A Day At The Dairy Farm

The close up shot of Briana is compliments of Kathy. Boy, what a fun day we had at the dairy farm! We met Kathy, Matt and Chani and Lisa & Maisie early Saturday morning. Kathy did an excellent job on her blog with the play by play of the day - go check it out! From the corn maze to the pony ride to the farm tour to the pumpkin patch to the hayride to the pig races (yes, pig races), the day was absolutely perfect. There was a beautiful breeze and it couldn't have felt more like fall. It was a wonderful outing with great friends! Gosh I love this time of year!!!!

Here is Briana about to bust it on the bouncer. She would bounce, bounce, fall. Bounce, bounce fall. But she would get right up again and ask for more. ;)

Laughing in the corn maze with Daddy. We only got lost a couple of times - didn't even have to use our rescue flag!

The girls and the ladies.

Three peas in a pod!

Look at all those gorgeous pumpkins. We ended up with three of those suckers.

And I couldn't end with this post without a ton more pictures and some video of the pig race. Suuuwwwweeee!!!

Our pig totally won. Go Priscilla!!!!

Butterflies and Flowers

I think my two favorite places that we visited in Chattanooga were the butterfly garden at the aquarium and the flower gardens at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. I could have looked at the butterflies and flowers all day. Here are some of my favorite photos.

In the butterfly garden...

At the Choo Choo...

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

I Can't Believe It Happened Again

Ugh...

Yep. It happened again. The thing I absolutely hate. Briana threw up on me today at gymnastics class. It hasn't happened to me since the plane ride home from China. It was horrific then. It was horrific today. Briana has only gotten sick to her stomach three times since came into our lives. The plane ride home from China, once with Doug about two months after we got home (which we now refer to as the "Yo Baby" incident) and today.

Briana was in a great mood today. She woke up so happy. She was so excited to go to class. We were in class about 20 minutes. There was a ladder propped at an angle that the kids were supposed to climb on. Briana ironically was going slowly on this apparatus - she is 150 miles per hour on everything else. Her foot slipped and she bumped her mouth on one of the rungs of the ladder. Of course she started to cry, but not scream. I looked for blood. Nope. Teeth still there? Yep. She has definitely hit her mouth harder than that in the past, so I wasn't too concerned.

But I should have been...

I was hugging and comforting her. All of a sudden...I heard it. That sound. THE sound. By the time you hear THE sound, it's too late - I was covered and she was covered. I ran to the bathroom and desperately tried to clean us both up with paper towels. What was I thinking? That was never going to work. We were way too far gone. I stood in the bathroom looking in the mirror knowing I had to go back out there looking and smelling the way I did. But I had to tell Miss Jennifer that we needed to leave. So, I reluctantly left the bathroom and held Briana tight - trying to hide the damage. I told Miss Jennifer (and Angela) that we were leaving and we bolted. I got Briana in the car and drove home quickly. Doug was working from home today, so I called him to tell him we were on our way. He started out being very sympathetic. Then his sympathy slowly turned to amusement. If you know Doug well, you know this is common practice. Just lovely.

So I got Bri and I home and stripped us both and we threw ourselves in the shower. Briana is a bath girl and she is not used to the shower, but she had a lot of fun. Well, until she slipped in the shower and fell on her butt. Ok, time to get out. OMG, can this story get any worse?

I did manage to get a light lunch into her, so I don't think she is sick. I think she was either in pain or she was upset to the point that she did what she did.

Ah yes, the joys of motherhood. I share everything on this blog. The good, the bad and the gross. Today is one of those days that I definitely earned my mommy badge.

Chattanooga - Day Three

Day 3 of Chattanooga was actually just the morning, but it still tuckered Briana out. We visited the Incline Railway - which takes visitors to the top of Lookout Mountain. Briana really enjoyed the ride up and down the mountain. The ride is slow, but it is steep - so it makes your heart pound just a little!

We're waiting to board...

What's with the hands up again? Good gravy!

See, it's pretty steep.

What a view!!!

We got Briana in the car after the ride and thought we could make it to lunch somewhere. Well, Briana zonked about 2.5 seconds after I put her in her carseat. It was a busy, busy weekend. Doug and I grabbed some fast food and ate in the car as we headed home.

While we were in downtown Chattanooga, there was a small bluegrass festival taking place. As we walked along the river the first night, I took a short video of the music - I'm not sure who this band was. You know you are in the deep south when you are hearing this!

Chattanooga - Day Two

Day two of Chattanooga was completely full. We started off at the Creative Discovery Museum, then had lunch on the Southern Belle and ended the day at the Chattanooga Choo Choo and took a horse and buggy ride. The above picture is the three of us at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Bri was ready to go for the day in the Notre Dame jacket. Daddy was very happy.

The Creative Discovery Museum.

Briana and I checking out the puppet theater at the museum.

The Southern Belle.

Me and Briana - who was messing with her sunglasses.

View from the boat.

Here's Briana looking out the window of the boat. As we were waiting to get in the buffet line for lunch, there was Motown music playing on the boat. Briana loved it. She was shaking her booty in her chair and getting a lot of laughs from the crowd in the process. She doesn't like attention or anything (insert sarcasm here...).

There were a lot of senior citizens on the boat - I think they were in a big group. They were already lined up for the lunch buffet when we boarded. Doug and I needed to cut through the lunch line with Briana in order to get to our table. I swear these people were glaring at us. They seemed afraid that we were going to cut in line and take the last turkey sandwich or something. Gosh, some old people can be very ornery when they are hungry.

The Chattanooga Choo Choo...

and Gardens.

Bri running through the mazes.

The horse and buggy ride.

Chattanooga - Day One

We arrived in Chattanooga around 3PM on Friday, checked into our room and headed straight for the TN Aquarium. Late afternoon/early evening is the perfect time to go to the aquarium. The place was practically empty and we were able to really enjoy all the exhibits. Every oversized fish in the aquarium was a "big shark" according to Briana. After the aquarium, we walked along the Tennessee River as the sun went down.

This was the view from our hotel room.

Why isn't Daddy out here with us?

Bri and I checking out the butterfly garden (my favorite part of the aquarium).

Briana seems a little too happy in the shark cage.

Penguins - up close and personal.

Checking out the fish.

This place is so cool!

Me and Briana.

Doug and Briana.

On the riverfront.

Briana kept pointing and saying "moon" as we walked along the river.

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Had So Much Fun

We're back from our trip to Chattanooga. The three of us had such a good time. I have been to Chattanooga many times, but seeing things through the eyes of a child makes any trip 1000 times better. I feel like I am reliving my childhood all over again because of her.

I have a number of pictures I will share with you throughout the week. Here are two of my favorites of Briana. She takes my breath away every day...

Click, Click, Click

Yep, I goofed. When I call my kitty Asia to come to me, I click my tongue two or three times and say "Here kitty". Well, Briana has observed this habit and now clicks her tongue to get people to come to her. She is clicking at me, Doug, her friends, her friends' mommies and the list goes on. I had to apologize to Angela the other day because Briana said to Laney - "Here Laney", clicked her tongue and motioned her hand for Laney to come with her. Oh lovely. I have to repeatedly remind Briana now that her friends are not cats or any type of animal and that she shouldn't do that to people anymore.

Well, at least I have done pretty well by not swearing in front of her. There is the occasional slip of course. I am bracing myself for the day that she catches on to one of those words.

Doug, Bri and I are heading to Chattanooga for the weekend, so I may fall a little behind on blog reading. Hopefully Briana won't click at anyone in the state of Tennessee.