Our next stop was Willowbrook Apple Farm.  They opened at 10 a.m., but there was already line at 9:30.  I think it was especially crowded since it was opening weekend.  It was definitely more crowded than when we went five years ago.

There was one large group already in line that was serious about their annual apple picking tradition, with matching shirts!

Once the gate opened, there are two lines, one for pressing cider, and one for picking apples.  We opted for the cider line since I knew the line back up faster.  We made a half gallon, so the kids were told to fill up the bucket 3/4 of the way.

I liked how the netting for the apple cider station kept the bees away.

There are two presses available, and we were second in line, so there was no wait!  The kids took turns feeding the hopper and turning the crank.

Next came the pressing by turning the wooden handle.

And voila!  Apple cider!  This was our first time doing this, so it was fun and interesting.

The person helping us was friendly and patient, as were all the staff we encountered here.

Here’s some video footage of the process.  It is not the most riveting to watch, but it does provide a better sense of the experience.

Next we had to stand in line to pick apples.  We killed time by tasting some cider and honey samples.

It was warming up by then, so n found respite in some shade.

Once our group was let on the property, we were given apple-picking instructions.  We opted for the three pound bag, which you are allowed to fill up as long as the apples all fit inside.

Because it was the very beginning of the season, there was a lot of low-lying fruit, and apple pickers were not necessary.

These Winesap apple trees are over 100 years old!

Love this pic!  I’m pretty sure this will be the last year n will be able to sit on D’s shoulders!

Once we were done picking, there was a long line to pay on the way out.  We had to hurry since k had basketball practice, so we were not able to make any other stops.  As a note for next time, I am curious about the signs I saw for apple burritos.

The last time we went to Oak Glen, k and n looked like this.  Are you kidding me?  Time truly does go by so fast!  In that post I thought we would go to Oak Glen about every other year.  Well, it took us five years to return, and it was still fun!  Five years ago I did not realize that our fall weekends would be filled with basketball practices and soccer games, making it difficult to fit in family outings like this.

I referred back to my original blog post in planning this outing.  Our first stop was to buy a crumb topped apple pie at Law’s Coffee Shop since we did not have a chance to try it last time.

Our next stop was Snow Line Orchard for cider donuts and apple cider.  Last time I did not let the kids sample the “gently pasteurized” apple cider.  This time I did not give it a second thought.

I love how they let you sample different types of apples here.  We ended up buying a mini bag of Jonagold apples.  D also really liked the Shizuka apples, but they were only sold in a $18 bag, so we passed.

Eyeing the freshly fried mini donuts.  I think the price went up about 50 cents since five years ago, but still a good deal.

D’s sportin’ his new Oakley transition glasses, which came in handy for this picture in the sun.

We sat right by the U-pick raspberry patch, which I think just ended.  There were a few left.

I really like the property here.  It feels spacious and not overly commercialized.

n found this fall leaf, which we do not see much of around where we live, so I took a picture.

Wokcano is part of a restaurant chain and one just opened up by our house.  The building has been in the works for a long time now, and D would comment that he wanted to go there almost every time we passed by.  I am not sure what appealed to him, but when I saw that there was a coupon for a free entrée on your birthday, I knew we had to go.  D was traveling for business on his birthday and he was supposed to travel on my birthday as well.  As it turns out, he was able to be home for my birthday on Friday.  After I took k to hula practice, we went to dinner just after 7 p.m., which is VERY late for us.

The first thing I noticed upon walking in the restaurant is the noise level.  This is not a place that my parents would like to visit!  There is loud music, making it necessary for everyone to raise their voices in order to carry on a conversation.  The décor is pretty upscale.  It has a “club vibe”, which feels weird in this decidedly surburban big box shopping center.  There were a lot of families, most of whom were quite casual, so we didn’t feel out of place.

Our waiter was an enthusiastic young Asian American guy.  He was helpful in guiding us through the menu.

We made two of our entrees a complete dinner for $4, which adds on a salad, bowl of hot and sour soup or miso soup, and rice.  Since the entrees are priced so high, I would expect this to come with the entrée.  The dressing was good, but there was too much.  I always like hot and sour soup, which worked out since the kids preferred the miso soup.

Black Pepper Beef Mignon (very tender) & Chicken Lo Mein (kids’ favorite).

