Doin' the 'Nooga: Days Three & Four

Day 3: Coolidge Park

We had a lovely picnic in the park and the kids (and dads) played in the fountains. Matthew hung out in the stroller. Evan practiced his reading skills by reading to the other boys.

Day 4: Goodbye

It was so fun to have "the cousins" visit for a long weekend even if Andrew still has trouble with their names.The big boys played well together while the two two-year olds were a bit suspicious of each other.

Come again!

Doin' the 'Nooga: Days One & Two

Day 1: Tennessee Aquarium, Sticky Fingers, Lookouts Baseball
The cousins are also early risers so we had plenty of time for play before heading to see the sites. We touched sharks and stingrays

and marveled at the beautiful butterflies at the aquarium, then stuffed our empty bellies at Sticky Fingers before heading back to the fresh water building. After an afternoon nap and dinner, we headed to the ballpark in quest of free t-shirts. It turns out the t's weren't to be given away until the next night, but we had a good time watching the Famous Chicken. Kali and Jackson were even spotted by the local paper.

Day 2: Chattanooga Ducks and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

The Duck tour was so much fun. It's an old WWII amphibious vehicle that rolls along the streets downtown and then splashes into the Tennessee River for a short trip up the shoreline. William, Evan and Kali even got to drive.
Another nap was needed before going to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum for a 3-mile ride. Unfortunately, we missed the final ride of the day and the boys had to settle for looking at the parked engines (and in the process disturbed a poor wasp - ouch!).

I think the heat fried our brains and we decided to go back to the ballpark. We snagged the free t's and made it the middle of the 8th inning before calling it a night.

Jackson (2), Kali and Graham;

Matthew (6 months tomorrow);

Stephen (6 weeks shy of 3);
William (6 3/4 years);
Evan (5 1/2 years);
Doug and Andrew (4 1/2 years).

Making Sense of It All

It was good to have my parents here this past weekend if only to have them see first hand what it's like to be me. Not that they aren't understanding and/or sympathetic; there are just some things that can't be explained but must be experienced.

• Like the endless jumping on the couch followed by, "No more jumping on the couch" (and then repeated 50 times a day).
• Like the incessant stories told in a slow but mumbled way while the speaker is in constant movement.
• Like having to tell a four year old to go play only to find him wallowing on the couch with his hand completely stuck in his mouth and his legs in the air.
• Like protecting an infant from hugs that quickly turn into headlocks and the constant poking and prodding and touching from an adoring but mischievious toddler.
• Like the cacophany of having a crying baby and a whining toddler and a talking preschooler all voicing their needs at the same time.
• Like the bizarre conversations we often have such as today's question: what's inside a penis? I could only say, "I don't know, Andrew" to which he replied, "I think there is a tube that ejects food that you eat and turns it into pee."

I feel like I am in a language immersion program, learning the second language of "Boy." What's with the endless silly talk, rambling monologues of nonsense, tendencies toward violence in the most harmless of activities?

I find it difficult to distinguish between annoying behavior and matters of etiquette. When is it okay to pull off someone's head and throw it out the window? In what situations is it okay to say "bottom"? What is the fascination with toilets?

I treasure their creativity and boundless energy, but I do find them challenging to say the least.

Repairman Rob and the Grand Folks

We enjoyed a visit from my folks and brother last weekend.



Robert was put to work and was quite useful. He repaired Doug's weed eater and did a little trimming, removed and installed a new garbage disposal, and built a trellis for the garden.


Stephen had to assist with the proper gear, of course: a hat, a pencil behind his ear, and shoes on the wrong feet.
Seeing as everyone was dressed for church with a little time to spare, we attempted a nice photo. This was the result (it could always be worse).

Matthew has been rolling like crazy lately, I think in an attempt to get to all those fun looking toys his brothers always have.

When I went to get him this morning, this is what I found.

Beware, Edy's Lovers

I've been a fan of Edy's Light Ice Cream for many years now (I don't even want to know how much I consumed while pregnant with Stephen). Although it has less fat and calories than it's counterpart, one doesn't feel like anything is missing; it's really good.

Well, a local store had it Buy-One-Get-One Free the other day, so I went to stock up (hey, we have lots of guests coming), but was greatly disappointed and highly irritated to find that the carton which was originally 1/2 gallon and then shrunk to 1.75 quarts is now a mere 1.5 quarts.

I returned home and sent an email to the company and the CEO Tim Kahn replied confirming my original suspicion: due to the increase in supply costs, they chose to reduce the size of the carton rather than raise their price (making the consumer think nothing has changed). He said they didn't think anyone would pay $7 or $8 for ice cream.

While that is certainly true, I do feel cheated. What's next: 8-count cartons of eggs? 3/4 of a loaf of bread?

