Chattanooga

For Labor Day weekend we took Ryder to Chattanooga for the day. This was Ryder's first trip to one of my favorite cities and Scotty's home town. Everytime we go, we never want to leave so we made the most of the time we had. Being 7 months pregnant I opted out of the major attractions and we just hang out around town. First stop- rent a Funny Car - this is the best way to spend a summer afternoon. Wish they had them in Atlanta!

We took our funny car over the river to the Chattanooga Choo Choo so Ryder could visit all of the trains (his heaven). Not really the nicest place but plenty of trains to see and climb on.

Then off to get ice cream! "Mommy, I do not see the superman ice cream?"

Chattanooga is the perfect place to walk around. There is so much greenspace that it draws you in.

All along the river you keep coming across fun things to bang on, ride on or climb on. "Who made that noise?"

What is better than sharing a shaved ice by the river?

Off to the Children's Museum! This place was very cool. First stop- splashing.

Then riding in cars for about 45 min, making art, playing music and...

digging for Dino's!

We walked over to the River and missed the ferry by seconds. It was time to head home anyway. We can't wait to head back soon. Bye Bye Chattanooga!

Botanical Gardens

Big Papa took Jill, Jordan, Emma, Ryder and I to the Botanical Gardens last weekend. The renovation is amazing! The kids loved running throughout the place and looking at all of the glass artwork. Big Papa tried to explain to the kids how plants grow, where they come from etc.. maybe when they are a little older they will start to take an interest either way thanks Big Papa for a great Saturday!

Getting in touch with our faminine side

We have found a great new art studio for kids. The little house of Art on Dresden. If your little one likes to paint, color, create you have to try this out. Ryder has been a little artist since he was about six months old and could sit up to paint with his hands so this was a little piece of heaven for him.

After painting, coloring, cutting and glue I had to tear him out of there. What a perfect way to spend a rainy morning.

Time to make meatloaf! Ryder has just grown the interest of helping mommy cook. His favortie part is putting the eggs in the bowl of whatever it is we are making. You could say that some days we just like getting in touch with our faminine side.

Go Fish!

Lets go fishing! Grab your net and see what happens. Gunner and family took Ryder and I out to a trout farm to catch some fish. What a perfect place to build up your confidence as a fisherman!

"I caught one!"

(Well maybe with a little help from Joe and Papa) "But look! My first fish!"

Gunner sees no problem with catching the fish with his bare hands right out of the bucket.

We got the hang of it now.

Sea Island

Thank you to The Jones' for a fabulous beach trip! Ryder's first trip to the ocean was perfect. We are so happy we could share it with the Jones', McCord's and Lacy's.

Although Ryder did not love the sand but he sure enjoyed running in and out of the ocean for the first time. On Friday night the Jeep Train took us out past the beach club to look for seashells.

He HATED looking for seashells because it is muddy - heaven forbid we get our feet dirty! But the Jeep Train is still part of our daily conversation.

Ice cream is always a highlight of a childs day espically if the ice cream store has a train riding around the store!" Everyone look, a train!!!!" "Bye bye Train" "Everyone look, here comes the train again!!" and on and on and on.....

Try getting 5 kids to sit still after eating ice cream.

We loved watching all the fisherman catch "sishy's" off the pier.

Sometimes you just need a little time to hang around the house playing ball..

catching flies...

and just generally climbing on things.

But really the beach is all about swimming- get your noodle and hop in!

try to dig your way to china,

or just sit and hang out in the water.

Does this remind anyone of high school and the breakstand?

I love this picture of Hank, Ella Kate & Gunner.

Bye Bye beach- we miss you already!! We will never forget our first trip to the beach, the jeep train, Sweet Treats Ice Cream store, or the wonderful company!

Lake Rabun

Every summer we head up to lake Rabun with the Shaws for a little R & R. We swam, took boat rides, watched others ski and took good long naps. This year Ryder has really got his swimming down. He spent most of the weekend either asking for a boat ride or jumping off the dock.

"1, 2, 3 set"

4th of July

We had plenty of fun playing before watching the fireworks. We played football- we even have the look down.

We rode daddy like he was a horse,

and we spent a lot of time playing tackle with Emma.

Then we sat down and watched the fireworks. We loved the first few and then got a little scared so we watched the rest of the fireworks from the car. Happy Fourth of July everyone!