Sneaking In Dad's Suitcase

Rich always complains about how lonely it is in the hotel when he travels. Well this trip he happened to be going to one of our favorite places: Chattanooga. He was going to be super busy this time & in fact the kiddos still didn't see him until day 2 @ dinner. So we packed our bags and hung out in downtown. Chattanooga has a great downtown, so we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go: the aquarium, Genghis Grill, the pool, riverfront park, etc. I think Rich was still pretty lonely because this time we had all the fun without him ;) He did get to go with us to the zoo on the way home Friday. Its a cute, small zoo with the funniest little monkeys. They reminded us of Spike from Gremlins.

Richard's BFF

I took a pic of the kids like this one last summer so we recreated it while down in Chattanooga.

Parker & Gretchen stood and watched this duck for about 10 mins waiting to see his
"missing leg". He had one leg tucked up underneath him and they were sure he was a one-legged duck.

This was the kiddos favorite part of the aquarium. They were able to touch the stingrays and sharks in the touch tank. The aquarium worker even gave them a little cup of squid pieces to feed them.

This was my favorite part: the penguins. These guys seem to have a lot of personality. Each of them had a different colored bracelet then you could id them and tell their name from a chart on the wall. My fav: Big T

Parker is fan of the sharks. These 2 kept circling the tank and we were lucky enough to get both in the picture. Don't ask how long we stood there watching....that's what summer is for, right?

We swam in the hotel pool twice a day for the 3 days we were there. We definitely got our money's worth from this hotel...thanks Marriot cause it was roasting outside & we needed relief. And because the place was full of business travelers, we had the pool to ourselves.

The gang on the pier.

Since Richard got me my new camera, my kids know they should just be quiet and let me get my pics. They know I won't leave them alone if they don't cooperate. So SAY CHEESE!