Family Fun Weekend! Toddler Approved!

 
Starting off summer with a bang over here!

 We went all out for a family fun weekend for Langston. 

First stop was a Monster Jam show in Greenville, SC! Langston is obsessed with monster trucks and monster jam so we knew this was going to be an awesome surprise for him. The Monster Jam show was in a small arena so be sure to wear your mask and your head phones to conceal the loud motors of the trucks. Langston gladly wore his the entire show. I bought these for him from amazon. They had good reviews and worked well. The show started on time at 1pm, had a 20 min intermission and ended promptly at 4pm.  It fell right in the middle of Langston's nap time. He got a little sleepy and wanted to sit on my lap but he stayed awake the entire time. We packed snacks and sandwiches and ate in the truck right after the show. Save your money! The prices of the snacks in the arena were obscene as always.

This show featured six trucks! Two of which are Langston favorites. Grave Digger and Scooby Doo.

Adults need ear coverings too!

Next we headed to Atlanta. We purchased a CityPass to get into the aquarium and the zoo at discounted rates. I highly recommend purchasing entry this way to save money. Due to Covid each venue is operating at limited capacity and ask that you reserve a time slot prior to arriving. A week prior to our trip, I went to our City Pass email confirmation and from there I was able to select which attractions we wanted to attend along with date and time. Entry was into the Zoo and the Aquarium was quick and easy. They did temp checks, mask checks and metal detector checks as well. 

Sunday we had breakfast at Highland Bakery. It was soooo good! After that we headed to the Zoo. I am not a fan of zoos. I was not thrilled about going but I wanted Langton to see some african animals. The vibe at the zoo solidified my feelings on going. The animals seemed so unhappy. Most of the animals were either sleep or avoiding all human contact. I was hoping Langston could feed the giraffes but there was a line of parents getting refunds because the giraffes wanted no parts. It was just sad. The only lively exhibit were the pandas. Two baby pandas were wrestling which was exciting for Langton to watch. 

After the zoo. We took a little nap at the hotel then woke up and went to the Botanical Gardens. Entry to the Botanical Gardens is not included with the City Pass. On this Sunday they had live music and a bar. One of the best parts is the children's garden. It had a play area, tree house with a slide and a stage. Langton loved it. He kept calling it a secret garden and pretending to look for treasure. 

The Botanical Gardens were beautiful! Almost breathtaking! We walked around a lot. I wish we would have stashed some snacks in the stroller. They have a snack stand and a restaurant in the gardens but the food was very expensive. We definitely could have gotten away with bringing a few snacks as they did not check the stroller at the entry. 

Langston loved the children's garden! 

For dinner Sunday night we just ordered some take out and called it a night! I was pooped! At 20 weeks pregnant all that walking had my pelvis a little sore. I was glad to just shower and eat in bed.

Monday morning we headed to the aquarium at about 11am. Langton really loves to watch octopus documentaries on youtube to he was super excited to see sea creatures. We saw every exhibit at the aquarium. The best ones were the sharks, otters and Langston loved being able to touch the sting rays! The only thing we did not get to see was the dolphin show. 

How cute are these two!

Later that afternoon I met up with my friend at the park.  Langston and her son were able to play for about an hour, then we headed to our dinner reservation. 

We ate at a restaurant called Grana. The ambiance and food was amazing! I ate every bite of my mafalde pasta! Sooo good! Highly recommend but be sure to make a reservation. They are pretty popular. They indoor and outdoor seating and a beautiful rooftop terrace. They also teach you how to speak italian in the bathrooms. 

Langston had a blast the entire trip! I'm sure I'll be hearing about for weeks lol. 

Love, 

ALW

Leave a Comment 20 weeks pregnant, atlanta aquarium, atlanta botanical garden, blackgirlsblog, blacklifestyleblog, blackmomsblog, blogger, road trip, road trip with a toddler, summer toddler activities, toddler fun

Share:

Powder Room Remodel

Hi Everyone! 

Quarantine, yes we are still in quarantine, got me again. I decided to remodel my powder room. Power rooms don't get enough love. I mean, its not like tons of people are visiting but when guest come over the powder room is one of the most used rooms in your home. I decided to spruce mine up a bit, and by a bit I mean a lot. All credit goes to Anna Mae Grooves. Her entire home is lovely! She is lovely too! I've been loving her content lately. I saw her powder room remodel and had to do mine too. 

Lets jump right in! 

Here is what my powder room looked like before. I liked the shelves, so I knew I wanted to keep those. But the oval mirror and light fixture had to go. 

I went with my go to, Target for the shelves and mirror. I purchased the light fixture from Shadesoflight.com This was my first time using that site and they have a ton of inventory and decent prices. 

I used thumbtack for the shelf and light fixture install. I have used thumbtack a lot and I have never had an problem with the handymen or the app itself. 

I knew I wanted to do something to the walls but I didn't want to be bothered with paint. Initially, I picked out 2 different peel and stick wall paper patterns from amazon. They have some good options. I also saw several that I loved on Chasingpaper.com . Then I stumbled upon Anna Maes' Instagram page and fell in love with wall decal concept. I searched Urbanwalls site and was blown away! They have some amazing decals and peel and stick wall paper on their site. I am also obsessed with their Instagram and pinterest page. 

Cons to using the decals:

1. The decals on urban walls site are kinda pricey. I waited until they had a sale and was able to get a coupon code from their online chat as well. 

2. Their shipping is also kinda slow. I know....first world problems. They are made to order so mine took about a week and 2 days to arrive. 

3. When your decals arrive they come in long sheets. You have to cut each image out of the sheet. I found this time consuming and quite tedious. Take your time though. The cut out does not have to be super concise but you don't want to cut any of the decals either. 

Pro tip: Because all of a sudden I am a pro right? lol place your decals on the wall before putting your fixtures back up. I'll tell you why, just keep reading.

I used painters tape to stick the decals in spots to get an idea of how it would look before committing to sticking them down. 

To adhere the decal I used paint smoothing tool, I have no idea what it is called, but it worked well. The Urbanwalls instructions recommended a credit card for smoothing. Had to ask my husband to help since I'm so short. 

Next, I knew that the faucet, towel holder and tissue holder would have to be swapped out. Initially I purchased a gold faucet and tissue holder you see above from amazon. It ended up being the completely wrong color of gold. It was hideous and did not match the brassy gold mirror frame or light fixture. I ended up retuning it at Kohl's (they are an amazon hub so you can return your items there if you have on close to you). 

I went with a dark brass colored faucet, towel holder and tissue holder. I also switched out the light switch and outlet for brass colored set I found at Home Depot.

Somebody was supervising my every move. 

See how the decals are coming out from under the fixtures. This is key. It makes the decals look more like wall paper when you apply them before your fixtures. 

I did the same thing here. I love how it looks. 

Here is the final product! I really like how it turned out. I may swap the shelves out for some darker colored wood shelves I already have. I think it may make the dark brass fixture pop more. What do you think? Have you tried peel an stick wall paper or decals before? I love this because its less permenant. A little heat from a blow dryer and they peel right off! So cool!

Stay well,

ALW

Leave a Comment amazon, bathroom remodel, blackgirlsblog, blacklifestyleblog, blogger, decor, diy decor, home decor, mcapril, powder room, urbanwalls, walldecals

Share: