Grandma Goes Home

 Grandma stayed for a week and a half.  But Grandpa needed someone to take care of him, so she had to go home.  It was nice having her come visit.  But who is going to make dinner, do the dishes and the laundry, and go grocery shopping now?



Spoiled by Grandma

 Having Grandma around is the best!  While Mom is home sick, I get to go do fun things with her.  I suggested that we go get icecream.

We also went to the "sand" park.  It is right by tennis courts.  Grandma and I went on a tennis ball hunt around the park.  We found 24 tennis balls!  Hollie of course gets them.

Build A Bear

 Mom has been pretty sick because of the baby.   Good thing Grandma came to visit to help me take care of her.  Mom was having an especially rough time so we dropped her off at the emergency room.  Mom didn't want us to have to stay, so we went to the mall instead.

 Grandma bought me Mr. Brown Bear from Build-A-Bear.  It was fun putting the stuffing in.

 You have to hug the heart and rub it. 

 Then I gave Mr. Brown Bear a bath.  I picked out a Lightning McQueen outfit for him.  I also insisted that Yellow Dog get a new outfit.



Rocket Birthday

 I wanted a rocket for my birthday cake.

 Mom used a football cake mold to make this.

 It was kind of silly looking, but I appreciated it. 

Trapped in Ruby Falls Cave

 After the Southern Belle, we headed to Ruby Falls Cave.  You ride an elevator down 260 ft that has been cut out of limestone.  The elevator door is glass, so you can see that basically you are stuck between rocks.

 The cave tour lasts about an hour.  But it was a Saturday, so it was busy. Our official tour ended after about an hour and a half.  We would have to stop and let other groups pass, because in the cave there isn't room for people to walk side by side during most of it.

 I thought it was great being in a cave.  It was really neat and I was enjoying myself.

 At the end, there is a beautiful waterfall.  They don't even know where the water comes from!

 And then we started back..... We noticed that we weren't passing any other tours.

 When we got to the elevators, we found out they were broken.  No one was going up.  And it gets better, the tour guides had no communication with the top and there is no emergency plan.  And it gets even better, there are no bathrooms in the cave.  And even more, I am four, it's my birthday, and my mom is pregnant.  Luckily for all, Mom was feeling well that day, and no one had to go to the bathroom.  I was also behaving and was being really good.

After an hour, they let us out a secret passage that let out at the bottom of the mountain.  We had to wait another half hour for vans to shuttle us up the mountain ten people at a time.  Needless to say, by time we got done, I went and asked for our money back.

Birthday on the Southern Belle

 On my birthday we drove to Chattanooga to see Matthew and Lisa.  We went on a cruise on the Southern Belle.

 We got to eat lunch on the boat.  I thought that was a lot of fun.

 The captain let me go up and see him drive the ship.

 There were fun views on the ride.

Birthday Morning

 Happy 4th Birthday to me!  I woke up to the house decorated and helium balloons lining the hall.

 Yellow Dog was excited it was my birthday.  I loved the balloons that say my name.

 Mom and Dad gave me a remote control truck.

 I opened presents from Aunt Brittany and Aunt Jillian.

 Mom made French toast.  She put candles on mine.  She knows that a kid loves to blow out candles as many times as possible.

 The best part, Dad came back from his trip.  He got home at midnight the night before.

I had to try my truck out.