Tow Times

A few months back Andrew became obsessed with a large recovery vehicle in a book at my parent's house. Upon closer inspection, it seems the vehicle was made in Chattanooga by Miller Industries, a leader in the towing world.

I called to see if they gave tours, and we went today with a friend, her 4 year old son and infant daughter. I was wise enough to wait until we were about to leave before telling them of the destination. They were ecstatic!

We were given a tour by a nice young man who didn't treat us like the ignorant females we were. He threw out terms like "boom" and "chassis" and "tow bar" which were fairly easily to comprehend (especially after my days at NAPA); others left us nodding our heads and smiling. The boys were simply satisfied seeing the numerous forklifts in operation around the buildings and looking at the wreckers in the various stages of assembly.

I was impressed with the fact that they use local suppliers for the most part. While there are others who construct towing equipment, we were told they do 45 times more business than the next competitor.

Other highlights:

• We saw an auto loader that is specially designed to snag repo cars, even while parallel parked.


• They have distributors all over the world and were currently working on vehicles to send to South Africa and England.


• They were also working on several tow trucks for the military that would be sent to either Iraq or Afghanistan (with an order for 107 or 170 to be made and shipped between August and January!).


• Last year they averaged 35-40 small tow trucks ("Heavy Duty Light Tow Trucks" as Andrew calls them) a week and 300 large tow trucks a month.

We were even given complimentary tickets to the Tow Truck Museum (I guess I'll be forced to go!). Since we didn't get any pictures, I'll include the faithful reader of Tow Times.

The Fruits of My Labors

Fresh blackberry jam (from berries I picked in the rain yesterday afternoon)...


Greek Country Salad (with homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers)...



Wheat-free Foccacia made from Four Flour Bean Mix (it was amazingly good)...



Does this earn me the Domestic Goddess crown for the day?

Rice Cereal

Matthew got his first taste of real food with the introduction of whole grain rice cereal. Stephen immediately asked to do the honors and was actually a pretty good helper. I don't know how much was actually consumed, but Matthew definitely needed a bath afterwards.

Here he is in action. "Does it taste good, Matthew?"

Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail

During our morning walk, we happened upon ripe blackberries. We ate ourselves silly and returning home with stained hands and mouths, we located the owner of the property who gave us permission to pick as many as we liked.

After gathering buckets and snacks and water and using the bathroom and changing clothes and loading into the van and driving 1/2 mile to the spot and unloading and putting the baby in the stroller and getting out the snacks and water and buckets, we were ready to start. Let me rephrase that, I was ready to start. Stephen did assist for a little while by holding a bucket and telling me to put the berries in there. The excitement quickly waned and he went off to do something.

I should have paid more attention, but my focus was berries and lots of them. Then I heard Stephen cry, "He dumped out the berries." I knew Andrew was right beside me so it had to be Matthew to which he was referring. I turned around to find that for some reason known only to a toddler, Stephen had placed his bowl of berries on top of Matthew in the stroller. Matthew proceeded to turn out the cup-or-so of fresh blackberries onto himself and then kick his legs violently. His legs were purple and splotchy, and Stephen was upset by the loss of his produce.

I did manage to pick a gallon or so before the rain came. The boys occupied themselves, not by being the good little rabbits, but by pretending to be Peter. I was obliged to threaten to beat them with my hoe if they didn't stay out of the garden.

I never did catch the naughty rabbits, but I did make a delicious wheat-free version of "Mom's Cobbler" that Doug and I enjoyed a la mode.

Philadelphia

We left Pensacola Saturday morning heading to Mississippi. We had to go through Mobile which was probably the highlight of the trip. The bay was full of interesting things: slewing grab cranes, a cruise ship, cargo carriers, etc.

We stopped in Moss Point, MS for lunch with a relative (a delicious lunch of seafood gumbo!!!) and were back on the road. We hardly made it down the street when the boys succumbed to the mounting fatigue.



Doug was itching to set off his own fireworks and thanks to his father, he had a good supply of Roman candles, bottle rockets and sparklers (I must admit, however, that it just wasn't the same without the propane torch). Neither of the boys liked the noise, but Andrew was brave enough to hold his first sparkler.



More visiting, more good food, and more late nights left us with tired children who traveled amazingly well.

Pensacola

Uncle Wes was a most gracious host to our wild family for the 4th of July holiday. Our brief visit was crammed full of exciting activities:


visiting one of the numerous playgrounds near his house - Andrew had the best time on the seesaw (really, I've never seen him enjoy playground equipment, but I guess he'd never met a seesaw) and Stephen loved the merry-go-round (I thought they had all been dismantled for safety reasons).


enjoying fresh seafood on the deck of a restaurant overlooking some boatslips


digging in the white sand and splashing in the blue water waves, all without turning red


seeing the airplanes and even a tow truck that carried ammunition at the Naval Aviation Museum
watching the fireworks in the bay


and even meeting Benjamin Franklin.