Mark cashed in some hotel points and got us a suite with a pull out couch, kitchen and separate bedroom containing two more full sized beds. Perfect for our family of five.
On the first day, Mark worked all day so the kids and I headed out on our own. First stop: the Tennessee Aquarium. We had been here three years ago, but Taylor liked to point out that this was Morgan's first time here not in my belly.
I took advantage of a huge mirror to capture our group.
Next we went to the iMax theater and saw Flight of the Butterflies. This was Morgan's first ever movie. She was clearly not ready for one, as she enjoyed walking from chair to chair more than watching the show.
We then head back to the hotel for some rest time before dinner.
The next day we hung out in the hotel room until Daddy came back for lunch. If you ever want to have an adventure with your kids, just book a hotel room somewhere. Anywhere. Just the novelty of having someplace different as your home front will cause your kids to be giddy with excitement. At least that's how it's always been for mine. Just make sure it has a pool!
I took the two big kids to the pool while Mark and Morgan napped in the room.
We swam for two hours! This was my favorite part of the Chattanooga trip.
That night, we headed to AT&T field to see the Chattanooga Lookouts play a minor league game. When we got there, the field looked like this.
Then it looked like this.
It finally started to rain a little so we took cover to wait it out.
Finally the game started about 90 minutes late.
I think Morgan enjoyed it the most.
Unfortunately, the big kids were ready to leave after three innings.
The next day it was time to load everything up and begin the next leg of our journey.
However, we made one more stop in Chattanooga first to this hands-on children's museum.
To our good fortune, there was a traveling exhibit based off of the chapter books that Taylor loves to read.
This was Morgan's favorite part. The whole rest of the time she kept asking when she could play with more babies.
Of course, my favorite was the musical portion of the museum.
The only thing that could get Morgan's mind off of babies was this water exhibit. She loved it.
Finally, we loaded the car and drove about 4 hours (again the children were angels) to the lake house of our dear friend, Mr. Mike. Upon arriving, we wasted little time before heading out on the lake to enjoy the sunset.
The next day I took the big kids to the little beach. I had planned on taking all three kids, but Morgan had a meltdown and ended up taking a nap at 10am! Last year, the kids loved playing in the sand. This year all they wanted to do was play in the water. They invented a game that involved tossing a rock into the lake so the other person could retrieve it. We played this for a long time.
Charlie also enjoyed experimenting with what would float in the water.
After coming inside for a lunch break, we headed back out for some more fun. This time Morgan joined us.
Then we decided to take the boat out. We dropped the anchor and went for a swim.
At first, I was hesitant because I feared the water would be too cold. But Morgan was so scared initially, that my motherly instincts kicked in and I jumped in. Okay, well I didn't actually jump, but I am so glad that I did decide to join them. It was a blast.
We finished off that night with some S'Mores in the chiminea.
Now the next day at the lake was more of the same so I decided to give my camera a break and live more in the moment. Here's one of Morgan on the boat. We all swam this day as well.
After three nights, it was time to pack up yet again. I discovered this cute little snail while loading the car.
It had started to rain so we had to take our group shot inside thanks to my trusty tripod and flash.
(don't your just love Charlie's little wink?)
After two extended drives where the kids were stellar, could they really behave for yet another leg of the trip (this time a 2.5 hour drive to my dad's house in KY)? YES! Again, they were golden!
We ended up skipping lunch altogether and having an early dinner at my dad's house. Followed by some nice fellowship outside.
Then we drove 2 more hours to my mom's house where the kids spent the night so I could go home and prepare for our next departure the following day. The final leg of our trip was the Fourth Annual Camping Trip with my sister and her kids and my mom. Also, for the second year in a row, my sister, Julie, could join us. This year we went to Cowan Lake near Wilmington. We opted for two cabins and they were wonderful.
Always one of my favorite parts of our trips are the opportunity to enjoy meals together as one huge family. We accomplished this easily on our large screened-in porch.
It also served as a nice game room for the big kids who were learning to play 500 Rummy.
It rained quite a bit that first day as we were driving there, but luckily stopped when we arrived. Still everything was quite wet so no fire the first night.
Taylor stayed up late reading with Grace.
The second day was so much fun as we drove to the little beach on Cowan Lake and spent the day swimming, building sand castles, burying ourselves and laughing.
Charlie brought this guy to the beach and had so much fun with him. In fact, he was an ever present friend during the whole trip.
After coming home from the beach we got cleaned up and ate lunch. Then the younger kids rested while Jessica and I set out to help the girls earn their hiking batches for American Heritage Girls.
That evening, Uncle Chad joined us for dinner.
Then he helped build the fire.
The kids got to roast a few marshmallows and then it started to rain yet again. So we headed into one of our spacious cabins where I broke out the guitar and let the kids sing and dance. Once it got dark Jessica gave the kids glow sticks and Taylor entertained us with campfire stories (each one felt about 10 minutes long, God love her).
On the last day of our trip Grandma finally broke out the crafts. This is somewhat of a camping tradition.
Aunt Julie entertained the little ones while Jessica and I packed.
We snapped one more group photo before heading out.
So there you have it. Our first ten days of summer and the kids spent every night away from home.
We got back on Wednesday and have been spending the rest of the week recuperating. I must say, it feels good to be home :)
