Railroad Days in Athens

We went to Railroad Days on Saturday sponsored by the Council on Aging in Athens. We went when the festival began and didn't find it overly busy. They had model trains (some made out of small legos), a magician, inflatables. Isaac enjoyed playing with the remote control train. The magician was really good and I think St. Joe's should try to get him for their Fall Festival. Isaac was thrilled with all of the trains. We found the train display made out of legos absolutely fascinating. It was a fun morning outing.

Weekend in Chattanooga

We had a great weekend in Chattanooga!

On Saturday we visited the aquarium. Two large buildings of exhibits and a separate building with the IMAX theatre. Isaac's favorite parts were the pancake turtles and penquins. I loved the butterfly room. It was really peaceful and not too crowded. Donavan preferred the River building that featured animals from a variety of rivers in Tennessee and across the world. Oh, Isaac was really fascinated with the dragonfish in this building. We went and saw Under the Sea in the IMAX and Isaac felt asleep for a 10 minute cat nap. Oh, I hated to wake him, but we had to leave the theatre.

We dined and slept in a train car at the Choo Choo hotel. It's a really cool idea and Isaac enjoyed it thoroughly. Surprisingly, it was not noisey although it was a bit outdated--the facilities felt old. Well, they were old trains. It was a no nap day for Isaac so by 6 p.m. he was ready to crash. We ordered room service. Bad idea--expensive (of course) and not overly delicious. Isaac ate his whole dinner--hot dog, applesauce, fruit and fries. He did share a few fries with him mommy. After Isaac fell asleep Donavan and I watched Nim's Island, a really cute movie.

On Sunday, Isaac slept in until after 10. We actually had to waken him up to start our day. We went to the Children's Museum, which was really, really impressive. Isaac loved the art and music section. They had individual rooms with percussion, strings, etc... where you could play the instruments. they were sound proof rooms and Isaac always wanted to keep the doors shut. I don't think he wanted to keep other people out, but enjoyed listening to the drums, etc.... We spent over an hour in this section. He also loved doing rubbings. The museum also had a water play section, mechanical section, hospital (where Isaac checked Donavan's heart beat), a magnet room and dino exhibit. Isaac liked playing in the sand and pretending to unearth dino bones. The second floor had a special "my house, your house" exhibit, bee hive area and reading room.

Chattanooga has a free electric shuttle system downtown which was perfect. It wasn't very crowded since it rained the entire weekend. We hopped on at our hotel and traveled downtown for the aquarium, children's museum and food. We ran out of time, but another trip back should include the zoo and incline rail car.

Christmas Season is Offically Over!

We finally took down the Christmas tree/decor on Tuesday and it was TIME. We were dutiful Catholics and waited until the ephiphany. I was so glad to see the clutter go back into boxes I couldn't focus so sat on the sofa during most of the process--I was totally useless. Isaac called me the fire chief---yep, barking orders while sitting on my bum was my role. Isaac and Donavan managed to get it all put away in less than 2 hours.

Isaac was so happy that the train table could return . It went into hibernation during the Christmas season. You see, we simply do not have room for it all in our apartment. He loves playing with his newest additions to the train set--Christmas gifts from Mimi and Poppi.

Mall of Georgia

Isaac and I went to the Mall of Georgia today with Ella, Nora (Melissa) and Alexis, Isabelle (Mary). We all carpooled in Mary's bus (Suburban) and Isaac was thrilled to be traveling in the same car with his buddies.

The kids had a great time riding on the carousel and train, playing in kiddieland. The highlight of our trip to Mall of Georgia for Isaac was the train ride. Isaac kept screaming that he was riding on Thomas. I reminded him that the green engine is Percy, but he could care less. He can't wait to go back and have Donavan ride the train with him. He was not interested in riding one of the animals on the carousel so just sat on a bench.

As we passed "Picture People" we were lured in by a salesperson. She promised a free 10 X 13 for us to help train a new photographer. This was our first experience in one of these type of studios. Isaac did so well and smiled intently for the camera. Our free photo is a beautiful close-up of Isaac. I was pleased that we weren't pressured to buy and I was impressed that I didn't buy:)

By the time we left to head back to Athens, all of the kids had reached the end of their ropes, but had behaved so well during our outing. We had a wonderful trip out of Athens with some of our friends.