Wedding weekend!

This past weekend, we traveled to Asheville, NC to attend our friends, Kyle and Amber's, wedding. The kids were out of school on Friday due to a teacher work day, so we decided to go ahead and let them have a 4-day weekend and we left early on Thursday morning (one of those 6 a.m. flights) and flew to Atlanta, GA. We decided to do this so we could take the kids to the Georgia Aquarium. I'm so glad we did. It was so worth the idea of them missing a day of school to experience the Aquarium. What a great learning experience for all of us!
 

Zachary and Taylor in front of the Georgia Aquarium.

Zachary petting a sting ray.  I was proud of myself because not only did a pet them, but I also touched the sharks that were in the tank!

The kids looking through a bubble on the other side of this tank.

A few sea creatures that we liked!  The pink fish was Taylor's favorite.  We also loved looking at the seahorses and all the jellyfish.

One of the first huge tanks we saw.  It was amazing to walk into this room and see this huge tank.

The kids and I in front of the tank.

Taylor finally decided she would touch a sting ray!  It took several trips over to the pool to convince her it was okay to touch them and that the barbs had been removed.

This is one of my favorite photos.  I love the look on her face when she sees the shark is getting close.  She definitely pulled her hand up out of the water very quickly.

We took the behind-the-scenes tour and got to see several of the tanks from the top of the water.  They are so much more massive then they look from the viewing floor.  This aquarium is home to 4 whale sharks...they were 25-30 ft long!  They were really interesting to see from above the water!

Here is a whale shark from one of the viewing tanks.  This tank had a tunnel that you went through on a very slow moving sidewalk...so cool!

Michael and the kids on the moving sidewalk going through the tunnel while a manta ray swims over head!

Taylor touching an anemone.  She really got brave after touching the sting rays and then decided she wasn't scared of anything...except the sharks!

A Beluga Whale and a Sea Dragon.  I had never even heard of Sea Dragons before!

All of us sticking our heads up through the tubes in the penguin tunnels.  So fun to be right at eye level with them!

After we finished looking at the penguins, the otters were right there and it was lunch time for them.  They were so cute laying on their backs while they played with their otter kongs and ate their lunch.

After we spent most of our day at the Georgia Aquarium, we decided to head across the park to the Coca-Cola museum. 

These are giant coke bottles they had different countries make when Olympics were in Atlanta.

The kids in the first room we went in.

All of us!

Different Olympic torches.

Trying out lots of different sodas from around the world.  Some were good, others were interesting and then there were the ones that immediately got dumped out.

This was the first time the kids got to drink Coke.  Up till now, the only soda they ever get is the occasional Sprite.

Giant Coke bottle.

After spending the night in Buford, Ga., we headed on to Asheville.

We made our way through South Carolina.

Before we knew it, we were in North Carolina.

We found out hotel, got settled in and walked around the Biltmore Village area.  This is a shopping area located right outside the Biltmore estate.

Kyle and Amber invited all of their guests to the Rehearsal dinner.  We all hopped aboard the old school bus and headed to the BBQ place where the dinner was.  It was really good and a really neat place.  The building it was in was once a service station.

Inside the restaurant/service station.

Outside.

On Saturday, we headed to the Biltmore estate before the wedding so we could check it out.

The kids in front of the Biltmore.  It was so huge.  We probably were only allowed to tour 25% of the house.  Photos were not allowed inside, so unfortunately I had to put my camera away as soon as we walked through the doors.

After we toured the house, we had lunch at the Stables.  This was once the horse stables for the Biltmore, but is now a restaurant.  We sat by some of the horse stables.

We took a quick look at the fish ponds.

Then made our way to the gardens.

Pretty view from the side.  You can see the mountains in the background.

Heading towards the gardens and the greenhouse.

Walking through the greenhouse.

After the gardens, we headed back to our car and drove over to the Biltmore farm.  It was about 5 miles from the house.  The entire estate the Biltmore sits on is 30 square miles. 

After our speedy tour of the Biltmore, wee went back to our hotel to get ready for the wedding. 

Here are the kids in front of the hotel while we were waiting for our trolley to arrive.  Kyle and Amber had arranged for a trolley to come to the hotel to pick up all the guests and take them to the ceremony and then to the Biltmore estate for the reception.

They got married at a private school in the chapel.  The stain glass was beautiful.

After the ceremony, we all got back on the trolleys and headed to the Biltmore's LionCrest for the reception.

The kids needed a fancy drink...Shirley Temples!

The dinner was in the upstairs of LionCrest.  It was a long banquet table...for 75 people.  We did the wave up and down the table a few times during dinner!

After dinner we headed back downstairs.  They had brought in an ice cream freezer so guests could have ice cream with their cake!

Taylor was ready to dance, so after Kyle and Amber had their first dance and while Amber was dancing with her dad, Kyle came over and danced with Taylor.

Taylor dancing with Michael.

All the Drury alums that were at the wedding.

Sigma Nu Fraternity Brothers.

When the reception was over, we all held sparklers and Kyle and Amber made their way to the limo!  It was a wonderful wedding and I know we are so honored that we were asked to help them celebrate their wedding and start to their married life!

To end this very long post, I wanted to share a video of our Taylor...a.k.a. "The Dancing Queen" at the reception.  She danced non-stop all night and loved every minute of it!