We had a fun-filled full holiday weekend this year. We had three full nights of fireworks. We had a blast! It was weird not being in Lake Tahoe, but we made the most out of being here in the South!
(Note: This is a long, picture-filled post!)
Friday, July 2nd
We took a trip to the other side of Lake Lanier to the city of Cumming. At the city fairgrounds they had a 4th of July fair going on, where they had lots of vendors and fun things to do; even a little race car derby for the kids! 
The fairgrounds
There was live entertainment...and all throughout the fairgrounds were scattered buildings to make it have an old-time feel. They even had an original printing press!
We staked out a place on the grass to watch the fireworks that night, and Zuri made a new friend with 4 year-old Lilly while we were waiting for the show!
Waiting for the Fireworks
Zuri loved the fireworks; she ooohed and aahhhhed and clapped!
Saturday, July 3rd
On Saturday we went to Stone Mountain, where they have the longest running laser show in the country. For the holiday, they did a laser show spectacular with a fireworks show afterward. It was really amazing. The laser show was awesome, and at the end of the laser show, they played The Star Spangled Banner. Everyone stood, and that transitioned into everyone reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Then they did a special fireworks tribute to all the different branches of the armed forces. Then the fireworks really began. It was absolutely amazing! We are so blessed to live in this country.
There is much more to Stone Mountain than the laser show and the fireworks, however. I would like to say that we took full advantage of the park while we were there, but we didn't even graze half of what there is to offer--we just didn't have the time!
Here are some highlights of what we did all day!
We started off the day with a round of mini-golf. They even had a mini-club just for Zuri, but she wasn't interested in it. She did like the brightly colored ball. Joshua creamed me, even with a handicap--Zuri decided that she wanted to be held by J the whole time. We have discovered that when it is hot outside, she doesn't want to walk--only held.
Each hole had one of these cute signs! I enjoyed reading each one.
We wanted to look around the park and not just stick with the main attractions, so we hopped in the car and drove around. We found this picnic/park area which was really nice. It was completely gated so that the kids could safely run around to their hearts content.
Next we took the sky-chair to the top of Stone Mountain, elevation 1,683. It was a lot cooler on top and Zuri loved running on the rock!
When we got back to the bottom of the mountain and into the main park area again, we took a break in a little (man-made) stream so Zuri could cool off.
We then rode the train, which circles around the base of Stone Mountain!
...and where an exhausted Zuri fell asleep...
Since Zuri was sleeping, we thought it would be a good opportunity to sit down and relax, so we went to the movies!
Unfortunately, because the movie is in 4D, meaning wind, water, vibrating seats, etc. Zuri didn't sleep through the whole thing. She woke up and was scared by all the noise and effects. She really didn't like the dinosaur part of the movie.
After the movie we had some ice cream, watched a glass blower make a glass angel, and then went for a ride on the riverboat.
The interesting contraption nestled in with the trees was like a huge pipe organ. It chimed out melodies that could be heard a pretty good distance away. It was really cool.
After the paddle boat ride we had time for just one more activity before all the attractions closed in preparation for the laser show and fireworks. We took Zuri to the Great Barn. It was basically a big fun ball house. There was a lot of noise and the balls would be sucked into the "pipes" creating loud hissing noises that scared Zuri, so we didn't spend as much time in there as we thought we would.
After the Great Barn we settled down to wait for the laser show spectacular and the fireworks to begin. Zuri made a new friend with the lady next to us, who was trying to relax with her boyfriend. The lady was pretty good-natured about it--she said that she used to nanny and that kids are drawn to her for some reason. Zuri didn't want anything to do with us, so to distract her, J finally took her for a walk and came back with a toy, which she absolutely loved and forgot about the intriguing lady.
We were so close to the action that there wasn't a need to use the zoom for the camera's at all. It was also a little too noisy for Zuri, and she had me cover her ears the entire time for both shows. She still laughed and clapped, but every time I would take my hands away from her ears, she would death-grip my hands back into place.
Sunday, July 4th
Sunday, we actually spent more low-key. We watched fireworks from our backyard and introduced Zuri to sparklers, which she didn't like--although she just may have been too tired. While Zuri didn't want to run around with the sparklers, J had fun acting like a kid again! Sparklers are hard to light out here in the humidity. Both J and I were really surprised at how long it took to light just one, and we couldn't get them to catch from one another.
Trying to get Zuri interested in the sparkler--first picture is with flash, the second is without flash. J played around with the shutter speed on his camera and ran around to get these cool designs:
Monday, July 5th
J also had Monday off, so we revisited the town of Helen and went tubing down the Chattahoochee river. I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet, so these are the only pictures, sorry!
Tubing overall ended up being a disaster. Somehow, both Zuri and J ended up with sunscreen in their eyes, which led to a screaming Zuri, and an irritable J. Zuri screamed almost the entire two hours, where frayed nerves finally gave out and we got out of the river early. When she wasn't screaming or trying to rub her eyes (which made the stinging worse), she was trying to pull off the life-jacket or climb out of the tube. It was a nightmare. We have been blessed that Zuri has really enjoyed everything that we have done to this point. I think she would have really enjoying tubing down the river because there were moments during some of the rapids that she stopped screaming and would clap and say "weeee!" So, we are going to try again this weekend when Emily comes to visit (and this time we will make sure the sunscreen stays on the skin and out of the eyes). :-)
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