Elyse's Second Concert... In Chicago!

This weekend (they flew up yesterday and flew back today) Anna and Elyse went to Chicago to go to the Moonbyul concert!

Elyse is a devotee of K-pop music. When Moonbyul's current concert itinerary did not include Atlanta and Anna offered to take Elyse to a nearby concert location so she could see the show, Elyse jumped at the chance! Here are some of the pictures they texted to me from Chicago:

The concert stage!

The concert venue

The church right beside the concert venue

Sunday morning breakfast at Stan's Donuts

Elyse's First Concert

Tonight Anna took Elyse to her first concert! (ARTMS, one of Elyse's favorite K-Pop groups, at the Tabernacle.)

Sleeping Beauty

Today, Anna and Elyse went to see the Sugarloaf Youth Ballet perform "Sleeping Beauty" at the Gas South Theater, at which Anna took this picture of Elyse posing in front of the backdrop they had set up:

Mom and Elyse Go Camping

Anna and Elyse camped at Stone Mountain, as has become their annual custom, for the past three days. Here are some of the pictures they texted me from their outing:

Years ago, when Anna and I used to while away a Saturday afternoon reading on the lawn, we would often get frozen lemonade. They still sell it!

Elyse on the train

This picture and the next show this year's train-ride drama at Pebble Ridge -- which involved dinosaurs escaping and being hunted down. "At least it's different from past years' dramas," Anna texted me.

This is intended to simulate some sort of underwater scene with jellyfish. It just looks creepy to me, but I wasn't there.

"The only thing at the end of this yellow brick road," they told me, "was a bathroom!"

The Laser Show -- which they attended Monday night

Coming Home

Today, the last day of 2021, Elyse and Anna came home from their four-day visit with Gramma and Grampa (or MaryJo and Denny) in South Padre Island, Texas!

Here are some of the picture Anna texted to me in the last hours of their time on this mini-vacation:

They spent last night in a hotel near the airport (since their flight out was very early), and got pizza for supper--and had the leftovers for breakfast!

Pizza for breakfast, donuts for lunch--sounds fair!
(This is from the airport in Dallas)

They had a three-and-a-half hour layover in Dallas; it got boring, but there were plenty of photo opportunities in the Dallas airport

This is what the Atlanta airport looked like while I was waiting to pick them up. The perspective in this photo makes the airport look more interesting than it actually is.

Elyse and Mommy Go to the Theater

Tonight, Elyse and Anna got dressed up to go see a Christmas play at the Conyers community theater (the New Depot Players). Here they are before they left:

Elyse and Mommy at Callaway Gardens

This weekend Elyse and Anna went to Callaway Gardens for a Labor Day Weekend getaway, and to see the balloon glow that was happening there Saturday night (which Elyse didn't know about; Anna kept the balloon glow as a Special Surprise). Here are seven of the pictures they texted to me while they were on their weekend adventure:

Callaway Gardens is getting ready for its Fall Festival

They went to the beach for a couple of hours; this is Elyse as a mermaid

Pokey the Turtle Balloon, whose pin Elyse has and coincidentally brought, was there for the balloon glow

The second day, Sunday, they went to the wild animal safari place; this is the two of them on the bus being taken in to the safari

Elyse Goes Ballooning (sort of)

Elyse has been interested for some time in flying--not like a bird, which I'm pretty sure she accepts as impossible, but in an airplane or helicopter or hot-air balloon. Today she had the opportunity to get near one--hot-air balloon, that is--and even inside it, though not actually take it up, up and away. (I've been trying to figure out how to work a Fifth Dimension reference into this, and that's the best I can do. Sorry.)

The event took place in Jackson, Georgia, which is in the amusingly-named county of Butts, which is why it was called Butts Aglow. It involved hot-air balloons lighting up so that...well, I'll quote here from an article by Larry Stanford in the online edition of the Jackson Progress-Argus: "A balloon glow is when hot air balloons are set up and inflated, but anchored to the ground. The propane burners are ignited periodically to keep the balloons inflated with hot air. When night falls, the balloons glow like huge light bulbs or Chinese lanterns, given [sic -- I assume it should say "giving"] a spectacular display for the audience." (The whole article is here: Butts Aglow 2021)

Anyway, Elyse had a really good time. Here are some of the pictures Anna texted to me from the event:

Helen Tubing 2021

Today we went to Helen, Georgia (about 70 miles north of us), so Anna and Elyse could go tubing on the Chattahoochee for the first time in two years (the tubing places did open for a while last year, but we decided it was best not to go then, what with the pandemic and all).

The entrance to Helen Tubing has been completely redone, and it's no longer just $3 either

While Anna and Elyse floated down the river, Jessica and I went into Helen proper to wait for them to appear on the river under the bridge by the Troll Tavern. While we were there, I made -- sometimes rather sneakily -- a bunch of pictures, including these:

This is what it looks like waiting under the bridge and watching for people on the river

These are just random people tubing; look all you want, but you won't find Anna and Elyse among them

This is one of the sneakily-acquired pictures. They were posing for a picture someone else was taking of them. I apologize to them for sneaking this picture, but they were out in public. Also, "Do not climb Biggy!" (Nobody did while we were seated near him.)

Cool River Tubing is not the company Anna and Elyse went through, I just liked the look of their bus

Horsie & Ducky Platz

Finally, about an hour and twenty minutes after they'd first gotten into the river, Anna and Elyse made it to the bridge:

Shortly after this we picked them up at the Helen Tubing end point, and then we all went back to downtown Helen and at some funnel cake (except for Elyse, who prefers ice cream), and then we came home.