Brick Crazy

I still reside with a Lego Maniac.  Last I looked, Jack's room resembled that of a Lego Museum complete with cities, jungles, fortresses, and a police and robber set up.  Let me just tell you, that room is a bear to clean.

So when I saw the Brick Fest was coming to town, I just knew I had to get my brick crazy kiddo a ticket.  I went ahead and bought two kids tickets and one adult, thinking he would prefer to build with a fellow maniac rather than his Lego incompetent mom.

Jack racked his brain to pick the perfect guest and when he made the decision, I was thrilled.  One of my FAVE friends, so much a fave, that I've invited B to go on our beach vacation with us this summer.  This was good practice for all of us.

We arrived later in the afternoon per our entrance time.  The kids both grabbed a check list and got right to work hitting each station.  The first stop was the Monochromatic Brick Pit.  They managed to build a green tower taller than themselves among other green things.

One of my favorites was the Mosaic station.  We had 1x1 plates to design and then hung them on a display wall with others.

Jack, of course, got super creative and made this winking emoji.  I was mighty impressed.

I, on the other hand, followed a pattern and ended up with this Mallard.  Jack graced me with a "good job Mommy" although I'm not sure I deserved it.

Another fun station was the Mystery Floor Puzzle.  The kids all worked to complete one part of the puzzle before it was laid out on a massive puzzle board.  In the end, the puzzle turned out to be Darth Vadar.  It was a pretty impressive feat.  I would give you dimensions, but that is another one of my incompetencies.

Other stations included the Lego Mini Golf...

the Brick Fest Build Wall...

and the Derby Races...

Jack came in 3rd place and B came in 5th.  They both had a great time building a race car against the clock and then watching the race.

The three of us literally closed the place down.  I'm pretty sure they would have kicked us out if these sweet boys hadn't loitered around past closing helping to clean up.

I was out the door, only to turn around and see Jack and B picking up bricks and cleaning off building walls right along side the employees.  I figured, I might as well join in. I'm not even kidding when I say we made lots of Brick Fest staff friends.  I was getting a kick out listening to the boys engaged in conversation.

You might just be looking at two future Brick Fest employees....

Choo Choo Day Two

Good Morning!  We woke up Monday morning {President's Day} to another beautiful day in Chattanooga.  I imagine you are dying to know if we ever made it to the Children's Museum...read on to find out😉.

Thankfully we were smart enough to split the kids between two hotel rooms for the night.  It ensured a good nights sleep for all.  However, come morning, they were raring to go.  i.e. morning pillow fight/wrestling match.

After that awakening, us Mommies, treated ourselves to Starbucks for breakfast and managed to find something for the kids to eat too.  And this is where we discussed our plans for the day.  Can you tell we were just winging it?

So Rock City won the final vote!  I was super excited because it was just one of those days that you needed to be outside.  It was gorgeous.  We vowed to make another quickie trip up for the amazing Children's Museum in the future...hopefully with the Miccas next time.

But for this day, it was all about us and lots and lots of ROCKS.  They don't call that place Rock City for nothing.

Our party of eight followed the garden trail over bridges...

...up to the view of seven states...

...through the village...

...between Fat Man Squeeze {which you can imagine was a favorite}...

...and all the way back down.  So much fun!

We were all starving by this point, so we hopped on the incline railway {which is so boringly slow & expensive} and grabbed lunch at the bottom of the mountain.

We hit a darling ice cream shop after lunch while we waited for our ride back up Lookout Mountain.

I'm pretty sure the ice cream helped the kiddos to forget the about turtle paced ride down because they were pumped to see their ride arrive.

From there, we decided it was time to get back on the road.  It was a school night after all.

But, not so fast!  Us Mommy's decided to treat ourselves to back roads all the way home and stop at every. single. dollar. general.  Yes, you read that right!   Remember my embarrassing confession a couple posts back...I love a good Dollar General.  You should see the loot I stocked up on for Lucy's birthday party.  {and yes, you read that right too, she and I have already nailed down her theme and I am seeing *stars*, I'm so excited...a little hint for you}

The kiddos were loving the DG stops until about the 4th one.  By then, they were pretty much over it.  So much so, that Jack tattled on me to Daddy as soon as  we got home.  Can't buy that kid off with $2 goodies anymore.

So it's back to the real world this week...alarm clocks and homework...here we come!  Tood-A-Loo Chattanooga!

Chattanooga Quickie

We have been graced with another school break.  This one...a four day weekend for President's Day.  Still coming off our high from our Arizona vacation and in the works of planning another for Spring Break, we decided to lay semi-low.  

We spent the first few days playing with friends, hanging around the house, and just plain relaxing.  By Sunday we were ramped up and ready to get going somewhere.  We opted for a quickie Mommy & Kids trip to Chattanooga.  For being nearly in the middle of nowhere, that city has a lot to offer.

We packed up with our neighborhood friends, the Weiners, and were supposed to be joined by the Miccas as well.  Unfortunately the flu hit their house the night before departure and it was a no go.  We were all disappointed, but none like Jack.  He adores his BFF from babyhood and was absolutely devastated. 

We made arrangements to get the BFFs together the following weekend and somehow, with that, I was able to talk Jack into still going to Chattanooga {with a smile}.  It was a close one though.

We hit the city running on Sunday morning.  We parked the car downtown while we waited for hotel check-in and started our Chattanooga adventure.

We had grandiose plans for the Children's Museum to be our first stop.  However, the kiddos had so much fun just running around, climbing rock scupltures, and playing by the river, that we decided to postpone our original plan.  The weather was incredible and there were no complaints from me.  Cheapest fun ever!

After lunch, we decided it was time to hit the much anticipated Museum.  But again, spontaneity got put that to a quick halt.  While walking the city streets {on our way to the Children's Museum mind you}, the kiddos spotted a brand new rock wall climbing facility.  And that's just so happens to be where we ended up...{literally up}

The facility even offered outdoor climbing, where the kids basically scaled the building on this gorgeous February day.

I'm totally digging Maggie rock climbing in a skirt!

We were all excited to see that it was finally check in time at the hotel.  The kids made a mad dash to change into their swimsuits and drag their tired mamas down to the indoor pool.  Seriously, how can they just keep on going?  The pool was a much anticipated part of the vaca.

We topped off day one with a pizza dinner downtown and a trip to the candy shop.  Craziness!!  The kids were wiped out by his point and I wasn't far behind them.  

We hit the sack for an early bed time and waited in anticipation for day two.  Will we ever make it to the Children's Museum????  Stay tuned...