Grilled Seabass (most expensive dish, used birthday coupon).  This was ok…kind of dry, and not too much flavor.

Even though this picture is grainy, I like it because it conveys the extra happy mood that k was in that night.

D insists that if he had an unlimited amount of money, he would eat here every week.  Since I do not foresee that happening anytime soon, it will probably be a while before our next visit!

When I picked up n from school today he had a sly smile on his face.  He then told me that he lost his tooth!  It had become pretty wiggly the past week, so it was not too surprising.  However, we have been waiting a long time for this day.  In kindergarten and first grade, teachers made a big deal about losing teeth, but n’s teeth were not budging back then.  I thought I was in third grade when I lost my first tooth, which would have been really late, but maybe my memory is not the most accurate.  Because n lost his tooth at school, he was able to get a treasure chest from the nurse to keep his tooth in!

His adult tooth looks huge in comparison to his tiny baby teeth.  He’s growing up!  sniff, sniff.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKtv5M8hUtF/?taken-by=limbylim

I made this tooth fairy bag just a couple of days ago, since I knew the day was coming soon.  Too bad he already knows the tooth fairy story thanks to having an older sister who started losing teeth four years ago.

D turned 40 yesterday, while he was on a business trip in San Diego.  We had a small family celebration the day before.  He was gone for most of the day at the Rams game (also with work), so  the kids and I had a lot of time to buy presents and decorate.

I found the idea on Pinterest to thread baker’s twine with a needle through the balloon ends to make a garland.   It worked out quite nicely.

I won this Ugly Christmas Sweater, which D will be proudly sporting once the weather turns cooler.  We also bought him khaki pants, socks, new water belt bottles and Shot Bloks.  Hopefully we’ll be able to go on a fun vacation to properly celebrate.  D always says he values experiences over things.  Maybe we can make it a joint celebration since I will be turning forty next year!

After Santa Monica we hopped on PCH and made our way to Point Mugu, which is north of Malibu.  Even though the traffic is almost always bad on PCH, it is nice to roll down the windows, let the breeze in, and take in all of the sights.

We checked into our campsite and quickly set up.  I asked everyone if they wanted to hike or go to the beach, and the consensus was beach.  A quick drive across PCH and we were there.

The beach was pretty nice, but there were some sharp stones jutting out of the sand that you had to watch out for.

The last week before school started we took a quick trip Channel Islands National Park.  We left on Sunday after church and had lunch in Santa Monica.  Our first stop was a small shop called Sunny Blue.

Their specialty is omusubi, or rice balls.

As you can see, the store is really tiny inside.

I ordered the Sunny Blue Curry, D had the Kara Tuna, and the kids each had a Tokyo Tori (chicken with sweet and sour sauce).  Normally I would balk at paying $3-4 per rice ball, but I must admit, they were really good.  k even decided that rice balls are her all time favorite food!

n was not to big a fan of the complimentary barley tea, but I thought it was nice and refreshing.

Next we walked around the adjacent farmers market that is held on Sundays.

The longest line was at the Country Kitchen omelette station, so we hopped in line.  The assembly line was actually quite fast, so our was not too long.

You pick your own toppings, and your omelette makes its way down each burner until it is done.

We picked bacon, asparagus and cheddar, and it came with potato chips, which I found a little odd.  It was quite large, but we finished it without a problem.

We picked up a bag of oranges and bread for our dinner and walked back to our car.

I really liked how the paint here matched the succulents.

Doesn’t this look like a neat elementary school?

Cool public art!

We do not make it to Santa Monica very often, so it was a nice stop.  The weather was so pleasant and everyone seemed to be having a good time enjoying their Sunday.

We are starting our second week of school over here…the first time that we have started in August.  For Labor Day we took a quick trip up north to visit D’s family.  We borrowed a new CX-9 and put the radar cruise control to the test on the I-5.  It worked really well!  I always thought this was a feature that cars should have, and the future is now!  You set the speed you want to “cruise” at, and the car will maintain that speed, but slow down if the car in front of you is slower without hitting the pedal or brakes.  I also liked that it taught D what a safe distance between cars is, since I always nag him about tailgating. 🙂

On Sunday we ate lunch at Hurley’s in Yountville.  We were able to meet up with D’s cousin from Singapore, (upper right) whom we have not seen since our wedding!

