Daddy July 11th, 2006
It was our first weekend in Atlanta, so we wanted to make sure we had some fun. After spending most of the week cooped up in a hotel room, Daddy and Alex wanted to get out and stretch our legs a bit. We had visited a park near our hotel a couple of times, but Alex had slept through both trips while being pushed around in the stroller. They decided they would go once again, but this time Alex was going to stay awake so that he could see all of the cool stuff at the park.
And there was lots to see. There were tons of birds of all sorts ranging from blue jays to sparrows and many others 
that neither Mommy nor Daddy recognized. There were also lots of flowers and trees that provided some color and cool shade, which was much appreciated on a hot summer day. There were chipmunks and dogs to chase those chipmunks, but don’t worry, these dogs couldn’t climb trees so they wouldn’t catch the chipmunks anyway.
But most of all, there were ducks. There is a huge pond at this park and it is a hot-spot hang out for tons of ducks. You can hardly go 20 feet without running into a duck there were so many. These ducks had been there previously when Daddy and Alex went for walks, but Alex actually got to see them this time. 
He looked at them inquisitively (as much as an 8 week old can be inquisitive), but mostly he was unimpressed. Seems he doesn’t know enough about the world to know that he should think that ducks are really cool. Ah, we’ll get there eventually. Maybe we just need to rent Howard the Duck for him so that he can learn the wonders of the duck species?
After seeing ducks for the first time on Saturday, Mommy and Daddy thought it would be fun to teach Alex the ways of the ducks on Sunday. Since teaching him to fly was impractical, it was decided that maybe he would like to take his first dive into the swimming pool. Grandma and Grandpa Luckhaupt had purchased a swimsuit for Alex prior to our trip, so we knew we had to give that bad boy a test run, especially since it may not fit him anymore in a couple of weeks (that kid is growing fast!).
The first thing that we learned during our swimming experiment is that Alex doesn’t like the heat much. It was pretty warm on Sunday, though not unbearable, and still Alex was none too happy about being out of the temperature controlled hotel room. Since we didn’t plan on keeping out in that temperature too long, we decided to go right into the swimming pool. Young Alex was unsure of what was happening at first, but then took to it like, er, a duck to water. He really seemed to like his first time in the swimming pool even though the water was just a bit chilly. In fact, he liked it so much that he kicked free of Daddy’s grasp and did two laps end-to-end in under 30 seconds. Oh, okay, that last part didn’t happen, at least not in real life.
All in all, it was a very exciting weekend for Alex. He got to meet his Uncle Eric for the first time (not pictured). He got to spend some time learning about nature. He got to eat at Outback Steakhouse for the first time - hey, he had a bottle while we were there, so that counts right? And best of all, he got to experience the best part of a family vacation - the hotel swimming pool. The checklist is starting to fill up.
