There's a First Time For Everything

Our road trip last week contained a few firsts. 

Our first trip with a cat in the car for such an extended period of time that we needed his litter box readily available.

The first time Jersey used a litter box in a moving vehicle.

The first time Jersey spent more of the day with the boys' than with Ariana.

Our first time being to North Carolina.


Seth's first time actually helping in the kitchen. I'm conviced the only reason he helped is because he was making brownies that he had been craving for days.

The kids' first time having an entire living room floor to do hours of endless spins in. (Seth's living room is furniture-less, hence the all the floor space).

Our first time the four of us went to Atlanta together.

And while we were in Atlanta we went to the Coca-Cola Factory. The kids absolutely looooooved it. It was the best $36 I ever spent, seriously. 

There was so much there, lots of displays, a few short movies about the Coca Cola Company, we watched a 4D movie which was super cute, especially when water squirted at us and our chairs shook and the entire audience squealed.

But the favorite part was easily the tasting at the end. There is a room full of Coca Cola products from each country. They looooooved tasting what people in Latin America drink and Europe, etc. The four of us agreed that Asia had the best tasting products, besides North America of course.

It was funny when they found a flavor they liked, they'd fill their cup up with it and gulp it all down. I don't know how they did that and didn't explode from a fully carbonated belly. 


Ari's goal was to try all 60 flavors and not spit any of them out - she succeeded. The boys' and I also had all 60 flavors, but there were a handful of flavors the three of us spit out, seriously, some of them were completely disgusting.


At the end you get to take a bottle.

And then if you're Lorri Rumbarger you take a photo of your children pretending to drink said bottle of Coke.

Of course we had to check out the gift shop before we left. I wanted at least six different things but resisted. I did pick up one little souvenir though, I'll show it to you when we are all settled in our new casa - it's currently packed away.


Ariana has a thing for food and drink related earrings. It's cute. So of course she spotted these Coke float earrings within the first minute of walking into the gift shop.

While Owen spotted (and posed) with nearly everything in the store...as usual.

And of course a trip to Atlanta isn't complete without a trip to Ikea. I love me some Ikea but it was a niiiiiiiightmare going on a Saturday afternoon. It was packed full of folks. And it didn't help that we had to go all the way back to the top floor after realizing I forgot something on my list. Yes, I make a list when I go to Ikea - don't judge.


I do love shopping with my kiddos though because they are so into it. Seriously, they don't complain or whine, they actually pick up clothes and say, "Ooooo, can I try this on?" or if you're Owen you sit in a display in Ikea and say, "Mmm, this one's nice."

All in all it was a fun little getaway; we got to see the boo, we did a little shopping, and got to fill our belly with 60 flavors of Coca-Cola awesomeness. As for the ride home, I should've taken a photo of the inside of the car, every nook and crevice was full of children,  and a feline named Jersey, luggage, coolers, souvenirs, and loads of Ikea shopping bags.


Life is good,


Lorri