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July 25, 2011

Our Vacation...in Pictures

We took our first mini-vacation as a family of four last week. We went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is about a three-hour drive for us.
I spent some time in Chattanooga when I was growing up, and again here and there over the past 15 years or so. It was fun to go back to a place that I knew so long ago, and to see a lot of new things through the eyes of the girls.
Day 1
We arrived in Chattanooga mid-afternoon, the girls having taken about an hour-long nap in the car.
First stop...the children's hands-on museum.
The girls both had a great time "driving" various vehicles...
...and they also enjoyed trying out a lot of musical instruments...
Afterwards, we had our first of several great meals. I ordered the girls a chicken quesadilla appetizer, and then planned for them to share our meals with us. The girls ultimately ate about half of my fish and green beans...but they literally jumped into Daddy's lap when they realized he had jambalaya!
Day 2
We spent the morning at the aquarium. It's really amazing...very well laid-out. The girls LOVED seeing all the fish. To their delight, there were a lot of turtles and frogs, too.
The butterfly sanctuary was also really wonderful. Daddy seemed to have The Touch, as he coaxed a couple of beautiful creatures to alight on his finger...much to Baby B's amazement.
That afternoon, our girls put their newly-aquired fish knowledge into practice with a swim in the hotel's indoor pool.
That night, we had a fantastic dinner at a local pizza joint, some of the yummiest homemade pizza I've ever had. I'm glad we got a large, too...as the girls made sure they got their share!

Day 3
We spent our last morning at the zoo. This was the girls' first trip to a zoo, and it may have been a good thing that they didn't have set expectations. The zoo was incredibly small, and I wasn't very impressed by the habitats. Nonetheless, the girls enjoyed seeing the animals, the gorillas and the cheetah being their favorites.
We drove to the picturesque Bluff View Arts District for our last meal in Chattanooga. We enjoyed a fantastic meal with some amazing fresh-baked bread and handmade pasta, and then we braved the heat on the terrace to enjoy the view of the river for a few minutes.
You can barely glimpse the river behind the girls. By that time, they were pretty tuckered out, and they were more taken with a potted plant than the view.
After one last pit stop for a pastry (or two caramel truffles for me if you wanna get all detailed about it), we hit the road. The girls fell asleep really quickly, and we got to enjoy the precious sounds of two sleeping babes behind us.
I happened to think to snap a picture of their little feet while they slept...perhaps the best view of the entire trip.
We really enjoyed ourselves on this little get-away. The girls are at such an amazing age to really enjoy our adventures. And on top of it, they ate well and slept well...and I couldn't ask for more!

13 comments:

championm2000 said...

This vacation had everything: good fun, good fun, and cute baby feet!

Glad y'all had a great time!

Andrea said...

What a fantastic first family vacation!! So much fun! Thanks so much for sharing!!

Unknown said...

yeah for a fun and successful first family vacation!! Looks like a great time! I wish we had an aquarium somewhere near us. The closest is Chicago which is at least a 6 hour drive. :-(

We had a 4 day vacay this weekend, too! We spent lots of time on the beach = post to come later this week!

Deanna said...

Sounds like a great trip! My next big plan for Chattanooga is to spend the night at the Choo-Choo and do the train museum. They have a package that includes unlimited-ride admission to Lake Winnie amusement park, so I think we could have a fun weekend of it. We really should meet there sometime and let our girlies play! : )

I had figured out from what I read online that the zoo must be pretty small (though I did like the prices!); we STILL haven't been to the zoo anywhere. What did you think of the children's museum? My mom took my cousin last year and she thought a lot of it might still be too big for the girls. Did you feel like you got your money's worth there?

Olusola said...

"The precious sound of two sleeping babies" LOL! Looks like a fun vacation for you and your girls.

Marcia (123 blog) said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE the pictures

Your little girls are growing so beautifully :)

The food all sounds delicious - you're a woman after my heart with all the detailed descriptions. BTW, do you take pics of food like I do?

My kids haven't been to the zoo either and we have a fantastic one - maybe this Dec (summer)?

Love that the girls are still rear-facing and such cute toes!!!

Quadmama said...

What a fun trip! It sounds like it was the perfect mini-vacation.

Aunt Shanda :) said...

PERFECT!!!! LOVED the pictures and the narrative :):):) So glad you had fun, and of course that you made it to Lupi's (seriously - wasn't it the BEST??) LYLAMI, Friend!

Anonymous said...

LOVE this!!

we'll be going on vacation in a few weeks and i'm totally freaking out about the 5.5 hour drive!! it's nothing compared to 14 hours last year, but i'm much more comfortable within a 3 hour radius of our home! :)

looks like you guys had a great time. any other fun trips planned before back to school time? :)

Just Another Mom of Twins said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful first family vacation and that the girls had a GREAT time!

(The food sounded yummy!...LOL)

:)

Renae said...

Sounds like such a wonderful little family vacation! I love all the photos, but especially that one in front of the fish tank. Such an amazing shot.

I see you've still got the girlies rear-facing. Can't remember if we've talked about this before or not, but we kept our kiddos rear-facing for a super long time too. We just turned them forward a couple of weeks ago because they reached the height max. for rear-facing on our Cosco car seats in the Corolla. We could have kept them rear-facing in their Britax car seats in the Sienna, but once they got a taste of the forward-facing action, they were hooked. They were 3 years, 4 months when we turned their seats around, and while most of they're friends have been forward-facing for 2 years, T&R never once complained or questioned the positioning of their car seats. They have, however, since the switcheroo, made lots and lots of comments about all the other kids they see sitting forward-facing like them. :o)

Rebecca said...

How much fun!

Cheryl Lage said...

Oh it all looks so wonderful! :) Love that last shot in particular! ;0) Great images to remember it by. :)