Checking out the new Boomtown @SixFlagsOverGeorgia @SFoverGA #sfogthrills

I was invited to bring my family out to check out the new Boomtown at Six Flags.  If you follow me on twitter or instagram, you had a brief photo preview of what I was up to last weekend. There was an adorable 7yo, Symeon,  from Make A Wish who was president of the park for the day.  He assisted with the ribbon cutting and checking out the new rides.

I had my daughter and one of her good friends with us to check it all out.  We started with the Acme Trucking Company and went for a ride.

They then went to check out the High Seas Adventure

The weather was a bit wet and cold for us to want to try this one, so we left it to the other families with littles to enjoy.  The photo is borrowed from Six Flags so that you can see it.

They were a bit too big for the other rides, though, much to their disappointment.  This was Yosemite Sam's ride.

The new area looks like a LOT of fun, especially for those with littles who can't ride the bigger rides.   Of course, with teens on hand, we had to head to Gotham to see what was going on over there.  This is the new Harley Quinn Spin Sanity.  They enjoyed it, can you tell?

There was also a new ride in honor of the Joker as you  enter the Gotham area.  There were technical difficulties at that one, so we had to pass on this trip.  It looks like there will be even more new stuff to check out later this year.

As usual when we go to Six Flags, it was lots of fun.  I don't ride a lot of rides, for various reasons, so it's my job to watch them have fun and get pictures.   The park is now open on weekends, though it'll be open all week for Spring break.

Six Flags Over Georgia premieres new virtual reality roller coaster #ad @sfovergeorgia

North America’s First Virtual Reality Roller Coaster and Seven Family Attractions to Premier at Six Flags Over Georgia

Park Opens March 12 for 2016 Season

AUSTELL, Ga. — March 10, 2016 — This changes everything! Six Flags Over Georgia, the Thrill Capital of the South, is calling on all daredevils for the premier of The New Revolution Virtual Reality (VR) Coaster, North America’s first virtual reality roller coaster. The park is also excited to announce the opening of Bugs Bunny Boomtown, featuring seven family attractions that the entire family can enjoy together.

“We pride ourselves on offering our guests the most innovative experiences in the industry,” said Six Flags Over Georgia Park President Dale Kaetzel. “We are thrilled to be one of the first in North America to debut a new virtual reality coaster. This cutting-edge technology, combined with the highly-anticipated opening of our sensational family area – Bugs Bunny Boomtown, solidifies our park as the leading destination for thrills in the region.”

Wearing Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus, thrill-seekers will be transported into a futuristic battle to save planet Earth from an alien invasion on The New Revolution VR Coaster. Riders will become “co-pilots” of their own virtual fighter jets on one of the park’s most popular roller coasters, Dare Devil Dive and experience:

·         The incredibly immersive world of virtual reality – straight up nearly 100 feet to the top of a towering skyscraper;

·         Flying down a 95 degree launch off the edge of a building - beyond vertical;

·         Darting between buildings and extreme aerial actions at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour;

·         Daring aerobatic maneuvers through three inversions and zero-gravity hills; and

·         An exhilarating battle sending guests head over heels through 2,100 feet of twisted steel track to fight alien forces and save all mankind.

For younger thrill-seekers and their families, Six Flags Over Georgia is set to debut seven attractions in the all-new Bugs Bunny Boomtown, featuring:

·         Daffy Duck Bucket Blasters, a wild and crazy family water battle;

·         Speedy Gonzales Speed Boats, where guests will be screaming “Andale Andale” on six speed boats;

·         Bugs Bunny High Seas Adventure, a chance to fly through the air on a junior sea-worthy quest;

·         Yosemite Sam Wacky Wagons, an old western spin on a junior ferris wheel perfect for junior cowpokes;

·         Looney Tunes Adventure Camp, an interactive playground with Bugs Bunny and all the Looney Tunes characters;

·         ACME Trucking Company, a monster truck driving voyage to help Wile E. Coyote try to capture the Road Runner; and

·         Tweety Twee House, a 20-foot up and down journey into the little chirping bird’s nest.

The world’s first DC SUPER Friends family-themed section will open later this spring, featuring five new attractions.

Six Flags Over Georgia is open on weekends through May 15 and daily April 2 through 10 for Spring Break. Summer daily operation begins on May 21. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia.

