See Rock City

Let me start this off by saying that I have always had a hard time leaving my kids with anyone for more than a couple of hours. Not that I don't trust anyone else, but I just don't like burdening others and I ultimately don't like leaving my kids for very long. I miss them too much, and I don't like not knowing what they're up to every minute! Sometimes, though, you just gotta get away. So, Chandler and I had a much needed weekend getaway to Chattanooga. Chandler's parents were so kind to stay at our house and watch the kids. We had a great time, the kids had a great time, and Nan Nan, Grandaddy, and Nanny (Chan's grandmother) had a great time (at least they said they did anyway ~ ha). This was our first getaway together without kids since April of 2009 when we went away for one night. Only other time was 16 months before that when Charlee was still in utero. Our weekend was long overdue and it was niiiiiiiiice. We had a great time and enjoyed not having to pack the 42 bags required when taking toddlers places. It was also nice to wait for a table at a restaurant and just be able to sit and wait, no chasing and consoling required. We were also able to do fun things that are not conducive to bringing kids with you.


Only a few work calls this trip :)

Rather than have a relaxed, laid-back vacation where we just laid around all day, we decided to jam-pack as much into each day as we could. I couldn't have been happier with it! We didn't get to Chattanooga until late Friday night, and decided to come home Sunday afternoon instead of stay through Monday, July 4th. We fit so much stuff in on Saturday, and the day seemed to go by so much slower than vacation days normally do. It was perfect! We saw Rock City. It was very cool ~ a lot better than I thought it would be. We didn't have plans to go when we did, but we happened upon it while driving up the mountain and looking at all of the cliff-edge houses (WHAT a view!). It was the perfect balance of heat and coolness. The caves are naturally air-conditioned. It felt awesome!

That's me out there. All the way to the left in the light shirt. Chandler didn't know how to zoom on my phone's camera. :)

Saturday night, we went to the largest drive-in theater and saw Transformers 3. There was a fireworks show right before the movie, and they had a double feature on each of the two screens that started at 10. Maybe in our younger days we would have made it to the second movie, but we could barely keep our eyes open at 12:45, so we headed on back to the hotel. Sunday, we did a zipline course. SO much fun! I thought I'd chicken out and get scared up there, but I surprised myself. The ziplines were the easiest part. We had to go through lots of obstacle courses high up in the trees, and some of them were pretty difficult. We went with a great group of people, and the guides were entertaining.

We ate at several yummy places, too. Taco Casa on the way in Tuscaloosa ~ Mmmmmmmmmm! We had breakfast at a downtown Chattanooga favorite, The Bluegrass Grill, and met a nice man and his college-age daughter while waiting for a table. They were Tennessee fans, but they had no problem associating with us Mississippi State folks. Either it's because we're so friendly, or it's because we're not viewed as a threat, I don't know, but our only real arch-enemies are Ole Miss fans. Ha! That afternoon, we had hamburgers at an Earth Fare store for $1 a piece. Can't beat that! That night, we had dinner at Big River Grille and Brewing Co. Our dinner was delicious! The manager came over and apologized to us for how long we were having to wait on our food. It was funny because neither of us had realized that it was taking a long time. We were just enjoying waiting in peace and not having to entertain little ones! We ate at Jimmy John's Sunday for lunch, then headed home. I was lucky enough to be able to stop by Fresh Market and get my all-time favorite watermelon salt water taffy, or as Charlee calls it, "laffy tandy". I could live on that stuff alone.

Best part of the trip: coming home to a clean house! Thanks Nan Nan and Nannie!! :)