Mini-Vacation, Day 2

On Tuesday, we started our day out by packing everything up, loading the van, and checking out of the hotel. Next we drove into downtown Chattanooga and grabbed a picnic lunch from River Street Deli. That turned out to be an excellent choice!

We walked over to Coolidge Park to enjoy our delicious lunch and the stunning weather.

Lauryn's expression and her bib make her seem quite demanding. But she was content and her bib actually says "YOU make me happy".

A wild Joe in his natural habitat.

Walking across Walnut Street Bridge ...

Someone did not want to cooperate.

I called her my little Monk because she touched the ring on every single one of these poles.

Looking out over the Tennessee River

Chattanooga Mini-Vacation

Last Monday afternoon I got a call from Jeff saying, essentially, "Guess what, honey - I'm going to work in Chattanooga for the week!" The manager of the Martin Marietta quarry there had an employee with a medical emergency so they needed a replacement quickly. As soon as I got home from the kids' piano lessons I started getting Jeff ready to go and by 7 that evening he was on his way to a hotel in Chattanooga. He worked there all week and then they asked him to come back the next week! His boss agreed to let him go for 2 more days. The best part is that the manager in Chattanooga offered to book a hotel suite for those 2 days so that the whole family could come along! We were very thankful and thoroughly enjoyed our whirlwind mini-vacation.

You may remember that on our anniversary trip last year, Jeff and I went to Chattanooga. This was a very different trip, since last year all my research was focused on what the adults were interested in, and this year it was all about the kiddos! Jeff worked all day both days, which left me and the kids with a lovely blank canvas to fill with the bright colors of the gorgeous weather and various children's activities.

Sunday evening Daddy took the kids down to the hotel pool, which was arguably their favorite part of the entire trip!

Monday morning we spent at the Chattanooga Zoo.

Selah REALLY wanted to pet the sand cat.

Kaity captured this shot.

Fennec fox

Our Gracie.

The observation deck for the cougar enclosure was a train car! Cool, huh?

Selah's motto: Find a wheel, try to drive it. (I didn't tell her that was the brake!)

Selah took this picture of the snow leopard.

Guess what? It's a buffalo!

After leaving the zoo, we parked in downtown Chattanooga and walked for a little bit before finding a place to eat lunch. By the time we got back to the van we had just enough time to get back to the hotel for a little rest before picking Daddy up from work.

I'll add a second post later with more pictures from day 2 - which was even busier than day 1!

The Bookshelf

I have a bookshelf built by a friend of our family that I've been wanting to update for a some time. Since, you know, I don't have much else going on, I decided to do it now! After hitting a couple of roadblocks, I am pleased to say it's finally finished!

The Humble Beginning

Adding trim

Many coats of glossy white paint

And here's the whole point of the project:

Suzani - Lipstick

I found this fabric on-line and fell in love immediately! A friend recently teased me because though my favorite color is red my wardrobe is mostly blue and green, so I was determined to bring a little more red into my life. After covering the shelf backing with the fabric, I nailed the backing in place.

Of course I had a little helper! She grabbed the trimmed fabric and found that piece of cardboard so she could make her own project.

Here it is! I really love it and I almost hate to put any books on it because they'll hide all that gorgeous fabric.

All My Children

For a while now I've had an album on Facebook with pictures of my kids at the same age. I was thinking about it the other day and realized I don't think I've shared anything like that here on the blog. These were all taken when my babies were around 7-8 months old.

Kaity

Joe

 

Selah

Lauryn

I couldn't find any baby pictures of Jeff for comparison purposes - I'll try to get one next time we visit his parents, but for now, here's baby Jennifer:

Hi, Mom!

Gingham Girl

Hands down, my favorite outfit from Kaitlyn's babyhood is this pink gingham set. All three of the girls have now worn it and it's still so stinkin' adorable!

Daddy finally has his brown-eyed girl!

Since it was such a beautiful day and Lauryn and I were inadvertently kinda matchy, I got Kaity to take some pictures of us.

Ack! Look at those toes! Those chubby little hands!

My Clever Design Genius

I sent the boy upstairs to clean up the LEGO explosion on his floor, so naturally he came down later to show me what he had built. (Sigh ...)

Regardless of the disobedience (which I did address, Mom), Joe did create something pretty cool: A mad scientist's laboratory!

That's a ladder on the left-hand side, leading up to the lightning rod on the roof.

It's hinged in the middle so you can see the inside ...

Because every mad scientist's laboratory needs a disembodied head.

 After Joe explained each of the elements in his laboratory, he summed up by crowing, "Who's a clever design genius? I'm a clever design genius." He certainly has the healthy Ralston ego. That's my boy!

New High Chair

Feeding Lauryn baby food while she sits balanced on my lap has certainly been an adventure - one on occasion fraught with peril - but it was time for us to buy a high chair. With such limited space in the kitchen I was careful to find one that is fairly compact. That ain't easy, I'll tell ya! I'm pleased with the purchase, though.

At any rate, Lauryn loves her new high chair! She thinks it's delicious!

Seriously, I had to pry that strap out of her little clutches more than once.

"Oh, you put FOOD on it, too? Awesome."

It is both a proud and an agonizing time watching babies learn to feed themselves independently. I really can't look sometimes. I can't explain it, it just makes me squirm! More (off-brand, organic) Cheerios ended up in the chair than in Lauryn, but I helped her get some in that cute little mouth and fed her some banana, too.

My Poor Daughter-In-Law

I promise we're not raising a sexist pig, but that boy ... I'm in the middle of painting a bookshelf and Joe walks in - "What are you doing painting that? Dads are supposed to paint things and moms are supposed to do the cooking and cleaning." ?!

When I recovered from the shock and could speak, I said, "What in the world gave you that idea?" Oh, boy, did he backtrack! As he tried to stammer out a response I told him, "I'll tell you what. If you can point to just one thing in this house your daddy has painted, I'll give you $50."

After a moment of reflection, he responded, "Um, the kitchen?"

"Nope. I painted this kitchen while I had a ONE WEEK OLD baby."

He gave up after that. Honestly, I have no idea where he gets these things ... but I had to laugh. It's going to take a special kind of woman to marry my little fella. Bless her heart.

Just An Old Sweet Song ...

Today was an absolutely stunning day in Georgia! Terrible mother that I am, I forced the children to go out and play in it. Actually, Kait was the only reluctant one - "But I'm cleaning my room!" (I know, weird kid.) Selah was very insistent that they needed to put plastic bags over their shoes "Like Daddy did!" It took some major effort to convince her it was no longer necessary.

As soon as I finished what I was doing in the house I loaded Lauryn into her stroller and we all headed out to the graveyard for a walk.

 It's a slightly different world than it was just a few short days ago!

Of course they brought along LEGO creations!

Gorgeous blue sky!

Kaity posed Joe and took this shot.