Why We Love Peachtree City

First of all, because Grandma and Grandpa Gould, plus Grandma Yoko live there. I think Sophie's favorite part about visiting PTC is that she sometimes gets to stay there overnight, all by herself, no siblings competing for attention for 2 days. Who wouldn't love that? She stayed there last weekend, and on Sunday Terry and I took Michael and Emily down to pick her up. They had been in the nursery at Mass that morning, so it was a quiet ride down.



Grandpa has a golf cart, and within minutes from his house are several ponds with ducks, playgrounds and miles of golf cart path complete with tunnels and woods. It is very scenic and I always find myself relaxing when out for a ride. If they wanted to, they could take the golf cart to the grocery store, out to lunch, etc. Here is a picture of us leaving the playground. This trip was Michael and Emily's first time on the golf cart, and they loved it.

On the way home from the playground we stopped at the neighbor's house to see their koi pond. We had seen it last year when it was first installed, and the koi were tiny, now they are roughly 5-8 lbs. I never made it over to the pond, as Michael was checking out the wheels on the golf cart. This is his new obsession: wheels on cars. As soon as he gets outside, he heads to any parked vehicle to check them out. Pam and I think he may become a mechanic, he sure looks like he knows what he's doing:

After our outing, Grandpa treated us to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. It was hibachi style, Mike and Em's first time. They really enjoyed it. Sophie was in her usual "I've been at Grandma's all weekend, and now Mom and Dad are here, so I am going to see how much I can whine" mood. Happens every time she spends the night anywhere, either at my parent's or Terry's. I know it is normal; she was good as gold for her grandparents, but Mom and Dad are a different story. Her mantra during the chef cooking for us "Is he going to do the fire?" "Don't let him do the fire, Mommy!" Luckily, our chef only did a small fire, avoiding a total meltdown from her. She did enjoy some tempura chicken and had fun using her chopsticks to eat the fried rice. Here's a shot of Sophie and her grandmas:

Michael enjoying some carrots from Dad's salad:

And Emily enjoying the lemon from my water. Was it Carly who used to suck lemons as a child? I also remember my sisters Mary and Peg fighting over the lemon from the iced tea, guess it's in the genes.

The kids did really well, staying in their highchairs for over an hour without complaint. Although Michael hit his limit the moment all my food hit the plate, so I did take him outside to walk around. I had a Rice Crispy Treat in my diaper bag, must have been an errant school snack for Sophie, I pulled that out and gave it to them while we ate. Definitely not something they eat on a regular basis, but desperate times call for desperate measures! The last shot is of 3 generations of Gould men:

Thanks again to Gerry, Pam and Yoko for having Sophie stay for the weekend. She had a great time, and wants to know when she can go back. Apparently, life is better at Grandma's, and that's the way it should be!