Chaganooga

I have been meaning to post about a recent trip to "Chaganooga" as my daughter calls it. We had a great time getting out in nature and seeing the sites of the city. If you have small ones, this is a great place to get away to for a long weekend. I hope to go back way more often.

We went with the Bolton's and the Foxes. So six adults and six kids! I can't believe how good everyone was. Here mine are on the way to our first excursion: The aquarium!

The freshwater sting rays were so cool. This was the very first thing we saw and I didn't think the girls were going to move on!
This stroller came in handy on this trip.
Here are our oldest three hanging out together. I think this is still at the freshwater sting ray exhibit.


Okay, so this picture really is cool. When we were in the butterfly exhibit, a large butterfly landed on Allen and let Kaylen "pet" it and Tripp held her hand while she touched it. So sweet! Tripp loved the penguins. Mostly the plastic ones.

He also loved their freezing cold water that you could feel. Granted penguins weren't actually in the water he was touching. That wouldn't have been nearly as sanitary. Kaylen and Tripp both checking out a huge fish tank filled with tons of ocean life.
Joseph is the cutest kid. He wasn't feeling like his overly joyful self on this trip but he was still really good. Seriously, look at that face! She is going to be in trouble in about 13 years!

Rylie being a little momma to Tripp while Kalyen does her "duty" and sits there for the picture. One of the few shots of our entire gang. (well, minus Cohen but he was on the other side of the camera with his momma)

Sweet smiles from the girls. They really do play so well together.
I love this picture of Tripp because this is so his personality. And I think it is so cool how his left eye is more brown than his right one these days. Not sure how they will end up but they are really unique right now. He loves to clap these days. His absolute favorite thing to say is down. He just wants to run. ALL DAY LONG!

Me and the kids in the little tube that goes in the fish tank. After all there was to see at the aquarium my two were sacked. I love seeing them snuggle and nap together. It warms my heart to watch them interact.

We stayed at a cabin that was out in the middle of no where. LITERALLY. But they had horses and a creek. It was really fun to walk around and explore with the little ones. Here are a few of the horses:

This is the one the kids liked. The pony. Of course he was the meaner one and they couldn't really pet him that much.

One morning we went for a hike and found the creek. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water.
We didn't even brush the girls hair, we just went and had fun.

The older three kids did ride horses around in the yard. They each rode with a parent and were all scared but brave and proud of themselves for doing it.
Here is Andrew about to ride and Kaylen and Rylie are excitedly awaiting their turn. They all loved just seeing the horses. The next day we went to the Children's Discovery Museum. Kaylen called it the Museum of Fun. They had an awesome water feature that entertained Tripp for a really long time.

This sand pit was an area for them to discover dinosaur bones. It was also a huge hit.
It was fun to watch them playing and exploring. Kaylen found a baby and took her to "school". This floor was an area for kids to gain understanding of what it would be like to be disabled. (That has nothing to do with the baby in the picture - not sure what that was up there for) Anyway, they put on blinders and used a walking stick, they pushed themselves around in a wheelchair and other things of that nature. I thought it was a good experience but Stewart thought it was creepy to see the kids in wheelchairs. I sort of agree with that too.
This picture of Andrew cracks me up. He kept asking me to take a picture of him and he would pose. This was my favorite. He is such a little character! I think he may end up with Jeremy's sense of humor... HILARIOUS!

Kaylen's first TN game

We decided that Kaylen was old enough to experience a Tennessee game. We wanted to go to one that we thought we could win so we chose the UAB game. It ended up being a great game with us winning in double overtime. It was exciting to watch but I wish we would have been a strong enough team to beat them easily. Alas... another year. Moving on...

We were nervous about Kaylen being uncomfortable. having to sit still for that long. getting bored. getting rained on. the list could go on and on but the conditions were perfect. We ended up with great seats right under an over hang (so we had constant shade and no rain if it would have rained). We were near the end zone which was great. There was a cool breeze and we had coloring sheets. Those were a life saver. She loved smokey and the cheerleaders. The band played Rocky Top a million times (as always) and she loved singing along. Our markers dropped a few times and we had to get some help getting them back but other than that, we had loads of fun. No tears, no complaints, just enjoyment. Did she get in to the football? Of course not but what girl ever truly does? There are a few of us out there but not many.

Here K is pre-game. She was ready! We were waiting on the Vol walk.
Would have been such a sweet family pic at our first game but K wasn't feeling the smiles all that much.

Closer to a smile but the sun was in her eyes and we just got a silly expression. She was getting impatient while we waited.

Sweetest smile of the day. :)


They made it! Here they come! She loved the majorettes. She watched in amazement. Look at those girls twirling their sticks!!!
We are finally at the game and more fun! The band was really fun for her to watch.
Their famous T in all of it's orange glory!

