Head Bangin'



Cute video of Daddy and Caleb head bangin' together!
(Or, trying to!)

The MANY faces of Caleb at 20 months!


Serious look...Profile of serious look...
Happy boy look!!
Love that nose crinkle!

Mr. Dude look...
Wild Hog look...
Here, he is showing me how he "flies"!

YIKES!

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR SQUEAMISH ONES. ESPECIALLY, IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH WITH REGARDS TO RODENTS. (THAT MEANS YOU, NANA!) OTHER THAN THAT, ENJOY!

Chattanooga Day 3!

This morning was very exciting!  We all had a great night’s sleep last night and woke up around 7am. We got ready, ate breakfast, showered and headed out to catch the shuttle to the Aquarium.  We got there about 5 minutes early, but they let us in out of the cold while we waited for the museum to open.  Very exciting!  Here’s a picture of Caleb while we are waiting!

3rd day  in Chattanooga 001

 

The first exhibit we were ushered into was the butterfly exhibit (I know, not much related to aquariums, but hey, it was included with the purchase!).  A sweet lil’ butterfly landed on Caleb’s backpack/leash almost immediately and stayed there till we had to leave. 

 

 

caleb btf

 

Next, we saw and petted some stingrays (okay, okay, just Eric did).  He even got to feed them some raw shrimp for their lunch!!  A video of the ordeal is below. 

 

 

Then, we moved on to a bunch of…*gasp* FISH exhibits!  The following are just a few of the pictures I took!

DC in shark cage

familypic 

 

Below is a picture of Eric and Caleb inside a Plexiglas tube inside a tank of fish and crabs.  Caleb never wanted to leave!! It gave him a true “up close and personal” look!DC in tank

  Great video of Caleb watching the fish!! Notice the huge shark that comes to say hello!!

 

nemo

 

 

We found Nemo!

 

 

gill

 

 

And his friend, Gill!

 

 

 

This turtle made me (Emily) laugh so hard…if I was a turtle, I’d probably sunbathe like this too!sunbathing turtle

Here’s Caleb getting face to face (plus a few inches of Plexiglas) with an alligator! :)alligator  After the Aquarium, (which was definitely worth every penny!), we came back to the hotel for Caleb’s nap (he actually took one today!).  When he got up, we went back out, had Wendy’s for supper (it was cheap and quick), then headed to the Creative Discovery Museum.  Eric and I had seen this in a brochure and really wanted to take Caleb there, but couldn’t fit it into the budget.  However, earlier today, one of our shuttle drivers told us that today from 5:30pm till 8:00pm, they were opening their doors to families for FREE!!  Thank you Lord for providing such a special experience!  I would definitely go back and make it an all day thing…there’s way too much to do!  Check out their website here.  I guarantee you will be impressed!! cdm signCaleb enjoying a water feature they had there, complete with plastic apron!cdm water cdm lowes apron

 

There was a section just for toddlers….and one whole area of just tools (plastic, of course).  Immediately, Caleb was drawn to them, thanks to our friend, Handy Manny. :)  Here he is, sporting a Lowe’s apron!

 

 

Overall, it was a packed, fun-filled day that wore all THREE of us out!!  Tomorrow, we are going swimming in the morning, checking out by 11am, eating lunch at a local favorite called “The Acropolis”, then heading to Athens, TN, to visit the Mayfield Ice Cream Factory!!  Will post pics later on!  Thanks for tuning in!

Chattanooga Day 2!

caleb bathing suit

Here’s Caleb, stylin’ his swimming suit!  We got up this morning, ate a good breakfast, then decided to take a swim in the hotel’s heated indoor pool.  Caleb had never been swimming before, so this was a real treat for all of us!!  His bathing suit had a built-in floatie thing in it which was great! 

daddycaleb in pool

 

 

Such a great picture of Daddy and Caleb…both boys who love the water!!

 

 

 

 

Below is a video of Caleb and Daddy playing in the pool.  You’ll hear Caleb say, “1,2,3….GO!!”   SO CUTE!!

Here’s Caleb, after we all got showers after swimming! What a ham!

back from swimmingAfter swimming, we decided to head to lunch at Mojo Burrito, a “hole in the street” which was fantastic!!mojo burrito

After lunch, we decided to drive around a little…here are some signs that we saw along the way.  The one on the left should be pretty familiar to most people as it is the “iconic Rock City” sign…and the one on the right is for my friend, Amanda Sweeney (Skaggs). :)  In case it is hard to read, I’m pointing at a sign that says, “Sweeney’s BBQ”!

see rock city

sweeney's bbq

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove on up to Ruby Falls, although we did not pay to go in.  We just took in the lovely sights!

daddycaleb ruby falls  mommycaleb

AND…the best video of all!! If you are having, or have had, a bad day, all you need to do is watch this video and everything will be all better!! I promise!

After Ruby Falls, we went back to the hotel to put Caleb down…who then decided that he was NOT going to take a nap.  So, after an hour of listening to him jabber in his crib, we decided to head back out.  We drove to the Electric Shuttle area, which was also by the original Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

Choo choo

 

We then took a shuttle to the other side of town and walked the River Walk up to the Bluff View Art District to Rembrandt’s Coffee and grabbed some joe. 

 

sidewalk ends

 

 

What do you do when the sidewalk ends?

 

 

grandfather

 

 

 

One of my favorite sculptures in the Bluff View Art District…it was called “Grandfather”.

 

 

 

 

 

river walk While up there, we asked a local where to eat.  She said that she worked at a place called “Lupi’s” (turns out she’s one of the managers!), that it was affordable, family-friendly, and yummy.  Turns out, she was right!!

 

Caleb introducing us to the menu of fantastic homemade pizzas and calzones!lupis menuOur HUGE pepperoni calzone!lupis meal 

It was a great evening…we came back to the hotel and CRASHED!!  Tomorrow, we are going to see the Tennessee Aquarium- can’t wait!

Chattanooga Day 1!

Caleb was ready to go!! Here he is with his little suitcase of toys for the car!
So, we left Hendersonville, NC, at 9am today and had a nice trip.
We made our first stop at a rest area just inside the TN border.
We stopped in Knoxville, TN (about 2.5 hours later) at a Steak 'n' Shake.
We all enjoyed our meal!
After some good grub, we checked into our hotel an hour and a half and set up camp. Below is a picture of Caleb's abode...
After he got up from his nap 2 hours later (while Eric and I watched a movie on the laptop), we headed out to the Visitor's Center in downtown Chattanooga to go buy our Aquarium tickets for Thursday (it's supposed to be nasty weather-wise that day). We crossed the Pedestrian bridge to go to Coolidge Park where we had a picnic of sandwiches, chips, and sweet tea bought from a local sandwich shop. Pics are below.
Coolidge Park view from Pedestrian bridge #1
Coolidge Park view from Pedestrian Bridge#2
Walking up the long Pedestrian bridge
Daddy and Caleb eating our picnic!

Also, at Coolidge Park, Caleb and Eric found a make-shift percussion set which was thrilling for both of them (we missed you Uncle Ben!) Some pics and a cute video clip follow...


After that, we just walked back to the hotel room and went to sleep early!! What a luxury! We'll see what tomorrow holds!!