Spring Break - Atlanta detour

My alarm was set for 4:00am so we could get dressed, return the car, and get to the airport in time for our early flight.  I woke the girls, got dressed and ready, then took a look at my phone while I waited for the girls.  Should have looked at my phone first...our flight was delayed three hours.  I told the girls to go back to bed and spent a bit of time looking at what our day was going to look like.  Instead of getting home at 12:30pm on Thursday we were going to get home at 11:30pm.  We had planned to meet Val in McCall Thursday evening - not any more.  Our new flight plan gave us an 8 hour layover in Altlanta - at least Lily could get a new state.  I went back to bed.

Hours later at the airport I had the girls do some research about what they wanted to do in Atlanta.  Our flight was delayed more, they wouldn't check our bags at the gate, blah blah blah, eventually we made it to Atlanta, ditched our bags and hopped on MARTA (which was free because of construction) and headed downtown to the Aquarium.  We first grabbed some tasty lunch then enjoyed a full 3 hours in the aquarium. 

One of the favorites were the 5 beluga whales.  Emmy would have watched them swim, poop and blow bubbles for hours.

The walk through tank was incredible with the whale shark swimming all around you.

We even got to see the tank from above.

They had an exhibit for fahlo, Emily's favorite app.  You buy a stuffy or bracelet that gives you a code for the app that then allows you to track an animal.  She has several bracelets and is always dreaming of more.  He she is showing Bill the dolphin on her phone and the big screen.

We were able to catch the last dolphin show of the day.  I didn't take any pics, but Emmy got a few, and several videos.  She sat up close but Lily and I didn't want to get wet so we sat farther back.  The show was lots of fun and a great way to end our time at the largest aquarium in the US.

We decided to walk back to the metro through the Olympic Park.

While taking this pic the girls realized we were very close to a Waffle House.  Having never eaten there, and loving the Jonas Brothers song of the same name they decided they were ready for dinner.

They loved their waffles and in the end it was good that we found somewhere quick to eat because the security lines were exceptionally long due to the government shutdown not paying TSA employees.  All things considered, the wait wasn't too bad and we made it back to our gate in plenty of time to board our flight and get back to Boise, grateful to sleep in our own beds.