Week 1 - Atlanta (ATL)

Hello Family and Friends,

Over the last week we have been able to visit with some friends and family. We were invited to the Kuhn's new, but temporary location in Cummings, Ga. The company was absolutely excellent and Atlas even got a little pull back toy car to take home. But I would like to set the record straight: Cummings is not Atlanta.

Dinner with the Kuhns

We met up with Aunt Clea and Uncle Sean at a Wagyu steak house. The A5 Wagyu short ribs were melt in your mouth, buttery goodness (I told myelf that I would not talk about food anymore, but I just can't help myself. It is such an essential part of being human).  Also, Aunt Clea mentioned to us that Bali is the place to live. Ya'll know Brett and I have now added that to our list of international places for a later date.

Dinner with A5...I mean Danielle, Brett, Clea, Sean, Atlas (left to right)

We also got to visit with some long time friends of ours, the Willis. They are long time Atlanta residents and gave us a full list of great neighborhoods to check out for possible living.

Brunch with the Willis Family

Last, but definelty not least we were able to visit with Cousin Lisa. She took us to Avalon. It is one of those live, eat, play type locations; apartments are located diretly above a shopping center. It was a very nice area, but a little too commercial to live in for our family. We did get to try Ted's Montana Grill for the first time and Cousin Lisa was very impressed with Atlas' ketchup dipping skills! Atlas also got to toss coins into the water fountain for the first time. Not sure if he knows that he is suppose to make a wish. Brett says we are just ruining a good fountain (fun killer).

Eat, Live, Play

Atlas throwing coins in the pond

Now some of you may know that Brett, Nathaniel and I used to vist open houses on Sunday afternoons when we were living in Santa Rosa Beach, Fl. We loved to visit houses that were way to large and that we could not afford. As we look for a new home we have adjusted that model to places that we can afford. We decided to visit an open house in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood. Now the neigborhood itself is already superb as it is off of the Atlanta beltline, close to an excellent public elementary school, and rated very high for walkability. This particular open house made us almost stop our search all together and just settle right here in Atlanta in Virgina Highlands. And no it wasn't because the house was pretty much a perfect size at a steal of a price. No it wasn't the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom, nor the wet bar upstair, the full finished basement, double decks or garage. It was the neighbors! I walked out of the house and the neighbors were outside having a gender reveal and said, "Ya'll should buy that house, we could use more kids in the nighborhood." We met aonther neighbor who was a new dad to a 5 week old; another traveled a lot for work, but was in town for only 7 days in the month of February; another had his whole family out in the street as the grandkids were visiting; and another was a pilot for delta. My point in telling you this is that  the neighbors talked to us enough that we got to know a little bit about their lives. The owner of the very house we were looking at had just moved one block up because they needed more space, but still came back for book club. All the neighbors seemed to genuinly like each other and absolutly loved the neighborhood. It felt like that type of neighborhood that is really a community.