First "Date"

Last weekend Hallie went on her first "date". She and her friend Mason, have been boyfriend and girlfriend for about 3 years. They have "fallen in love" and their wedding is already planned. She has decided who her bridesmaids are going to be; her cousin Emma, her cousin Brita and her friend Brantley.


A couple of weeks ago Mason's mom emailed me and asked if we could take the kids to the movies. Hallie was estatic. She said she and Mason have always talked about their first date and had decided it would be going to the movies. She also mentioned that she and Mason would kiss in the movies on the first date. Chad and I were adamant that there would be no kissing on this date. Mason also had decided that I would drop Hallie off and Mason's mom would drop him off and that they would go alone. We reminded them both that they were only 5 and this was just two friends going to the movies, not a date.


Hallie wanted to wear her Easter dress to the movies, and she told us Mason was going to wear his best suit. We convinced her that a school dress would be fine and she did not need to wear a fancy dress. The day of the date, she was so excited, she woke up early and asked all day when it would be time. We finally left and she was over the moon.


They had the best time. Lots of hugs, but no kisses. They loved the movie and they loved going together. Here are some pictures from the date. We have decided these have to be shown at the rehersal dinner!!

Aquarium

A couple of weekends ago, before school started, we wanted to take a little trip with the kids. We decided to go to Chattanooga to the Tennessee Aquarium. We also thought it would be fun to stay the night in a hotel and let the kids swim. Now that I think of it, this would actually be our first family vacation with all 6 of us going on our own.

We got our tickets to the Aquarium and headed inside. For those of you who haven't been there, the Aquarium has two buildings, Ocean Journey and River Journey. We headed to the Ocean Journey building first and the kids loved it. The favorite thing was them getting to touch the sting rays and sharks. When Jaime and I first seen the tank and all of the people reaching in to touch the fish, we just knew that we would be the parents of the kid that fell in the water. Blake slipped and came close, but he managed to stay dry. We did see a kid fall in, but thankfully he was not one of ours.


Also in the Ocean Journey, the kids loved the penguins. They were always moving, jumping, and swimming.

We headed to the River Journey next, which is a much larger building. The kids loved this one too and this time they got to touch sturgeon. They managed to surprise us by not falling into this tank either. In the giant tanks, there were a couple of divers feeding the fish and cleaning the tank. The kids loved playing with the divers. The divers would come up to the glass and interact with everyone.

After that building, we went and ate pizza at the Mellow Mushroom and then went back to the Aquarium so the kids could play in the water outside the entrance.


We eventually made it to the hotel and they got to swim. We followed that up with a few hours or more of iCarly episodes on Nickelodeon before going to bed.

Blake said that his favorite thing was seeing the turtles. Hallie's favorite thing was playing with the divers. Andrew's favorite thing was looking at the alligators. Daniel's favorite thing was touching the fish. We had a great time.

1st day of school 2008

It's been a crazy morning, both kids up before 6, they are so excited! Here are some pictures from this morning.


Hallie's 1st day of Kindergarten


Blake's 1st day of 3rd Grade




Both of my school kids...





As I dropped them off, Hallie was so excited. All she said was "Bye Mom, See you tonight." She hopped out of the car and never looked back. As they walked into school, Blake had his hand on her shoulder guiding her in. I can't wait until tonight and hear how it went!