Discover This

Today was a fantastic day and I can see why Chattanooga is voted "kid" friendly. We went to the Discovery Center today and Lil Hoff had a blast. I have had friends that have went to discovery centers and talked about how wonderful they are, but I have never personally experienced it. I am all about the discovery centers. We walked in and there was a splash center and Lil Hoff went crazy! There was pulleys and chains, and buckets to be filled with water, and gates to open and shut, and you could dam up water and watch it flow again. Farmboy had about as much fun as Lil Hoff did.

One side you see Lil Hoff with one hand on the gate

On the other side is Farmboy's.

And I must warn those that hang around me and my child. He does stick his mouth and tongue into any source of water and tries to drink it. Another mom was getting a real kick out of me telling Lil Hoff no!

I have also observed that between the discovery center and the aquarium that there are a lot of moms out there with very judgemental looks on their faces. Just putting that out there. Between my child drinking water out of the creek at the aquarium and the fountain at the splash park and have a backpack that doubles as a leash. Women are all too quick to give you a look. All I am trying to do is survive vacation 2013.

Anyway back to our day.

They had a musical instrument section that I didn't think we would ever get Lil Hoff out of.

And a dinosaur exhibit. Can you tell we drug him out of the musical instrument to take this picture and he is not too pleased.

Then they had a frontier section that talked about how kids grew up in the 1800's. Lil Hoff just liked the wagon that was hooked up to the neigh (you read that right, a neigh, we are at the point that animals are not called by what they are, more of what they do).

And the train. HE LOVED THE TRAIN. It whistled and there was a bell. (yet another instrument)

After the Discovery Center we had lunch at a Five Guys Burgers and it was yummy! The burgers were thick and the fries were home fries but not really greasy. Just that perfect ratio of potato and grease. We then went back to the motel and all crashed for a nap and then had a little swim time and back out again.

We went to this carousal that is a 100 years old. I am not sure what the story is about it but it was beautiful!

The animals were still in perfect condition and the musical is the old organ music that is that perfect sound of summer.

Hey look! It's me! I am on this vacation. I wanted to share this with Lil Hoff so badly and so happy that I did. Although after about the second round he was done.

Outside of the carousal there is this water fountain that had a group of kids playing in it so we stripped Lil Hoff down and let him have some fun.

He loved it, but not when water would get in his face.

Part of every vacation that we take has to be BBQ. So tonight we ventured out to a local BBQ  place called Rib and Loin. That just screams good BBQ doesn't it?

We left good and full and squealed all the way home

But you want to know what my favorite part of vacation is? It's not what we see, it's not what we eat (although that is a close second), it's not about the shopping (maybe that is my second). It's the time together and the memories made. 

This.....This is what makes me happy.

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Sleep and Fish

Today we had a slow start but then jam packed our day. We all slept in with Lil Hoff waking up at 7:45 and Farmboy getting up with him and then I didn't crawl out of bed until almost 9. EEK!! But oh it felt so good. We then laid around for a while before we all went down to breakfast and then reality hit that we were the lazy, just crawled out of bed, kid has no shoes on, momma doesn't even look like she ran a comb thru her hair, daddy mismatches family. You know the ones I'm talking about. Everyone else in the area was dressed and ready to go for the day and at the crack of 10 we are sleep walking to get our tootie fruities and milk. But it's vacation and I'm in Tennessee. Two hours later we are ready and leaving the hotel. We went to the aquarium and boy did we have some fun!

We got to see some sting rays.

And pet some sharks!

This little boy could not contain his excitement!!!

And then we saw penguins.

And look at all the fish!!!

And then Lil Hoff was done. He didn't want the stroller, he didn't want the monkey leash (yes we are that family too), what he did want was to run wild and have me chase him while squealing with glee. BUT what I found to entertain him with was top notch. The aquarium had a little stream that ran in front and around it and being the awesome mom that I am, I let him play in it. There were other children playing in it too, so I knew it was ok. Many families had their kids in swimsuits, so they must come there often.

