Labor Day Weekend

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!!

Labor Day Weekend Part Deux: We came home Friday afternoon after a field trip and DH was at the computer... He was making reservations for an impromptu trip to Chattanooga!!!

What a SURPRISE for us!! The kids were thrilled with the thought of another trip and I was thinking YEAH!! A MINI VACATION!!!

So in an hour, I had thrown together clothes, swimsuits, and snacks for travel and we were off...

We spent the weekend at a Holiday Inn Express.. Great because we can eat breakfast there... Which makes it very convenient and inexpensive... *S*   Plus they have an indoor pool which made entertaining the kids in the evenings easier...

So on Saturday morning, we got up, had breakfast and took off to our first destination.. "Downtown Chattanooga" ... Lots of stuff to do.. The Tennessee Aquarium is there, the Chattanooga ChooChoo, and lots of historical things to see and do... We chose to spend our morning at the Children's Discovery Museum... So for the next 4.5 hours, we played, had story time, and even took in an art class... We will definitely be going back to this museum.!!!

 Then we were off to a restaurant called Cheeburger! Cheeburger!... where you can get a cheeburger any way, (and I mean anyway) you like it!! DD decided to have her 1st "cheeburger" and LOVED IT!!! THey also mix different flavored sodas right at your table and 78 different milkshake flavors... YUM!!!  
After walking around downtown, (we've been to the aquarium there several times) we took in some ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.... another YUM!!  and proceeded to let the kids play in the water / sprinklers at the aquarium... then we watched as they danced in the impromptu rain shower we had... (which thankfully cooled the afternoon off!!)

We ate that evening at a place called the Acropolis... and then we proceeded to have a little lesson on Greece and Greek foods.. DS was on a "tasting" mission... (actually, I think he was trying to compete with DH)...*L*

Sunday came as another beautiful day and we decided to take in some more views... LOOKOUT MTN (1200 ft. above the valley)... Absolutely beautiful, but the area attractions are definitely really busy on Labor Day weekend, so we took in something a little less populated and more educational in the long run.. We learned about the battle fought there (The Battle above the Clouds) and watched some "volunteer" Confederate soldiers re-enact the battle... We also did learned about a piece of art that was commisioned about the battle by a onlooking artist (James Walker)at the time of the war... It is 30ft.x 13ft and is on display at the Point Park Visitor's Center...

We were then getting hungry and decided to take in an open market... I love those... they had all kinds of things to see and do...from rock climbing (for DS), to eating kettle corn (for DD) to music and authentic Mexican food (for DH and me)...

We decided to do one more thing before calling it a trip and that was to do a DUCK!!! We took the kids on a ride on one of those WW11 era amphibious vehicles... They loved it... We never told them they would go in the water and when the driver turned off the road onto the ramp to head in to the Tennessee river, my DS eyes were the size of saucers... So we proceeded to tell him all about his great-grandfather and D-Day and the use of these vehicles at that time... The driver was a former Coast Guard man and told him all about the particular age and use of the vehicle and how it actually floats.. It was wonderful and competely worth the expense.. Plus we got to tour a military museum with items from WW1 to Iraqi Freedom...

Well, I think I have covered our vacation... Couldn't have asked for a better one!!

We'll be visiting Chattanooga again soon!!!

Happy Learning!!