Sunday, August 28, 2011

Road Warrior

I think I can officially claim that title after driving down to Tennessee this past week on my own, with the boys. It was 10 hrs of driving plus stops (it took about an hour for lunch and dinner stops with eating and bathroom breaks and diaper changes and letting them run around a bit. We only stopped twice on the way home!) I wanted to get down there before Bennett starts preschool since we most likely wouldn't see my Dad again until October. The drive actually wasn't horrible. I had a huge box of snacks on the passenger seat and would just pass stuff back to them. Dawson's need to look at a new book every 3 minutes definitely got old and annoying but we made it and I didn't regret doing it! I had a big bag of suckers and let Dawson eat probably 10 or 15 on the way home :) We had a lot of fun while we were there and fit in a lot of cool stuff. And the boys love being with their grandparents.












The Memphis Zoo:

These apes ended up completely terrifying Dawson. He was bawling and bawling. He'd never seen any in real life and their human like antics were just a little too weird for him to handle. The rest of the time at the zoo, any animal that got too close to the glass made him cry again.


Buddha bellies:



An amazing playground in the largest Urban park in the US (bigger than Central Park!)--it seemed very futuristic. These pictures won't do it justice. The metal caging you see in the background is a tunnel that winds between the 4 different playscapes (called "nests"). Eventually it'll be covered in vines, like an arbor:

Dawson stayed under this water feature half the time and ended up soaking wet and completely covered in sand:


This "spider web" went on forever and led up to a tree house in the middle:
The Children's Museum--so perfect for their age (sorry, these were all taken on my phone so the quality's not so hot):



Bennett on the weather channel:


Hopefully Bennett learns a new technique for working on his patients if he wants to be a dentist:



It was a fun trip and I was glad the drive wasn't torture! I could probably handle it a couple times a year alone with the boys and I'm sure we'll go down a couple times as a family. It was great getting a taste of my parent's new life down there and the church seems so wonderful. My dad's already fitting in great and loving it. Now I'm hoping for a girl's trip down there with my mother-in-law to help my mom decorate their new house!

4 comments:

  1. Already looking forward to road warrioring with you! What awesome places for kids down there!

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  2. You are my hero! 10 hours?! I want to know your secrets...I have a six hour road trip coming up this weekend with the kiddos...not by myself, but it sounds like you're the long-distance pro!

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  3. Wow great job!! I knew you could do it. I want to go to Memphis. that zoo, park and museum look like so much fun!! Now, that you know you can do 10 hours, another 15 would be nothin'! come on out ;)

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