Look at that! I tell you what the person that thought of that should get a medal for being so sinking smart.

And look at that grin. Mom of the year right here!!!

We finished off the day with a IMAX movie. It was Lil Hoff's first movie and we weren't sure how he would do but with a mixture of being so tired, a really huge screen, popcorn, theater seats with arm rests you could move, and 3D glasses, he did really good!

I hate that this picture is blurry because it could be so cute! But here is the three of us with our glasses waiting for our movie "Call of the Wild".

***I also would like to make a note here about my post yesterday, I am afraid to re-read it due to the fact I am afraid that it is super negative and I in general don't like to be negative, so if it is negative I apologize. I think it was a long night and a long day traveling and I wasn't in a mood to be blogging. With being president of the Optimist Club I feel I have a certain role to live up to. Here are a few examples

Me: Let's let Lil Hoff play in this stream
Farmboy: He will get all wet!
Me: He will be cool then. (See being optimistic)

Farmboy: What did you think of that movie (referring the IMAX)
Me: I don't know what about you?
Farmboy: I think it's a waste of money to document elephants and monkeys. I hate monkeys
Me: Well I think anyone that gives up there lives to live somewhere like that doing good whether for animals or missionary work is amazing (Once again being optimistic)

Farmboy: I don't know why you make us pick up Lil Hoff's toys every night, it so annoying
Me: Cause it teaches him to pick up after himself (Not only being optimistic but also teaching a life lesson)

The list goes on and on, but these are just a few examples. One more story I forgot to say about what happened Friday night that I couldn't put a optimist spin on. We got into the elevator at the hotel and Lil Hoff went straight to the buttons and hit the "Emergency Call" button. Farm boy asked what we should do and at that moment the doors opened and I said let's go and we split. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do but I didn't know what else to do.

I promised Farmboy we would leave earlier tomorrow so I better get off and get some sleep.

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It's out of there!

And we're off!!!

You know how people say that pictures are worth a thousand words. This one not so much. Frustrated is what this picture says. Lil Hoff is frustrated that he is being contained. Farmboy is frustrated that I am holding us up by taking a picture. And I am frustrated cause logically (in my simple mind) if everyone would give me ONE second and smile then it would be over and we can get on our way. But no, we can't have that. We have to start our vacation off in the silence of frustration. But we smile as though we are the happiest family in the world!  

Then we arrived at the game.....

Lil Hoff with me.....

Lil Hoff with Farmboy....

Needless to say Lil Hoff was with me for a good part of the game. Which consisted of me corralling him, entertaining him, feeding him, stopping him from feeding himself off the ground, disciplining him in front of my church members without making it look like I have some evil spirit coming out of me.  I believe the preacher's wife sums it up really nicely as she so sweetly says to me (she was sitting next to me and I felt so sorry for her, for I know Lil Hoff blocked her view of the game and frankly I feel sorry for anyone that sits around us anymore) "It seems like as a mom we are more jungle gym than a person doesn't it?"

The ball team was having a rough night, for 7 innings it was tied 1 to 1 and as I pleaded and begged to Farmboy to go he insisted that we watch the fireworks that are being shot off at the end of the game. So we stayed and stayed and stayed and finally in the 9th inning our home team scored 2 more times and won!

Lil Hoff was thrilled!

The next morning we are packed up and gone by 6:15 AM. Everyone was chipper and ready for the day.It was a long day of traveling.  Lil Hoff spent most of the day watching "Mick" which is Micky Mouse. 

He was a very good traveler. Him and Farmboy both. Like Father like Son they both slept a lot of the day while I took the reigns of the wheel. Makes me feel like a super trucker. Kind of.

We arrived at Chattanooga around 5:30 PM and were all ready to relax and take it easy. But there are no free loaders on this trip.

Everyone has to help get their bags to the room as Lil Hoff was helping "Push"

We went with a two bedroom suite this time for vacation. It is really nice and I think we will like it. Lil Hoff can have his own room and we have a kitchen and living room as well. So if needed we can each have our own room. I will post pictures of it tomorrow once the housekeeper has time to make it look nice again. We arrived and made ourselves right at home.