2016 Season Passholders can exclusively experience The New Revolution VR Coaster on March 12 and 13. Season Passes, which include admission to Six Flags White Water in Marietta, are available online atwww.sixflags.com/overgeorgia. The futuristic jet-fighting battle opens to all guests beginning March 19, for a limited-time only.

About Six Flags Entertainment Corporation

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is the world’s largest regional theme park company with $1.3 billion in revenue and 18 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada. For 55 years, Six Flags has entertained millions of families with world-class coasters, themed rides, thrilling water parks and unique attractions. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com.

About Warner Bros. Consumer ProductsWarner Bros. Consumer Products, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is one of the leading licensing and retail merchandising organizations in the world.

About DC Entertainment
DC Entertainment, home to iconic brands DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman, Fables) and MAD, is the creative division charged with strategically integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner.  DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media, including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home entertainment and interactive games. Publishing thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC Entertainment is one of the largest English-language publishers of comics in the world.

LOONEY TUNES and all related characters and elements © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s16)

K1 Speed Indoor GoKarts #birthday #familyfun #Gwinnett #Duluth @k1speed

My son's 17th birthday was on Thursday the 19th.  We don't do regular birthday parties, we get together with friends and spend the weekend doing "stuff".  This year, instead of paintball, my son chose to go check out a new indoor go kart track in our area.  I'd heard about it thanks to Fox 5's Paul Milliken, but hadn't really checked it out.  It's very close to where we do Choi as well, which makes it reasonably close to home.

I will say it's not cheap.  They do run specials, so I recommend checking them out.  They also require a membership fee for the year.  That's only $6, but it's still an added cost to keep in mind.  We purchased 3 races for 5 people.  It was a lot of fun, but I think I'll have to wait for further karting until my eyes are completely fixed.  With no depth perception, I had a very hard time trying to make the turns.

My selfie with the racing prop before we started racing.

Right before our 3rd race.  My son's best friend is loading up behind me.  Yes, you wear a head sock under the helmet.  The visor is required to be closed during the race, but it gets steamy and hot until you get moving, so I had it up.

Hubs took these for me while we were racing.  His back was hurting, so he decided not to race.  Probably not a bad idea.  My hands were sore at the end of the race.  I'm sure I was gripping the wheel too hard, but I was also using it to brace myself as I went around the curves.  FYI - the adult carts can go up to 45mph.

This is how three of the teens ranked in our races, not counting the other racers on the course.  I was consistently last regardless of how many were racing.  You get race results printed at the end of each race, so you can see what your times were.  I didn't realize it until I got home, but I also got the information via email.  I think I'll pass on retaining it, I already know I'm slow.

All together, I think they had a lot of fun.  That being the goal of the outing, I'd find it very successful and enjoyable.  It'll be a while before we go back due to cost, though.

#WW Run for the Wounded Warriors

I wasn't the fastest, I wasn't the slowest, but I did participate and finish.

Buford Dam Park

We were invited to an end of year party out at Buford Dam Park (just past the dam itself).

The park had a playground, picnic area, volleyball area, soccer area..

and beach! We were somewhat surprised at the lack of people out there, but really didn't mind. For $4/car, it was a wonderful outing for the kids. They splashed in the lake, had lunch, and in general enjoyed their last day of school.

It's a place we're going to keep in mind potentially returning to during the summer.

Journey Through Justice

My kids participated in the Journey through Justice program provided by the Georgia Bar. The day was to explore how the court system (and lawyers) work. We toured some of the rooms, this one is a meeting room and overflow room for the court room in the building.

We actually started out with a brief history of Woodrow Wilson, the only president to practice law in the state of GA. They have a small reproduction of his office that was on Marietta street. They have the original door that was the entrance to his office.

Not all of the furniture is from his office. In this picture the mantel, chair, and bookcase were from his office.

From this picture the desk, chair and (pictured again) bookcase.

We proceeded to another room where we had a 'class' about civil vs. criminal cases and went through our first trial. My daughter 'testified' on behalf of the plaintiff for this trial. My son was a juror.

Our big trial was "B.B.Wolf vs. Curly Pig". Where the wolf was suing the pig for injuries and damage incurred when he tried to go down the pig's chimney. My pictures during this trial were not the best, so all I have is the after picture. My daughter was Sylvester Cat testifying on behalf of the wolf. My son was a juror. (You see a pattern here?)

