Around the House

Just a few pictures of life around the house.  We have become crazy tablet fans.  Sam and Davis now have tablets for "education"...yet always playing "Tower Defense Balloons 5"  I think.  And I purchased a game for Belle that has all of the Disney princesses on it.  She loves it, and also she plays a Disney game where she tours disneyland and the rides there.  Mom also let the kids build a gingerbread house, then when she had no idea how to help them, pulled a super excited dad in to actually build the gingerbread houses.  I love seeing Davis' excitement at the house, then sadness at it falling apart, then happy again when I put it back together.  Such drama with that boy.  

Nashville with the Kids (Day 2 - Science Center)

New Years Day 2014, and how do you start off the year well, you start it off with Bob Evans restaurant.  Man this is good food.  And Magan loves the blueberry crepes...no matter what time of the day we are there.  After a big breakfast, it was off to our next surprise for the kids...The Nashville Adventure Science Center.  

This was a really fun Science center with a 7 story (story being a level the kids could play on) activity area that went all the way up above the roof.  Magan made it up pretty far with the kids, but the kids made it all the way to the top.  On the way back down, Magan said another Dad was on his way up and asked Sam and Davis what it was like at the top.  Magan said that Davis quickly replied "It's like Paradise", which I am sure gave that guy the extra incentive to push on to the top.  Also while playing on one of the top levels, Belle got her hand stepped on and was hurt pretty bad.  Turns out it was Davis, but he explained to me very calmly that she had "put her hands in the exact place his foot needed to go".  

It also had a wing where the kids could learn all about how the body works and how food moves through the body (the tunnel through the intestines, then slide out the anus with a poot noise when you hit the ground at the end of the slide...I don't know, but that is taking science too far...Belle agreed and would not go down the colon slide).  

Sam and I toured the space area, which was really cool, and later both him and Davis (altho not together, Sam is too much like his dad, and was nervous at first) went on the Space jump, which was terribly uncomfortable with the harness placement.  I jumped with Davis, then with Sam when he saw how much fun it could be.  

I did have a scary moment when I lost Belle for awhile.  Belle, I am sorry if you are still having nightmares about this as I still do sometimes from when Granny and Grandaddy lost me in the tunnels at Six Flags.  But you went down one of the tubes (probably a artery or a vein...all of this was trying to teach us something, so it was probably an artery as you were going away from me) and Sam and I couldn't find you.  We made the wrong decision to go to the top of the activity center (remember 7 stories), while you choose to go down and try to find me in the Body Works wing.  When we finally got down to you, I was so sad to see you wandering around in there crying.  "I was looking for you" you told me with tears in your eyes.  Sorry Belle, we were looking for you too.  

Belle, Sam and I also played a fun game in the Body Works area where you get a chance to shoot the germs in a Buzz Lightyear type area.  It was fun, but it had some Germ robots that talked to you and told you how to play the game.  Well, Davis is terrified of shots and needless to say was not a big fan of even going into the "Body Works" area.  We talked him into going into this game area as I seriously thought him having a laser gun getting to shoot these things would be fun.  Soon as we entered this room and Big talking germs started talking about being in his body, he told me he was out of there.  And he did...dropped his gun, and left and never walked back into that body area.  

Nashville with the kids (Day 1 - Opryland)

Magan and I have had two wonderful trips to Nashville, but both without the children. And although they were both very fun, we spoke on both of those trips about how much the kids would love seeing the Opryland Hotel.  Well, we usually go to the Space and Rocket Center each year the week after Christmas, but this year, we decided to go a little further and take the kids up to the hotel.  And we had a special surprise for the kids that we would be staying in the hotel.  At least that is what I thought when I made the reservations...then apparently forgot to click on the "Submit" button that finalizes the reservation.  Doh!  Oh well, the place was packed, and no rooms were available when I realized this the night before we were traveling up.  Luckily, I found a room at a nearby hotel, and it had an indoor pool, so we were set and that is fine for the kids.

And when the kids saw the hotel, they were shocked.  It was a surprise to them until we showed up at the hotel. Then they were in awe at the huge atriums.  It was fun to see their faces walking around in the atriums.  They loved all of the cool waterfalls.  Magan heard Davis say "Wow, one day I am going to bring my kids here".

And our next adventure at the Opryland Hotel was to try out their annual ICE exhibit where they bring in about 50 Chinese ice sculptors to create a Winter Wonderland made of only ICE.  And yes, I know Ice is cold, and it must stay cold to keep the ice frozen.  But in this area, they keep it at 8 degrees.  8 degrees!  Ok, I thought 8 degrees would not be so bad, we are inside, no wind, they gave us Parkas, they gave Ruby a blanket (Yes, we took Ruby in also).

So 8 degrees is not bad for about 5 minutes...but the line for the ice slide was about 20 minutes.  So Ruby was never going to make that so Magan took her out quickly.  I waited and tried to get some pictures of the kids as they came down the slide, but didn't do too well.  When they got to the bottom, they were ready to leave.  I mean ready to go NOW!   Haha...We did start heading out, but I forced them to stop and take a few pictures of the cool ice sculptures as we left.  Really neat, but that is not something I think anyone in our crew needs to ever do again.

After the ICE, we got to get into the warm area and meet Gingy the gingerbread man.  We also rode the boat ride that is approximately 1/4 mile all within the Opryland Hotel...How cool is that?  We left the hotel and went shopping at the mall for a bit, then for Davis, ate at the AQUARIUM restuarant.  It was really good food, and fun to let the kids run around looking at the fish while we waited for our food.  Magan had the Veggie Burger, and I was really surprised at how good it was.  Desert was the best tho, Cheesecake with raspberry sorbet...Oh so good.  We then made it back to the hotel, then down to the pool for some late night swimming...Oh yeah, this was New years Eve...Probably my first time spending New years eve in a Courtyard swimming pool.  And finally some sleep for we had one more day of fun in Nashville planned.