Rock City

After being in Alabama from June 16th to July 19, it was finally time to come home to Virginia.  My parents wanted to take the kids somewhere before we left so we all went to Rock City and enjoyed a day and night there before we got up and drove home the next day.  Here are a few pictures from the last trip I took to Chattanooga as a child and a few from this trip, which was my childrens' first visit!


My sisters, my brother, and me in 1997 or 1998... I can't remember... We're at Rock city!

Zach and two of the girls!

Papa and my girls!

Me and the kids

On the swinging bridge... Nana was too scared to go on it =)

My wonderful parents

My silly kids!

Hudson had decided he'd seen enough of Rock City!

My family back in 97 or 98

My sisters and me in from the the train at the Chattanooga Choo Choo

My kids in front of the same train!

I am sooo happy that we took them to Rock City and the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  this is where we vacationed when I was growing up and to get to share some of my favorite childhood memories with my children was amazing!  We even ate at the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel that evening and walked around!  The kids loved it!  Getting to spend this time with my parents was extra special too!

Bed Time!!!

Are we the only family that has issues with bedtime???  I mean....we have had the same bedtime routine since Brylee was a baby....and at least 3-4 nights a week, we have a problem putting her to bed... As I type, she is upstairs in her room, screaming at the top of her lungs.  She's already woken Hudson up twice, so now he's in his bed screaming at the top of his lungs.... can I scream at the top of mine?????    sshheeessshhhhh  After putting Brylee in bed tonight, she came down the stairs multiple times.  After warning her if she came down again I was going to shut her door.....she did...si I took her back upstairs, kicking and screaming, put her in her bed..kissed her forhead, and shut the door.... I don't know what else to do to make bedtime a more pleasant experience in our household.  We let her play in her room if she wants to.  The only restrictions she has is once she's in bed, she can't come out of her room.... I dont know what else to do! 

the first part of the day went by great.... Had a busy morning at home and then got everyone ready for the dentist...the girls had their 6 month cleanings... Darbie did great and Brylee is good.  She only cried once, and she had no clue why she was crying.  (there was a little girl in the room pitching a fit and I think it just made her uncomfortable.)  Then from there it went downhill.  We've been potty training Brylee for over a year now and she still has accidents, somtimes on a daily basis.  I've tried everythin gunder the sun and have no clue what to do to make it finally stick in her head.  After being asked several times if she had to potty, she said no... somewhere between the dentist and the commissary, she peed in her car seat... I am tried of washing carseat covers!  She's actually in a spare carseat right now because hers is taken apart getting washed!  If we put her in pull ups, she just pees in them.... so that reverse psychology doesn't work on her.  then in the commissary, she's all over the place or she and Darbie are getting in trouble.  We got finished grocery shopping and there was a mile long line to check out!  Reason number 50 to not go grocery shopping the day after pay day!  It's just been one of those days that I have felt like I didn't have enough patience to go around to all three children... But, on a good night, Hudson had an amazing day!  Although his new thing is to slap your hand down when he doesn't want the food you are feeding him... hhmmm, that's not good!  So happy I am about to go to bed and tomorrow will be a new day....and I won't be a single mom!

A Perfect Ending to a Perfect Weekend!

Saturday night, Tim and I got to go on a date night!  It started around 2:30 when we dropped the kids off at the sitter and headed to Carrabbas for an early dinner!  Then we headed to the Nickelback/Busch concert!  Live music is one of our favorite things to do/enjoy!

Then on Sunday evening, we took the kids to the beach for a little afternoon fun!  We had so much fun and all three kids loved playing in the water!  The temperature was PERFECT!

Hudson swimming!

Daddy and the kids in the water!

Enjoying some "sitting up time" on the beach!

Brylee playing in the sand and Darbie swimming!

My sweet perfect family!

A Much Needed Vacation!

Tim and I got away for a week, thanks to Nana and Papa for keeping the kids!  We got to do our favorite thing, which is cruising!  We left out of New Orleans, which was a first for us.  It was a much needed vacation and time to just refresh!  We spent a lot of time napping, laying out by the pool, and of course eating!  We even got a couple of massages!  Here are some pictures!

Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico.  This is one of our favorite places to visit.  We've been there several times and it is one of the cities we visited 13 years ago =)  This time, we did a little shopping and then we went horseback riding!  We had a blast and it was something that wasn't like us!  After riding we had some amazing tacos cooked fresh!  Although they were very delicious, we were a little nervous because it looked like they were served on meat trays. (the Styrofoam trays that you buy meat from at the grocery store) 

Tim drinking Mexican beer.

 My love!

 Our ship.

 These are the horses we rode.

 This is what we rode in to and from the ship LOL

The view from the side of the road =)  Breath taking!

One of our formal nights!

Our next stop was Caymen Islands.  Our excursion got canceled because of the weather, so we just walked around and enjoyed the local scenery!

 This was a local selling fresh coconuts.... He would slice it to where you could drink the milk and then he would cut it open so you could eat it!  We had two of them and they were DELICIOUS!!!

Just enjoying our time together!

We so badly wanted to take these home with us!

Fried conch!  yes, snail...and it was sooo yummy!!!

Tim drinking Caymen beer.

 
Enjoying some time on the ship

Our  dinner guests!  We loved sitting with them each night!  They were a family...Parents, their daughter, and her family!  They were fabulous people =)

Our next stop was Jamaica!  It wasn't what we expected.  Way dirtier than I ever thought, but we loved being there!  We went to Dunn's River Falls and we bobsledded... it was a lot of fun!

Our5
Our kids would have loved this tree!

This is an almond tree!

The view of the water from up in a sky lift!

  Enjoying some nature and scenery in a sky lift!

Tim getting ready to bobsled!

Tim with Jamaican beer.

A local was selling fresh fruit and it was AMAZING!!!

We had an amazing time and it was so nice to get away with the love of my life!

not so good at this blogging

When I started this blog, I intended on doing it at least weekly, to keep my family up to date with our life.  Sadly, that hasn't happened.  I always have good intentions, and then life happens.  So now I have over 2 months to get you caught up on =(  Let's go back to the beginning of June.

Hudson turns 6 MONTHS!!!  Where has the last six gone???

 Hudson weighed 17.5 pounds (77%) and was 28 in long (92%)  He is such a happy and loving little man!

 Brylee had her 3 year check up that same week and weighed 33 pounds (73%) and was 41 in long....and off the charts in percentile!

Brylee had her first dance recital and she was a star!  She LOVED every minute of it and did amazing!  She loved getting dressed up.  She loved putting on lipstick at a place other than home.  And, she loved dancing and having an audience!

Then June 14th, Darbie graduated from 5th grade!  Our baby is going to middle school!!!

She also got the presidential award, which we were very proud of!

Darbie and one of her favorite teachers, Mrs. Kilmurray.

Immediately after Darbie's graduation, the kids and I headed out for Alabama.  Yes, I ventured an 11 hour road trip with three kids and have to say that everything went perfectly UNTIL  two hours before being in my parents driveway.  Right around Chattanooga we stopped to get gas and dinner.  I got Hudson out of his car seat to change him, got gas, and got Burger King.  We got back on the interstate and immediately Hudson started grunting, which meant he was pooping and Brylee started complaining of her stomach hurting.  As I was pulling off the road for a rest stop to change Hudson 2 miles later, Brylee started throwing up and didnt stop the rest of the trip.  It made for a long last two hours to say the least.  It was a mom's worst nightmare...especially a mom who doesnt "do" throw up........but we made it...and Burger King is darkly crossed off of our options of fast food!