Once the trial was over, we were able to tour one of the vaults. The federal reserve was originally in this building before it became the home of the Georgia Bar Association. This one our tour guide called the "baby" vault.

Safes within the vault.

My kids had a blast doing this, so I think it's something we might have to keep in mind to possibly try again in the future.

Regal Cinemas Movie Express

This has probably been posted on multiple freebie sites by now, but I hadn't seen it yet. Since I hadn't seen it, I figured there's others that haven't either, so I'm sharing it here. Regal Cinemas is bringing back their $1 summer movies. You can search on your zip code here: http://www.regmovies.com/summermovieexpress/. It appears that in my area, the shows are the same for all the theaters. It'll just be a matter of how far I care to drive.

Color Run 2012

My daughter and I joined a friend I've known since High School/College. She wanted to train to get in shape, we thought the run she chose as her goal would be fun to do. The idea is that you start all 'clean' with a white shirt.

It's a 5K race that took us around Piedmont Park. At various points, you go through color zones where they "throw" color powder on you as you pass. For us, the first color zone was Yellow. My daughter hid behind me to avoid the biggest clouds of color.

Our next zone was green.

I didn't let her hide on that one.

We went from green to pink.

Our last zone was purple. My daughter and I had a little bit of a "battle" with the purple color.

There were some that were more colorful than we were at the end. There were some that were considerably less. They had leaf blowers to help knock most of it back off of you at the end. Majority of those at the race didn't bother. We did as we were driving home so that I could then go back out to Stone Mountain for the Blues Grassroots festival. It seems an odd thing to enjoy doing, but it was a lot of fun.

Wordless Wednesday #WW Tallulah Gorge

We went out to Tallulah Gorge as part of a GCA field trip yesterday. Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery.

New friends to be made.

Smith Gilbert Gardens

This past Saturday, a friend was testing for his black belt in Kennesaw. My family decided it would be a good day to spend outside until time to watch him test. So, after lunch with relatives, we headed over to the Smith Gilbert Gardens.

This tree was one of my favorites, it's a mulberry.

This is a tea house, it had a table and multiple chairs.

A wonderful view from the main house.

There are sculptures all over. This was just one.

There was a garden area aimed toward kids. My guys enjoyed playing with the bubbles.

I had hoped it would take us longer to tour the gardens than it did (it only took about 1.5 hr). It was, though, a very nice visit. I'm sure that once all the flowers are in full bloom, it'll be gorgeous to view. If you have younger kids there isn't a huge amount to keep their attention. At $7/adult and $5 for my son (my daughter was free), it'll be a while before we go back again.

Summer Fun

It's that time of year again! Schools out Wednesday and it's time for me to plan a few things to keep my kids occupied. They do well on their own, but after a while they get annoyed with each other. Unfortunately, we don't have too many kids their age in our neighborhood which means we seek out the kids at other places. We'll be travelling some this summer, visiting my parents and the beach with my friend and her family. My sister will be sending her kids (all three of them) to my house in August. So I've got to plan ahead for a few things to keep them busy and not at each other's throats. ;)

Here are a few of the ideas I have in mind so far..

AMC Summer Movies (free movies)

Regal Family Summer Movies (free movies) (alternatives to AMC)

FISHING! Now that my kids have discovered it, we'll go and enjoy. Found a great site related to this: www.takemefishing.com.

READING! Thanks to my friend, my son has discovered the Secrets of Droon series. He now owns 19 books in the series (thank you goodwill). 15 of those he hasn't read. My daughter has discovered the Magic School Bus series. She now has 11 that she hasn't read (thanks ebay). I've also signed them up for the local library reading club and plan to sign them up at Barnes & Noble. Another person recommended this: www.bookadventure.org which allows kids to read, take tests, and earn prizes. A lot like the AR program at school.

State Parks - quite a few of our parks have free (or very cheap) programs like nature hikes and such.

Local cities - some of the smaller cities in the area have movies in the square (free or small charge) as well as other activities. Duluth has "flicks on the bricks" and "Brown bag lunches".

Swimming - we have a membership to the local county pool. We'll probably spend half our time there.

Zoo Atlanta - we have a membership here.

Georgia Aquarium - membership (mostly free as I'm a volunteer).

Pokemon Learning League - when your kids are as poke-oriented as mine, it's a great way to get them to learn or at least not forget over the summer.

If I come up with more ideas, I'll add them later.