his watch and said, “We have enough time to go to the World of Coca Cola gift store, then come back to the Dolphin Show.”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  Why can’t we escape this place?  The whole day was spent looking at animals in water.  Seeing animals on TV and the movies was quite satisfying for me, why when on the verge of leaving must we come back.  Was the Aquarium the mob? 

So off we went into the hot humid sun across the pathway to the Coke part of this massive land.  Layla was whiny and tired and wanted me to pick her up.  I asked her to hand me her bag.  Her cousin had bought her her very own Sea Horse, which I knew once she was fully asleep would drop out of her hand and I wouldn’t see it or hear it.  She refused, so I refused to pick her up and the battle was on.

She cried, cajoled, tried to bargain.  I assured her I wouldn’t let anyone else go into my backpack and take her bag with her Sea Horse it in, but obviously she didn’t believe me.  So the stand-off continued, until Uncle Mort bribed her with a bottle of Coke.  Not sure if he was sick of hearing the crying or if he hated seeing his niece cry, but either way she stopped crying, but she was still sleepy.  Every time we sat down, she sat next to me and her head was bobbing, yet still she held on to that bag.  I tried to sneak out of her hand, but she woke up and gripped tighter.  I let her be.

Out of the hot sun and back inside the air conditioned Aquarium to see the dolphin show.  Renee and I got separated from the group, but Mort found us and up we went to find seats after the rest of the fam had found them.  We sat on the edge of the auditorium and an awakened Layla and her precious bag sat in my lap as the show began.  Oohh!  Dolphins doing stuff in the water.  It was impressive, but not mind blowing.  It looked the same as it did on TV.

I looked at the women swimming with the dolphins.  How did that happen?  Had they called their parents and said, “Hey, I know you’re paying for college, but I really feel like I should be a dolphin trainer.  Swim with the dolphins , four times a day in front of families from all over the world.  Train them the rest of the time.”? 

What was their parents’ reactions?  Mine would have been like, “So you want to work with wild animals that could swallow you whole in one gulp and I could get to bury some digested, chewed up version of you?  Is that what I’m hearing?”  Really?  Really?!   I would slap Rowan and Layla upside the head if they told me such nonsense.  But I digress.

The dolphin show ended and we exited the Aquarium.  I looked at my watch and realized we wouldn’t have enough time to walk back to Mort’s hotel, get the car, and make it to the Civil War Museum before it closed.  Crap!  Oh well, it obviously wasn’t meant to be.  If I couldn’t go to the museum, maybe I could at least get a restaurant I wanted to try in.  I saddled up next to Renee and asked her, didn’t she want to eat at Papa Deux.  Two separate people had suggested the Creole seafood place when I told them I was coming to Atlanta.  She looked it up on her I-phone and liked what she saw, then she moosied on up to Mort and yes, we were off to the nearly thirty miles away restaurant.

I have never been and never will be a foodie, so I wasn’t sure if the restaurant was worth the high recommendations it had received, but maybe it did, the place was packed.  Though that also could have been because it was a Saturday evening.  We even saw a wedding party eating dinner there.  My fried shrimp was good, Rowan and Jory cleaned their plates.  I asked Mona if the food was good, she said the seafood had a kick to it.

We had a nice family meal on our last night together in town.  Tomorrow, Mort and Mona were leaving.  Mona wanted to stay, but Mort said he had to get back to LA and since they were caravanning, not much she could do.

We drove back to the hotel.  The kids played with Jory’s Air Force One set, then it was time for bed.

Our second to last day in town had come to a close.