Chattanooga

We left last Thursday morning for a few days in Chattanooga Tennessee with Bob's family.  Google maps said it would take us 10 hours....  13 hours later we were finally there.  Aaaahhh.  We hit rush hour in Nashville, and then there was an accident that backed up traffic.... basically what we thought was the last 2 hours of our trip turned into 5.  Thankfully little miss was soooo good. 

She was a little fussy in Nashville while I was in the front seat.  I'm so glad we brought along a portable DVD player and some Disney sing alongs... saved us from a screaming child in the back seat of a very small two door civic with no way to get back to her...    

After we got through Nashville we stopped to eat and I decided to sit in the back with her the rest of the trip.  It was a good decision, because then we sat waiting for hours for the accident to be cleared up.  Poor girl.  I let her out of her seat while we were creeping along, but there wasn't really any place for her to go... and then we got to try and find the cabin on windy mountain roads in the dark.  Huzzah.  It's great fun to try and entertain a baby, while reading confusing directions and watch for road signs in the dark. 

Friday morning we went to a park in Chattanooga to meet a photographer... and the Delta Queen was there!  It's been a long time, she used to be sooo much bigger.  Hehe. 



This picture makes me laugh- nobody in it is looking at the photographer...

After pictures, Little miss got her very first Carosel ride with Daddy.  

We visited the Tennessee aquarium.  When Cecily noticed the fish, she got all excited.  Otherwise, she just sat in her stroller... seriously, she was so good all week. 

Daddy thought she needed a stuffed sea turtle to take home. 

The place we stayed was called Rock Creek Cabin- there was an icy mountain stream behind it.  It felt really good in the heat!   

Little miss liked the whirlpool tub in the cabin almost as well... hehe. 

We visited Rock City on Saturday.  It was actually kind of cool!  I liked the rocks and gardens and nature part of it, not so much the gnomes and blacklights part, but hey it was built in the 30's.

Bob, Cecily, Sharon, and I drove over to Chickamauga Park Saturday afternoon.  My great grandpa Wyss spent WWI here.  It's a civil war battlefield right next to a fort; they housed overflow soldiers in the park.  Cecily's very first cannon picture: 

I love a good visitor center...  we got to see a reinactor in his wool uniform in the Georgia heat.  He even shot his Enfield rifle.  Little miss sat on her blanket and tried to eat grass.

Aunt Susan is so mean... she won't unwrap my nutty bar for me!

Sunday we streamed Leo's morning service and then went to the Chattanooga market in the afternoon.  It was a really big farmer's market, plus some art and craft booths.  Oh, and live music.  We got some fresh veggies for supper and some fresh blackberries. 

Monday Bob and I slept in and then met up with the rest of the family for lunch and the Discovery Museum.  Cecily being a little bee in the honeycomb:

On the way back to the cabin I convinced Bob to try and find Craven's house... it was kind of on our way home... anyway, after a few wrong turns and winding to the top of Lookout Mountain, we found it.  Basically it was a house from the civil war that was used as army headquarters (and got destroyed when it got captured so the poor owner had to rebuild).  It was also the best view of Chattanooga:   

Bob and little miss next to the monument for an Illinois regiment. 

Ooo... and then I found a post office and made Bob stop!  He's such a good husband.  *grin*

Rock Creek Cabin. 

The pretty creek. 

Tuesday we packed up and left for home.  Somehow it only took us 9.5 hours to get home and Cecily slept for most of it!  Hallelujah!  And Bob's car now has over 100,000 miles on it.  Sad day.   

Blessings.

Swimming

Little miss and I headed to Phil and Jessica's pool the other day with Mom, Shelly, Lori & kids, and Kacie.  It was lovely on such a hot day... although I didn't put on enough sunscreen.  Oh well.

She likes to swim!  And she kept her hat on the whole time and her sunglasses most of the time.  Kacie and  the funny little water baby:

It must have tired her out- when we got home she fell asleep playing with her toys.

Blessings.

Timber!

Carli and company came over Monday afternoon so she could finish her skirt.  Kacie's in town and she came to see little miss.  She fell asleep instead.  hehe.  Typical.

The finished product- don't worry, she won't be wearing the skirt and shirt together. Neon yellow kind of clashes with vintagey yellow polka dots.  *grin*

Then after supper mom and dad and Jakey came over to help take the rest of the tree down.  We decided that there was too much tree left above the split for it to be safe in another strong wind... and it was leaning towards the cemetery slightly... sad day. 

Dad notching the tree while Jakey and Bob man the rope and Mom and Cecily watch... 

Aaand Dad's cutting and the boys are pulling with all their might so it doesn't fall into the cemetery or towards the house or the garden...  it fell pretty much right where they wanted it to go.  Smushed my garden fence, but didn't hurt any plants.  

Then they loaded it all up and took it away.  It took a few trips, and it was a "small" tree.  yikes.  So glad it wasn't one of the big ones! 

Grandpa made little miss a stump chair.

I think she likes it.  She was very interested in the white stuff by her feet... hehe. 