Just keeping it real.

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An Adventure

I don't know about the rest of you but when I wake up in the morning several thoughts pop through my head first thing. They are (and in no particular order)
  1 - I don't wanna get up (done in my very best whiny voice)
  2 - I only have to get up one more time until my vacation
  3 - Why does it take so long to take a shower, put make up on, and fix my hair
  4 - Will Lil Hoff stay asleep so I can get it all done this morning
  5 - I want coffee
  6 - I need to go to the bathroom
  7 - Can I call in sick
  8 - I really have to get up
  9 - Why can't Farmboy be here to take care of Lil Hoff so I can sleep in
 10 - I need coffee
 11 - Wow has it really been 10 minutes since my alarm went off
 12 - OK I am getting up   

The one thought NOT on my mind this morning when I got up.....

This.

This was not on my mind.

I was not aware that I was surrounded by flood water.

Nor was I aware that I would being going on a adventure to get to work.

Come with me.

Come with me on this adventure.

It starts with the gravel road that I live on. (Shall we also count how many times I cross the same creek to get back to highway, oh yes! Lets!) As you can see there is water over the road but not bad. (oh this is once)

This is on another gravel road that I have to get on to get back to the highway. Water is a little higher and rushing a little faster. And this is twice

Same gravel road different spot. There is no low water bridge here just a spot where water collects waiting to be told where else it should go.

Finally! Dry flat land to drive on but if you look to your right

This is what you see. At this point Lil Hoff goes "Oh! Momma Boat!!" And mark a three on the board

It wasn't all peaches and cream driving on the road either. HUGE rocks that had been in the ditches but with all the water got swept into the road and all the wash outs. It's a good thing I drive a 4x4 SUV so my undercarriage doesn't get tore up.

Are we done on our adventure. NOT hardly....

 

Mark four and I am done!

 

and I believe my companion is too

Some of you may be thinking that seems like a lot of work why didn't you just go another way. Here are my alternatives. You know that same creek that I drove over four times.

Here it is if you take a left out of my driveway.

And on a normal day (in August) when it's a stifling 100 degrees by 8:30 in the morning and the dust cloud I create while driving down the gravel road is so thick I can't even see where I am going cause we haven't had a drop of rain in 8 weeks and I don't have to worry about the creek being over I travel this way.

But today, on August 8, 2013 it is a different story. 



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A real boy

This week was a big week in our household, maybe more for momma than for Lil Hoff. We said goodbye to something we loved and cherished. Sad but true. We said goodbye to the mullet. Farmboy assured me it was time. I on the other hand had a hard time grasping that my little baby was turning into a boy.

I had a appointment to get my hair trimmed Tuesday so I asked when Brittany (my hair stylist) could get my bundle of joy in to trim him up? "How about tomorrow at 11:45?" Really?? That soon?? As I choked back the tears I told her to put us down. She then said "Do you want a little boy hair cut or just a trim?" after asking what the difference was and being informed that "The little boy hair cut will make him look grown up while the trim just trims him up" I quickly informed her that we just needed a trim.

11:45 - Wednesday July 31, 2013 -

Two women, two cameras and one unsuspecting boy walk into a beauty salon. Very quickly did the little boy figure out he was out numbered and wanted out quick. When Brittany put the booster in her chair and got the cape out Lil Hoff was clinging to me with all his 32 pounds and would not let go. So mommy and Lil Hoff both got to sit in the chair. Let the fun begin.

"I don't like this mom"

"What's grandma doing?"

"I can see myself"

"What's going on outside?"

"Are we done yet?"

"She's in my personal space mom "

"My mommy will protect me"

"You mean you PAY to get this done to you?"

All finished (all in less than 10 minutes). The mullet is gone and I now have a very handsome little boy. *sniff sniff*

One cookie later and all was forgotten.

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