Chattanooga Weekend

Part two of our Chattanooga weekend trip took place in downtown Chattanooga and over at Lookout Mountain. We took in Rock City and Ruby Falls, then walked around downtown and across the giant pedestrian bridge. Found a fun ice cream shop and then saw Inception. Everyone was really friendly and kept asking if we wanted our picture taken together. I still say some people were trying to steal our camera, but we'll call Chattanoogans nice for now.

Self-shot! No one offered here to take our picture. Luckily I have long arms.

Brooke "squeezing" through the Needle's Eye... as she breezes right through...

A little closer call for me, although I was really glad I lost my weight before we went on this little trip...

I think I enjoyed the swinging bridge a lot more than Brooke did. She was not amused by me jumping up and down and shaking it... we soooo (probably) wouldn't have fallen!

Brooke standing in front of several states and Lover's Leap... and we decided it would be totally awkward to live in those houses down there where anyone could use the telescopes up on the mountain to peek right in... wear pants, people, we're watching!!!

Supposedly you can see seven states... I counted 4 1/2.

Fat Man's Squeeze. Again, good call on losing weight before Chattanooga.

Freaky gnomes and fairy tale things at Rock City... this is the stuff nightmares are made of, why is this a family attraction????

All this lovely scenery and classic sightseeing... ruined by Starbucks... again...

Obligatory Ruby Fall bench shot... taken while we were still happy and not ready to throw our guide down a mine shaft.

This is a rock cactus... supposedly... and we were supposed to rub it when we walked by... the "that's what she said" side was struggling to not make inappropriate comments in front of small children.

The Falls are really amazing... I forgot how cool it looks with the natural blue and red lights in the cave. And the prehistoric speakers play excellent music while you are watching!

Walkin round downtown... very laid back area, like a sedated Nashville.

Walkin across the bridge on a nice night... thanks to the person who took our picture for not stealing the camera.

In the ice cream shop as our night wore down... getting a little sleepy, a little tired... but I woke up to the taste of some awesome strawberry cheesecake frozen yogurt. Diet whaaaaat?

And then we saw Inception, so our relaxing weekend then ended when Brooke's mind was blown by that movie... but totally worth it. And we decided for future anniversaries we are going to hit up Hawaii, Europe, Australia, and Disney World (again). Our travel fund is open for donations.

Roughin It...

For our 3rd anniversary (which isn't for another 2 weeks), Brooke and I decided to take a little weekend trip to Chattanooga. Neither of us had been whitewater rafting in years, so it seemed like a good idea. We reserved an afternoon spot to go down the middle part of the Ocoee, and away we went. Despite having a very experienced guide, nothing could help the hapless girls at the front of our boat. I don't know how difficult other people find it to paddle in sync, but apparently this was quite a task for them.

Regardless, we had fun doing 360's through the Slingshot and surfing a few of the rapids. And Brooke FINALLY got tossed from the boat after five rafting trips, which is funny now, not so much when she started getting pulled downriver as I (not tossed, I got mad skills) threw an oar at her to reel her back in.

This is a nice before and after picture. Above we have our boat approaching a class 4 rapid, complete with guide. Below we have our boat leaving the class 4 rapid, without a guide. I would have been concerned, but only Brooke noticed he had inadvertently thrown himself from the boat. Oh yeah, we did get him back eventually.

After we rafted, we camped out near the Ocoee... way too close to other people for comfort. And we picked one of the hottest days of the year to camp out. We looked kind of dumb for starting a big fire, but we needed hot dogs and s'mores, dangit!!

And a big thanks to Sam and Dave for our ginormous tent that should come complete with air conditioner and butler. We were the envy of the campground. As you can see, our definition of roughing it isn't the same as others. But we were comfortable, so we don't really care!

All in all, a fantastic time out in the woods despite me killing our fire too soon. But note to self: camp out when the heat index does not cross 100 degrees. Thanks.

Tyler's Transformation

As most of you know, Tyler has been on a new weight loss program since March. He's been doing the Metabolic Research Center program (which is where I work). He is officially down 50 pounds!!! I'm so proud of him and he has been awesome about sticking with the program. The pictures show that if you stick with it, you will see results! Way to go Tyler!!!



BEFORE-December of '09


AFTER-July '10

Kelsen Turns 1!!

Seriously?? Has it already been a year? Kelsen Alivia turned 1 on July 2nd. As many of you know we had several friends have babies last year (check out the previous post Babies of '09). Our friends Brian and Becky decided to throw a little get together in honor of Kelsen. So on Sunday Me, Tyler, Sam, Dave and Kelsen load up in the car and head up to Hermitage for a visit and to meet up with the Gambills. It was great getting to hang out with friends we don't get to see very often and what better excuse than a birthday party!! And thank you Brian and Becky for being such great hosts!


July 2nd, 2009

Kelsen and "Uncle" Tyler

Group shot...minus Morgan and Jesse

Tyler and Ayden....which is next in line for turning 1

What?? We're not gettin into anything......promise

Already working on that studious look...

Getting ready to open presents

Cake time!

She started off fairly nice and neat

Ahhhhh sugar and chocolate!!!!

Happy first birthday Kelsen!!! Ayden you're next!

4th of July

This 4th of July we decided to stay closer to home and spend time with the fam. My mom and brother came up for a visit over the weekend and we joined together with the Henson clan for some joint family fun. We grilled out, played some friendly games of cornhole and then went down the street to watch the big fireworks show. We all had a great time and it was fun getting to spend some time with everyone.

Me and Tyler
Me and mom relaxing

Russ taking in all the action

Tyler and Christina trying their best at cornhole

The moms hanging out and catching up

Random group picture....not sure what Tyler is doing

The guys playing some cornhole