Chattanooga Trip

July 5, 2013

Ugghh, it is hard getting up early when I have been used to sleeping as late. Possible and letting the parents take care of my hooligans!  But it is for a good cause. I am taking the boys to Chattanooga for an overnight at Staci and Creed's.  Staci has planned for us to go to the children's museum for the day. Sadly though, today is a work day so I had to leave a little bit later to avoid Atlanta traffic. I was worried that getting to the museum too late would mean we would not get much time there because of Yannick's need for a nap. So the day started off with me being a little bit tense about how this would go - particularly because this is not a cheap outing for sure. We took the minivan and went to the house to pick up Staci and Creed.  

It stopped raining for just long enough to get a quick picture on the porch swing of their house.  I let Staci drive the "mini" as Yannick was fond of calling the minivan, since she knew where we were going, and we headed off.  Staci and Creed generously picked up the tab for today's outing.  We got started in the water room.  

Zachary in blue, an Wyatt slightly behind him

Zachary in blue, and Yannick in red #3

I had to use a ponytail holder to keep is water smock on

The big boys were interested in the water stuff for a bit, but then they were a lot more interested in the climbing, maze, and slides above the water area, where they hid and chased Uncle Creed, or "Uncky" as Art is trying to them to do.  

Zachary a level above Staci 

Yannick, Staci and I spent a little time up in the mazes, but Nick did not love it, so we spent more time downstairs by the replica of a ship's galley.  Yannick enjoyed serving us food over and over in the tiny table and chairs.

Yannick making food in the ship's galley

Though he does not look thrilled, he is having a great time.

Finally, I forced them to move on.  Creed said the ropes/slide/maze was awesome enough that he was happy just that and we did not need to go anywhere else.  That is a good sign.  :)

First stop was the dinosaur dig exhibit.  They basically got to dig around in the sand finding dinosaur bones, while I dressed up like a dinosaur - getting zero reaction from my boys, but some positive reinforcement from others. :)

Roar - I'm a dinosaur!

Wyatt in red w/ black shorts, Yanncik in red to the right of Wyatt, and Zachary in tie dye.

Then they bypassed the music room, much to Creed's chagrin, and headed to the arts and crafts section.  There was a very cool stop motion picture movie area where you got to stage and make a movie with 16 camera shots.  Very cool.  Yannick liked the stamps, legos, and magnatiles all well enough, but then he found his true love - face painting.  DIY. 

The picture is not great, but you can see some blue on his lip and jaw line.  This attracted Zachary, who was more proficient with the paint stick

Wowzers.  That is a lot of white paint.

Awww, mommy had to get in on the fun too!

Here is the dragon on Zachary's arm looking pretty cool.

Finally, lunch time!  Starved!  I had made lunch for the boys, and Staci and Creed bought lunch for the three adults.  Not nearly as good as Cosi, in the Children's Museum near Evanston, but still plenty tasty.

Then we went back to the Arts room so that Creed could make a movie. :)  After that, we headed upstairs where they keep their special exhibits and the library.  I was excited to learn that their current special exhibit for a few months is Magic Treehouse, which is a chapter book series for kids that Zachary enjoys.  The books showcased were not any that he has read, but all the exhibits were pretty cool.  One with civil war soliders medical tent, one with a coal train, one with the first Thanksgiving, and pilgrim-era food/housing/clothes, etc.  

Staci and I hung out with Wyatt and Yannick who were especially enjoying shoveling coal into the train engine, while Creed took Zachary outside to explore the things out there.  I never made it out there, as time was running short, but Z and Creed had a good time.

Creed and Zachary playing giant checkers

Waiting for their turn to pull the train whistle

You can't see it from the picture, but Yannick has a shovel full of "coal" (rubber) that he is going to dump into the engine's fire box.  He did this over and over and over.  Side note, I love this little jumper thing he is wearing because it has a number 3 on it, and he is our third.  It was not so cute when it was Zachary, and then Wyatt's.  After this we read for awhile in the library while Staci read a super super long book to Zachary, which I finally had to kill, as it was getting so so late.  I was shocked that it was after 3 and Yannick had still not had a meltdown or fallen asleep.  However, we could not leave right away, because the staff had a flash mob of the cha cha slide, and then had a few other dance moves. Our boys still remembered the moves!

Then, the much anticiapted trip to the gift store.  Oh the excitement!  Aunt Staci was willing to spend $10 or less on each boy, and it was a difficult decision for several of them.  Finally it was decided...Zachary picked a Pteranadon stuffed animal, Wyatt got a fighter jet, and Yannick got an old VW van with doors that open.  For awhile he wanted the same school bus that Zach got when we were here 5 years ago.  I was able to convince him not to.  

As we were walking out, everyone wanted to try the machine where you pull a bubble up around you.  It worked out pretty well, and all 3 got to do it, and even Creed.  Perfect timing by us, because by the time we were leaving there was a long line behind us waiting for the bubble machine.  

Back to the minivan and Yannick was asleep in about 4 seconds.  We were back at the house by 4pm, and I made the boys lie down for an hour, and I layed down with Yannick in my bed.  It was not worth bringing the pack n play for just one night, so I just let him share with me.  

After the boys got up at 5pm, they watched as much of Star Wars before dinner as they could.  What a treat for them to get to see it!  I finally had to wake Yannick up around 6pm, and he did NOT want to be awake.  Grump city!  He calmed down enough to finally enjoy dinner.  Tortellini and veggies - perfect for my picky eaters!  Then after dinner they ran around like crazy people all over the house.  Creed had charged his walkie talkies and they did some hide and seek, then they would hide an object (because Wyatt is really afraid of hide and seek.  he does not like to be scared/startled) and use the walkie talkies to find communicate while looking for it.  Very cute.  Lots of running circles around Staci and Creed's dining/kitchen/living room.  It is a nice lap for running. 

We finally got them ready for bed, and put them down.  Yannick needed a bit of consoling, which is reasonable since he is at a new place, but they all fell asleep nicely.  In fact, Yannick was a bit of a bed hog, which I found out when I came back upstairs to bed

he looks so long here!

That's better, not there is room for me!

A wonderful day with the Taylors!!