The kids were also able to hang out with their cousin.  Grandma always buys them fun toys, and this time they played with a straw connector kit.

I know “Hotlanta” is probably a term that Atlanta residents are tired of, but we found it to be quite fitting.  The heat and the humidity made it difficult for me to breathe at times.

First we checked into the Residence Inn in downtown.  The building was old, and the hallways smelled funky, but our corner room was pretty nice.

I liked the lions on the building across from us.

We also had a partial view of Olympic Park.

Our first stop was CNN tower.

The building is pretty huge and impressive.

They own the Cartoon Network.  So cute!

The tour includes a ride on what I believe is the tallest free-standing escalator in the world.

The tour guide showed us some of the inner workings of a news anchor desk.  We also saw the newsroom.  There were some people working, but it was not too busy since it was Sunday afternoon.  Since news happens anytime, there are people working around the clock.  We learned that the news anchors store a week’s worth of clothing in their lockers in case they have to fly out on a moment’s notice.

They also showed a short video montage designed to pull at your heartstrings.  The tour ended in the gift shop, as most tours do.

Glitter CNN flip flops, anyone?

Or maybe some CNN winter accessories?

Next we headed to the Coca Cola museum, but made a few picture stops on the way.

The College Football Hall of Fame looked pretty cool.  We stopped in the gift shop, but there was very little Pac-12 representation.

D had just recently been to the Coca Cola museum while on a business trip, so I took the tour by myself.

They start you off with a cold Coke, which was nice on the hot day.

I chose Coke Zero, which I prefer to Diet Coke, for some reason.

Then you enter into a room filled with Coca Cola memorabilia.  Our enthusiastic tour guide told us some of the history of the company.

This dispenser is the oldest piece they have.

Then you watch an inspirational mini movie about Coca-Cola and life’s moments.  Another heartstring-puller.

The factory plant is offsite, but there were some displays.

There was a long line to take a picture with the polar bear mascot.

This was another picture opportunity spot.

I thought the display of art made with Coca Cola cans was neat.  I skipped the line to see the secret recipe vault.  Instead, I made my way to the best part: the taste testing room!

Each set of machines features various sodas from the different continents.  Each nozzle is labeled with the country and flavor.

Asia!  For some reason, I really liked Korea’s soda, but I don’t know what flavor “Joy” is.

South America!

Africa!

I did not try all of them, as that would be serious sugar overload.  The kids would have loved it!  On your way out, they give you a glass bottle of classic Coca-Cola.  Then you go to the gift shop.  It was too crowded, though, so I just met up with D.

We walked through Olympic Park and came across this sign, which I thought was odd:

Olympic Torch

I was sad that all of the restaurants that I wanted to check out were closed on Sunday.  We ended up with take-out from Flats, which was just ok.

We were back at the hotel before dark, and were able to watch some Olympics.

We drank my souvenir Coca-Cola for breakfast since we could not bring it on the plane ride home.  We ate our free breakfast at the hotel, which was actually really good.

The MARTA station was really close, so going to the airport was easy.

I took this picture at the airport for my sister.  Apparently it is a chain over there.  Southwest had a counter where they were giving out free soda and cookies.  I was also pleasantly surprised that Southwest is giving out actual snacks (not just peanuts) during the flights now, too.

This will conclude our posts for Atlanta.  It was fun to explore a new-to-me state.

One thing that I was a bit nervous about was that we did not have a scheduled ride back to Atlanta from Dahlonega.  It is a good hour away, and Uber drivers seemed scarce from Dahlonega.  Thankfully, the best man and his wife agreed to give us a ride, as they were headed back to the airport to meet their children in the afternoon.  That morning, we did a double-date hike at Amicalola Falls State Park.  We hiked to the top of the falls, and this was our view:

On our way back down we had a better view of the waterfall:

There were some interesting “Super Mario” mushrooms in the forest.

We then stopped off to drop of the tuxes and ate lunch together at a Mexican restaurant in the food court.  They are such a nice couple, and it was interesting to learn about their lives in Austin.  Afterward they dropped us of at our hotel, and it was time to do some sightseeing in Atlanta!