I wrote about this rock garden 5 years ago when we visited it for the first time. You can read more about the history of the garden in that post, here. Today, I am sharing the pictures we took this past October on our way back from Chattanooga on fall break. It is sometimes fun to revisit places when the children have grown: our youngest didn’t remember this place since he was less than two the first time we stopped at the garden. For how old some of these structures are, the gardens and its miniature buildings are in really good shape. I really would like to go on a…

You probably will agree with me after you admire the pictures in this post, but I think this is the most beautiful botanical gardens I have ever visited. And we didn’t even get to see everything because it was much larger than we expected and with all of our walking, we decided to stick to some of the highlights. Welcome to Batumi Botanical Gardens! By Georgian standards, the botanical gardens were a little expensive, 20 laris per person (our 6 year old being free). So we paid 100 laris ($36) for our family of 6 which wasn’t too made by American standards. And it the picture above, you see a…

On our first walk on the boulevard by the sea (Batumi Boulevard), my hope was to end at the Batumi fountains which I had read about. The fountains move in synchronization with music and with lights in the evening. However, we walked in the wrong direction. The boulevard or promenade is 7 kilometers long and since we had walked probably several kilometers in one direction, we decided to leave the search for the next evening. The second night found us once again stopping for ice cream and this time, we ordered the next size up with was still less than $2! Yum! We walked as it got darker and came…

Our hotel, the Hilton Batumi was in the perfect location to enjoy both the Black Sea and to take leisurely walks along Batumi Boulevard. The boulevard is a multi purpose pathway along the sea and is bordered on the other side by different hotels and restaurants. There are several paths so that bikes, scooters and such can have a pathway separate from walkers. There are also many trees bordering sections of the boulevard. Our hotel was very near the octopus structure where children and adults enjoyed roller skating. It is such a picturesque spot! It also offers a little bit of shade. We stayed 3 nights in Batumi and we…

This is our 3rd time going to the botanical gardens in Tbilisi. They are just a short steep walk up behind our hotel, and it was the perfect outing the morning following our arrival. The city had gotten a lot of rain the weeks prior to our trip, so there were a few areas where you couldn’t go because of some landslides, in particular the waterfall where everyone had dipped their toes the last time we were here. However, since we were taking our time, we discovered a few new areas we had never explored. Since it was late May, early June, the roses were in bloom! We enjoyed them…

During our staycation during Spring Break, the boys and I joined my college friend Staci and her family at Six Flags and the Georgia Aquarium. Before lunch, needing a little break and outside time, the boys and I walked around Centennial Park. I was surprised that I had not seen this area of the park before. We really don’t go down to Atlanta very often as we often have to deal with traffic: a 45 minute drive can take 2 hours with the right (wrong) conditions! But when we do, we always enjoy our time downtown. The iconic ferris wheel has been near Centennial Park since 2013. I actually have…

Has any one seen the Inflatable Anthem with the Holderness family? I love all of their videos and parodies. Any time I see an inflatable at Christmas time, I think of their video. Last week, I promised my 3 youngest some fun when they accompanied me to get my haircut 1 hour from the house. We ate a great lunch at Whole Foods and then did 18 holes at a fun little mini golf place. This was a great budget activity for less than $30 for the 4 of us. We had some great laughs and thankfully it wasn’t freezing cold: maybe upper 40s? The inflatables made the course a…