For Fall break, mom and I decided to get away and go see my brother Allen at UT Knoxville. I have never been to the campus and neither has mom so it was exciting for us to go and see Allen's stompin' grounds! The kids of course were ecstatic we were going on a trip and of course had no idea how FAR it would be. I can't tell you how many times while on the road we heard Brayden say, "But it takes a LONG TIME!!!" We did break up the trip on the way down there and stopped in Nashville for the first night and of course we visited Oprymills mall and Rainforest Cafe!
My girls snuggling in the hotel
While we were waiting for our reservation time at Rainforest Cafe, we walked around the mall and went to one of Brayden's favorite stores...Bass Pro Shop! He was like a little boy at Christmas time and was just running around saying, "MOM LOOK!!!"
With his "spending money" he chose this little fishing pole. He thought it was the coolest thing ever!
Lucy just hung out in this stroller and looked like such a big girl!
Dinner at Rainforest Cafe was yummy but the experience was unbeatable! The kids loved all the animals and after Brayden got over the initial shock of the "thunderstorm" loved it too (although he never liked the monkeys they scared him).
Karis and the hippo
Lolli and Karis at dinner
Me and my boy
Lucy wasn't too impressed with the rainforest...she slept through most of it!
Me and the big kids
At Gymboree...
Saturday night after the mall we headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim in the indoor pool. They were so excited!
Going to bed in style!
Lucy getting a bath...she doesn't quite fit in the sink anymore!
(Important parts blurred lol)
Sunday morning we left Nashville and headed to Knoxville and met Allen for lunch at Ruby Tuesday (we love their salad bar...yum!) then Allen took us to campus to show us around. As you can tell traveling with 3 children 5 and under, I had to take ALOT of stuff! I had a itty bitty corner of the suitcase and the rest was the kids!
This is the Karis on Allen's bed. Unfortunately I didn't get one pic of Allen....I saved him the embarrassment of posing in front of his friends! haha
Monday afternoon we met Allen for lunch after his classes at a cool local drug store/restaurant called Longs. They serve really cheap, delicious burgers and malts. Then my wonderful mother took the kids back to the hotel for a nap and Allen and I headed to the campus so Allen could walk me around. I was dying to see Neyland Stadium and even empty it was still really cool. I am not necesarrily a Tennessee fan but just love college football so it was pretty neat. Hope I get to go to a game soon!
Later that afternoon we visited a local pizza shop that someone recommended to us and it has Chicago style pizza...delicious! Then we went to church with Allen. It was a very good service from what I know...Lucy and I spent half the service in the hall so I could feed her. It is a college aged Bible study really and yes we were the only ones there that weren't college aged. We kept our distance to not embarrass him! haha
My pink and brown girls hangin' out...
The trees in Knoxville were much prettier than they are at home. Sorry the pics don't do them justice...they were gorgeous!
Tuesday morning we headed home but stopped at some outlet malls in Lebanon. No deals really but the kids sure enjoyed the playground!
My orange and white kiddos...we had to sport our Tennessee colors!
And yet another playground we stopped at on the way home...the kids had to get some of their energy out!
Random pic but Karis is in to putting on makeup. So on the long way home we noticed that she had been playing dress up in the backseat. Check out this eye makeup...hilarious!I think the eyeliner is a little off haha!
We had such a fun trip and are so proud of Uncle Allen and for taking a leap of faith and moving off to school. He is doing great and we know he will be very successful at whatever he tries. We love you Uncle Allen and hope to come back and visit very soon...next time maybe a game! :)
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