Fun with the Friedman's

While I was in Chattanooga I got word from my good friend, Tara, that Wayne was taking the day off on Friday for them to have a little family getaway over the weekend. They had planned to go to Gatlinburg, but decided to come to Chattanooga instead and visit the Creative Discovery Museum. I had planned to take Taylor up to visit Tara and the kids on Thursday, but it worked out even better this way for us all to get together in Chattanooga and I didn't have to do any extra traveling.

I called Daniel the night before to tell him what our plans were. During this whole week while we were in Chattanooga he was at home getting Taylor's Big Girl Room ready. He and Bud painted the walls and all the trim and Bud painted the bookcase. It looks really good and I'll post pictures once I get all the stenciling done and get the curtains hung. So, anyway, I called Daniel to tell him about our plans and to see if there would be any possible way for him to take the day off on Friday to come up and spend the day with us. The plans were to meet up with the Friedman's after Taylor's nap. Daniel had so much to do that he didn't see any way possible that he would be finished in time to come up on Friday. I was a little disappointed, but I wasn't going to let that spoil the fun. I knew that he was working hard to get Taylor's room finished.

On Friday morning I got up and called Daniel. When we got off the phone Taylor woke up and wanted to see her Granddaddy, so Mama took her into the bedroom to wake him up. Just then Daniel called me back to ask me to unlock the front door. I was a little confused at first and then I saw the car out in front of the house. He had come up early to surprise me! I was so not expecting it. He had gotten up extremely early to get there around 7:30. I was so shocked that I just couldn't believe he was there. This is not the first time that he has surprised me like this and it never gets old.

We had hoped to meet the Friedman's at the Creative Discovery Museum and all go together, but by the time Taylor woke up from her nap they had already been there a while and were getting close to being through. Later Tara told me that she was expecting to spend all day there but the kids get through it in about 2 hours. I think there are more things to do for older children, so in a way I was glad that we didn't take Taylor. We did end up meeting them in the parking lot and taking them to Coolidge Park by the TN River. We had great fun there watching the kids play on the unusual playground equipment. They also had fun climbing the cement animal fountains (which weren't running) and riding the carousel. Although our meeting was short it was really good to get to see them. Since they live in Knoxville now we only get to see them usually about once a year - twice if we make special arrangements - so we really cherish our time together. Here are some pictures of the kids playing together.

Hannah and Taylor playing with the bells and chains.

Isaac and Hannah play while Taylor looks on.

Taylor and Naomi havin' fun.

Tara and Hannah exhange "I love you's" through the tube.

Here are some pictures of the kids on the animal fountains. All the animals are positioned in a circle and during the summer there is water shooting out of their mouths and up from the ground in the middle. Kids come out in their swim suits and run through the water. Of course, the water was turned off during the wintertime.

I was surprised that Daniel actually got Taylor to sit on this turtle and pose for a picture. I would have thought she would have been scared.

The carousel in the park is really neat because all of the animals ar exotic animals and are hand carved and hand painted. At first Taylor was a little bit skiddish. Daniel did get her to sit on a horse for about half a revolution though.

Is Taylor ticklish?

Saying "Good-bye".

Fun at the Mall

Last Thursday while we were in Chattanooga, Taylor and I met Alicia, my sister, and her kids at the mall for a little fun at the play center and then went over to the food court for lunch. Taylor was a little shy at first and didn't want to venture too far away from me. There were quite a few kids playing and she is not very adventurous anyway. Once some of the kids started leaving she started getting a little more interested. We put the kids in the car and let them play there for a little while. We sang "The Wheels On the Bus". One of Taylor's favorite parts was the little sail boat. Just about the time that she was warming up it was time for us to go eat lunch. She didn't want to put her shoes back on because she knew that meant we were leaving. I ended up just putting her back in the stroller without her shoes on. We'll have to go back there again sometime when she can stay and play longer.

Visit to Grandmommy's and Granddaddy's

We went to Chattanooga this weekend to visit my family. Taylor and I are still getting over colds, but it didn't stop us from having a great time. On Friday night we had dinner at my parents with all of my family except my dad. He was on his way home from Huntsville where he was sitting with my grandmother in the hospital and helping out with things they needed done. He got in after we had finished eating. The kids played so well together and seemed to enjoy one another. Taylor and Joshua were so cute the way they played in tandem.

On Saturday we met Alicia at Heritage Park to have pictures made of the three of us. She did a great job. The sun was out, so there were a lot of pictures that had shadows in them. It really would have been better if we could have done it in the evening or on an overcast day, but it just didn't work out that way. We still got some great shots though. Here are a few of our favorites.

For lunch Alicia and I met our friends Tina and Jenny for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. It was really good to get with them and have some girl time. Daniel took a picture of us.


Taylor did really well at night while we were away. She went down without too much fussing and stayed asleep all night long.

On the way home we stopped at the Tanger outlets at Locust Grove to shop for Taylor some shoes and PJ's. She has been growing so fast lately. We liked the shoes so much that she already has that we got some more just like them. She gets compliments on them all the time and they go with so many of her outfits. We were hoping that Taylor would sleep some on the way home, but she only slept for about 25 minutes at the beginning of the trip. We could have possibly made it to church tonight if we had hurried, but Taylor was so exhausted and hungry that we decided it would be best to just stay home. As it turned out, Taylor went down early. It was no time before she was out. We have had a nice quiet evening.

This has been a great weekend and I am so glad that we made the trip. I know that Grandmommy and Granddaddy enjoyed their time with Taylor and she got to spend some good quality time with them. Too bad it was just so short.