ChattaNEWga (lots of pics)

Yesterday was our family "vacation" for the summer. We just took a day trip down to Chattanooga to see my little sister and the aquarium. We had an absolute BLAST! It was one of the funnest things I think we've done since Taylor was born. It wouldn't have been nearly as great if Taylor hadn't enjoyed it as much as she did. Michael and his fiance Leeann also went down with us, which was cool. It was fun to hang out with them.

We started the day going to the aquarium which is in two buildings. The took the ocean journey one first. Me and chris touched some sting rays, and he touched a shark (a little one.) Then we saw some cool butterflies. Then came my absolute favorite part of the Aquarium... THE PENGUINS! I honestly was so excited to see them I almost started to tear up (thank you hormones.) That was the first time I've ever seen penguins in real life and I LOVE penguins. The best part of the penguins, though, was the fact that Taylor got just as excited as I did, if not more-so. She could have stood there for HOURS watching them. She was laughing and talking to them. They would come right up to the glass and just stare at you and she loved it! The rest of the aquarium was pretty cool too. And, of course, you HAVE to walk through the gift shop to leave, so we went and got taylor a couple things. She immediately walked up to the stuffed penguins and picked out the one we would be getting for her! We also got her a real cute baseball cap with a penguin on it.

Then we took the River Journey part of the aquarium. It was pretty cool too. Taylor loved walking up to the glass and watching the fish. She would squat down and start talking to all of them and pointing, turning and looking at me and chris to make sure we could see it too. It was funny. Me and Chris touched some sturgins this time... I have no idea if that's how you spell it. This part of the aquarium had alot of turtles and such. I think chris liked them alot. He used to love turtles. We did see an alligator snapping turtle and chris told us about catching them in the pond behind his house when he was younger and all the things they did to them. It was kinda crazy. They looked MEAN. Taylor enjoyed this part of the trip too, but I think she was getting a little tired (she'd only slept for the last 20 minutes of the trip in the car and that was it for a nap... and it was after one at this point.)

When we left the aquarium we went to the Creative Discovery Museum. It was so cool... but we only stayed for like 30 minutes or so, because we were meeting Cayce and Joey to eat some lunch. Taylor had a blast there too. We're definately going to go back one day and spend most of the day there. There's TOO much to do. It's the coolest interactive kid museum I've ever seen. But we had to leave to get some lunch so we had pizza at the Mellow Mushroom. Then we went on to see the IMAX 3-d movie that goes along with the aquarium. It was Dolphins and Whales. It was kinda boring. And Taylor didn't behave well in there. Chris watched about 10 minutes of the movie and then was out in the hall the whole time with Taylor. She was just too tired/restless to sit there through that.

I wasn't quite ready to leave after all this and so we went and let Taylor play in some fountains they have set up for kids to play in. We stripped her down to nothing but her diaper and let her go! It was fun to watch. She LOVES water and had a BLAST once she started splashing. And she splashed and splashed and splashed. If it wasn't getting windy, we would have let her play longer cause she was having so much fun. But it was cooling off outside, so we got her cleaned up and then went over to cayce's home.

We hung out there all night and relaxed, we grilled burgers and just had fun. It was great to be able to spend time with Cayce and Joey and Michael and Leeann. They're fun people! I don't think we got home til after midnight, but it's okay, cause Chris is still in bed asleep and it's 10:30.

Overall, this was one of the funnest vacations I've ever been on. I think the good majority of it was so awesome because we got to watch how excited Taylor got and how much fun she had.

Well, Here's the pictures. Enjoy!

Michael passed out on the way down
So did taylor
He looks a little evil in the picture, but there he was so cute!


Surfs UP!

A real shark cage!


Talking to the fish

Taylor and daddy looking up at the fishes!

Sea Otter! Taylor called them Puppies!

alligator snapping turtle
Discovery Museum
Taylor actually hit that little boy when he got in there with her.
Nurse Taylor

Michael and Leeann
Our family :)
Cayce and Joey
WATER TIME!
Penguin Parking Meter!!!

Her diaper hung lower than her knees!!!

She had no nap at all yesterday besides 20 minutes in the car before we got there... so when we got to cayce's place, Taylor CRASHED!