I do miss the shade already!  Now we have nice warm sun streaming in the windows heating up the house...  *sigh*

But it's an ill wind that blows no good... my garden is now in full sun all day. And the flower bed on that side of the house is now sun-to-part-shade instead of "full-shade-except-for-between-noon-and-3-when-it-gets-blazing-afternoon-sun."  Ooooo, AND this fall I can plant a sycamore!  Unless I change my mind.  But it will not be a silver maple, I have a growing dislike of silver maples.

Blessings.

Father's Day weekend excitement

So our fathers got cookies and candy for presents this year...  my dad got turtles.

Yes, it is hard to melt caramels and chocolate in a pyrex bowl floating in a sauce pan.  Sally gave me her double boiler though, so I don't have to do that again!  woot woot!

Little miss is stuck in reverse.  She's very adept at getting herself stuck in corners.  And dust mopping the wood floors.  *grin*

Chilling with Gumby.

Friday night we spent an enjoyable evening with Greg and Mary and Brent and Janelle.  Cecily looks so big compared to baby Tyra. 

Saturday was hot so we didn't do much.  We went shopping and bought a bigger window well.  I know, so exciting.  Then in the evening the storm hit.  We heard something scrape outside on the roof after a big wind gust and looked out to see lots of leaves against the window...  um... yikes.  

The top branches just barely hit the gutter and dented it a little bit, otherwise it didn't do any damage to the roof or house. Thankfully. 

It missed my garden.   

Little miss is going to miss her favorite shade tree.

She looked very unsure. 

The view from inside while Bob and Rustin cleared away the worst of it today.

We spent the evening at Bob's parents' and took part in the Koch-Beutel water fight.  Little miss and I hung out by the kiddy pool.  She liked it, the water was just a little cold at this point.  A few buckets of hot water from the house later and she didn't want to get out. 

Blessings.

Midweek randomness

There was a funeral next door with full military honors... I maybe opened the windows so I could hear the bugler play taps.  So.  Fantastic.  I've never heard taps played so well in my life; pretty sure I never sounded that good on my trumpet.  "Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!"  It makes me think of that.

Little miss and I spent an afternoon at Lori's because I'm "teaching" Carli to sew.  Yeah.  Or something.  We're making a simple skirt for her 4-H project.  I'm afraid I'm not going to be picky enough and she'll get a bad rating.

I need a double boiler.  Floating a pyrex bowl in a sauce pan just doesn't cut it. 

Aunty Shelly came over and watched little miss for me while I went to the garden walk.  It was great fun! All of the gardens were gorgeous and the weather was glorious... instead of coming home and working in mine, I fell asleep.  Too much warm summer sun I guess.

I planted a holly bush.  Bob asked if I'm going to deck the halls this winter... um... of course!  As long as it survives until winter... hehe.

Blessings. 

Turkey Fest

I think I like it better now that I live a little bit further away....  Little miss enjoyed it immensely. 

We walked to the park Saturday afternoon and watched one bed race.

 

And then we went to see the animals at the petting zoo.  She was very excited to see the rabbits and the chicks and the baby kangaroo- so random.

Bob took Cecily home while I worked in the food tent for the first time.  It was kind of fun, I got to piece and scrap turkey with some cool ladies.  It's a pretty impressive operation and a massive amount of turkey.   We got sandwiches and short cakes at the turkey express for supper, and then Jakey and young Matt showed up at our house and little miss and I went back to wander around the park.

I let her get a flower painted on her hand... she wanted it on her cheek, but she kept trying to look at the girl and grab the paintbrush... hehe.  (Bob said, "you did what?!"  Don't worry, we washed it off before church.) You can sorta see it here:

Then we got a lemonade shake up and walked home through the carnival.  I think she got most excited walking through all the people with the lights and the music... o dear... sorry little miss, your mother doesn't believe in spending crazy amounts of money at carnivals..... or any, for that matter.

Today we went to the parade.  She did not like the firetrucks.  Or the motorcycles.  Otherwise, she had lots of fun watching the kids picking up candy and the people walking past.  We didn't get any candy, *sigh*.  All we came home with is a little frisbee and an Aaron Schock balloon.

Blessings.

Catch up

So much for keeping up with blogging.  Oh well. 

I ordered 3.5 cubic yards of mulch for the front and the flower beds on the side of our house.  I even measured and plugged it into an online calculator.  It was still a little bit too much.  O well, I guess I get to start my shade garden along the back fence a little bit earlier than planned.  Plus, we covered a lot of bare/ weedy/ impossible to mow spots so it was kinda win-win.  Then it rained and there was great rejoicing!!

 My mom came over to help me spread it, aka, see Cecily.  hehe. 

 These poor hydrangeas...  I thought I killed them between transplanting and the heat they are looking pretty bad, but, I saw new leaves on them yesterday!  They're not dead yet! 

Saturday Bob took a load of clay tiles and broken bricks to dump at uncle Dave's (who decided that the tiles were too good to dump.  Whatever.  They're out of my yard.  *grin*) and the neighbors have been busy moving our leftover brick.  Hooray!  

Anyway, Sprout stopped through Sunday night and we ate supper at Rustin and Sharon's.  Otherwise it's been fairly quiet, so here are more random pictures for your enjoyment.

I call this one Cecily's world....

 Our little nerdy baby.

Daddy gives me the funnest toys!





My future scientist- once I teach her not to drink out of her lab glassware.  hehe.



And just to prove that she is not a perfect angel:

Blessings.