And of course she konked out for the end of the game and totally missed the double overtime. She slept through the loudest part of the game!
Everyone around us thought she was so cute and we had a great time at dinner after the game as well. We did a little shopping and headed back home. At about 9 pm we were 17 miles from S. Pittsburg and traffic came to a screeching halt. Their had been a wreck between two tractor trailers and their cargo had flown everywhere. So we sat completely still for 3 hours awaiting the clean up and reopening of the road. We ended up getting home around 1:30 am. Kaylen was a trooper and it was an unforgettable first for us!

Frantic Frog

I haven't mentioned on here anything about the races I have been involved in lately on here. Mostly because my point and shoot died and I didn't want to lug around a big camera. And even if I did, who would take the pictures? Well, at the Frantic Frog, Jeremy so graciously took pictures for us.

Just to mention the other races I have done, the Wet Dog was in July. I didn't have a very good race that day for some reason. You know how sometimes you just have an off day? That was me for that race. Oh, and I ran the Cotton Row back in May, I think. My time for that one was 26:57. I felt like I could have done better that day too but it gave me a good time to beat. I did the Frantic Frog two weeks ago and it was a 400 meter swim, 14.5 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. My time was 1:33 and some change that I have forgotten. This is the only one of my races that Allen did with me this year. So I am chronicling this for both of us. Anyway, I also did the Care Center 5K this past Saturday. I finished in 26:20 (which at least beat my earlier run). I am hoping to get my time down even more and might do the Liz Hurley race in October.

Here we are pre-race and you can tell that it isn't quite daylight yet. This is the happiest you will see Allen the entire event!

Here we are in the bike corral getting set up and ready to go. Allen needed help putting those pesky numbers on his shirt. The rest of us seemed to manage fine on our own... but safety pins can get confusing! :)
By this point we are really gearing up. We have gotten down to our swimwear and I don't do that until I absolutely have to. I sincerely think that these races are a lot of people in too much spandex.
I liked how this race had us jump off the dock to start. That's much better than awkwardly running through the water and flopping in. They started us two at a time. Allen and Amy started way before me. I ended up swimming the wrong direction at the end. I swam along the side of the pier and we were supposed to veer right near where the picture is being taken from. Oh well. :)
Here Allen is getting out of the water and on to his bike for his most dreaded leg of the tri.
And here he is finishing the run. He was hating life right about then.


But then again, so was I. I came in after him because I started so much behind him. It is not any fun to know that everyone in your group is already finished and sippin' on some tasty agua while munchin' on orange slices.
Amy and I trained for the race together and she has become a great workout partner. I do so much better when I am held accountable! And we are right there on the same level so we really seem to work well together.

Here are all the girls chatting afterward while we await the results posting. Of course miss fitness blew us all out of the water. Hollie is what I consider the mere definition of discipline. She works hard and it shows. We all seemed
I am not going to brag too much about the outcome of this race... I will let this picture tell you who the winner was between our competitive duo. I will say that I trained WAY harder than he did.

Field Trip to the Botanical Gardens

***Disclaimer*** If you plan to go to the Botanical Gardens and see the scarecrows, I would skip this post or nothing will be a surprise. I am pretty sure Kaylen HAD to have her picture taken with every scarecrow there!

Here they all are at the start of the day looking and feeling fresh and excited!
This is Alexis and Kaylen. They have been the closest of school friends!

And now we get in to the parade of the scarecrows and Kaylen. First up, Captain Jack Sparrow.
Next we have Ariel... we couldn't tell that was her but the sign swears that it is. Kaylen said she must be getting married or something.
Next... not sure what he is. I am going to call him the headless businessman of Sleepy Hollow.
Closest thing to a traditional scarecrow we saw (minus the green pumpkin head).
Pinocchio! He looks a little scary but he was loved for being so short and easy to look at by the little ankle biters.
Can you believe they have a play area with balls in it? I thought those were banned for being so dangerously dirty. But I guess I was wrong... Of course I let my precious baby play in them!
Buzz Lightyear getting a big ole hug from my little one.
Princess Fiona (or so the sign said), Kaylen and Amelia.
A scare-ghost and Kaylen.
They had a star wars theme and this was a "treewok" village. Cute, huh?
A big spider and some class friends. Hayes, Lacy, Kaylen, Georgie, Seth, ???, and Nikki. Hey, 6 out of 7 isn't bad!
Rushton and Kaylen give Woody a big hug!
Kaylen as Goldielocks.
They said not to touch the butterflies but they never said anything about not letting them touch you!
These 4 girls are such good friends. Georgie, Katie Rose, Rushton and Kaylen.
Here is my little guy. He has been getting in to EVERYTHING these days. I am so worn out and am just trying to keep both him and I alive with nothing around us broken!
Here is how he feels about Kaylen being the boss of him these days. And she is getting frustrated with him some too. On wed. Sept 15, 2010 Kaylen told her brother that she hated him for the very first time. It broke my heart and she tried to take it back right away. I know that is just the beginning of many more years of sibling fighting.