Park with Daddy

Kristin was back to work today and we are staying out in the suburbs so I didn't want to try any epic public transit visits to the zoo or anything.  We tried to entertain ourselves within walking distance of the house.

Jasper made a legit friend on the playground near our house, who encouraged him to try the big boy swing for the first time ever, which he did.

Ellis was a little under the weather with a cold today. I went to the kitchen for 5 minutes to get lunch ready, and when I came back she was lying on the floor in the living room and Jasper was tucking her in for a nap.

It was well over 30C again today, both kids were worn out from the epic playground adventure and passed out immediately after lunch (in their own beds, not on the floor).

Jasper was a little grouchy after lunch so we piled in to the stroller and went to find something cold to drink.  We ended up at a Chic-fil-A, which I have never been to before.  I was intrigued by the all chicken menu and homophobic ownership group, but ultimately it was the play place visible through the window that pulled me in the door. It was also outrageously air conditioned, and sold strawberry milk shakes.

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park

I had another day off today, before my next conference starts tomorrow, so we all went down to the MLK memorial and national park.

 The exhibits were fascinating, but were hard to explain to Jasper, and it was hard to keep their attention.

 We opted not to tour the house, and instead had a picnic then walked back downtown.

 It was unbelievable hot again today, so we cooled off at the Olympics fountain again. Ellis and Jasper made a friend.

 It started to thunder, so the fountain was shut down and we raced back to the MARTA to beat the storm.

 After the storm, it immediately got hot and sunny again, so we went to check out the neighbourhood park. We are staying in an affluent part of North Atlanta, and it has quite an impressive park and trails system.

Back at the apartment, it was dinner and bath. The kids provided some entertainment with their bathtub cooking show.

Atlanta braves game

Today we left Chattanooga and drove back to Atlanta. On the way, we stopped in the suburbs to catch an Atlanta Braves game.

 It was another hot, humid day. I don't think I'd been that hot and sweaty since we watched a baseball game in Texas last June!

 It's hard to keep the kids interested in the game, but they enjoyed clapping and cheering, eating snacks and walking around.

 Ellis sported her best baseball outfit, that is starting to get a bit small.

 Jasper was inspired by the opera singer who sang "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch, and he turned an empty water bottle into his microphone.

 He belted out made up songs into his bottle for most of the rest of the game. Most didn't make much sense, although one seemed to be inspired by the sand dunes in Canary Islands.

 Of course, Ellis wanted to be just like Jasper, and also found her own water bottle microphone. He songs were more limited to one line of happy birthday, or the first two words of  O Canada or Head and Shoulders. 

 We found our new AirBnb and picked up some groceries before we had to return the car. We had Chipoltle for dinner, where Ellis demolished her rice, quesadilla and orange slices.

Blue hole, fountains, trains and dogs

We didn't have much success with our sightseeing today, but it was still overall a good day. 

 We tried to go for a swim in one of the Chattanooga "Blue holes" that I had read about. I opted for the one that is close to town and only a mile walk to get there (we didn't bring Jasper's carrier).

 Unfortunately, the main whole area is now closed for swimming and fishing. It seems to have been closed since May this year, but the articles I'd read last night were written before that. It was still a nice hike, but it was very hot and a cool off at the end would have been nice!

 To cool off, we instead drove back into North Chattanooga to the fountains at Coolidge Park.

 We had a picnic beside the fountains and statues, and the kids had a blast.

 After nap,we tried to go for a ride on the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, apparently the world's steepest railway (I feel like we've been at other places that made this same claim). Luckily, the ticket man gave us a heads up that it would be a 30 min wait at the bottom and 1 hour to get back down. We decided it wasn't worth the wait, so we got ice cream and watched the train instead.

 Our hostel is in a trendy neighbourhood in South Chattanooga, and we have a dog park/ bar next door.

 While I cooked dinner, Pat took the kids to the dog park to play games and watch the dogs play.

Pat is now off to the Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball game, and I'm hanging out at the hostel with a bunch of triathletes in town for tomorrow's race.We drive back to Atlanta in the morning.

Creative Discovery Museum

Today we went to the children's museum in Chattanooga.  It was pretty basic compared to the others we have been to recently, but the kids still had a blast and did not want to leave when it was closing.

Much like every day, it was super hot out, so we followed the lead of the local kids and jumped around in some fountains and stuff.  A large waterfall stairway was built to commemorate the "Trail of Tears" which is the name for the expulsion of natives from Georgia and Tennessee to Oklahoma some time in the 1800s.  Given that thousands died, we weren't sure if was cool to jump around and play in it, but everyone else was, so we jumped in head first.

We went to a restaurant that specializes in chicken and biscuits for lunch, the kids ate an alarming amount of each.  For supper we went to a bar that had indoor seating and picnic tables outside, reminded us a lot of a place we went last time we were in Dallas, except there was no playground at this one.   

Driving a convertible at the children's museum 

Chicken and biscuits

Nap time over the river

Frolicking in the trail of tears steps

Jasper the firefighter

Ellis the police officer

Supper at Slick's

Chattanooga

This morning, we checked out of our AirBnb and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car.

After a good battle to install the car seats, we were off to Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

We arrived too early to check into our hostel, and happened upon the International Towing and Recovery museum (aka Tow Truck Museum).

Both the kids were in awe of all of the tow trucks. There was even some that the kids were allowed to ride in.

 I would not have guessed that there was an entire museum and Hall of Fame dedicated to the towing industry.

Jasper lost his hat on this trip, so we picked him up an International Towing Museum one at the gift shop. He was thrilled!

There was even a tow truck shaped bench outside out the museum.

Our hostel is right around the corner from a fire station, so the kids are getting their fill of exciting vehicles. 

We only brought one travel crib, so I made Jasper a make shift floor bed out of couch cushions. He is pumped to sleep in his "bed fort".

Fernbank Museum

Today was the last day of my conference, and I was done at noon, so I got to catch up with the rest of the family. They took the subway and bus in the morning out to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

The museum is not specifically for children, but there were tons of children's sections.

There was a huge indoor playground and a big forest park and playground outside.

There were lots of little tunnels and houses for the kids to hide in in the indoor playground.

They could have spent all day just in the one playground room.

There were also lots of dinosaur fossils out in the main atrium.

After I arrived, we had to get a dino family picture.

The outdoor playground area had a boardwalk with interesting sculptures built into it. It was a bearable temperature out there as long as you kept in the shade.

Later in the afternoon, the kids played in the outdoor playground, that included a river to play in. It was still to hot to stand on the pavement, but the water was refreshing.

The bus ride home was part of the adventure for the kids. They have a rule that kids can't stay in the stroller, so the kids got to sit in their own seats. It seems that Atlanta is a pretty car focused city, the transit was pretty empty.

Back at the apartment, Jasper built a "beaver dam" out of all of the cushions and wouldn't let us dismantle it. It wasn't worth the fight, so we had story time on the floor.