Tag: Family Trips (Page 3 of 6)

Spring Springing

April 6, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

Before making the trip home from Chattanooga we took a vote to see

if anyone would want to drive an extra hour to Rome, GA to eat at..

We had 3 yeses and 2 that’d be OKs, so we went.

Mike enjoys planing his trips around food.

One funny thing about the trip was that we drove from AL to TN

then to GA where the KOA was on the way there,

back and forth between GA and TN while visiting attractions,

then from GA back through TN on the way to Rome, GA to

eat at Fuddruckers before driving home to AL.

Kinda cool after living in Texas where

you can drive for days and never make it out of the state.

I like to plan my trips around nature and going to Fuddruckers meant that

we got to drive by Little River Falls in Mentone, AL.

Mike was very sweet and got out in the rain to see it with me.

It’s just a short walk from the main road.

Watching Spring spring along the way was pretty cool too.

We saw a bunch of these showy trees on our drive,

but these trees are just around the corner from us.

This is a Bradford Pear tree

a Judus Tree

And Cherry Trees

I am loving Spring..

Mike has a mountain view out his widow at work.

He said that on Tuesday that it looked just like it had all winter,

then on Wednesday it was covered in green

Love,

Tennessee Aquarium

April 5, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

While in Chattanooga, we visited their very impressive aquarium.

It was probably the nicest we’ve ever been to.

You start your tour by riding an escalator four stories up.

Then you work your way down and around all the exhibits.

Old friends from FL.

Fish we’d never touched before.

The pirana found Judi’s finger very appetizing.

They had some

really funny

looking fish.

Leafy Dragon

I am always in awe of God’s creation when I visit an aquarium.

After you finish touring one building, there’s a whole other building with another escalator.

Good thing I overcame my fear of escalators.

The second one

has a butterfly house.

Wish we lived a little closer.

Mr. Pinquin

Doesn’t this make you want to go for a swim?

Ok maybe not here..

They called this exhibit, “Living Art.”

God’s an awesome artist.

Love,

Trains by the Ton

April 4, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

Mike choose to camp near Chattanooga for two reasons.

One he wanted to ride a train.

Two he wanted to eat at…

So we went to the..

It was pretty cool.

They had nice collection of trains…

One was open to explore

It told a little about the history of trains in America

Judi’s my Vanna White

James and Joel are a little less enthusiastic.

The engine room.

We had some time to kill before the train arrived.

Their across the tracks ended in a tie.

The real ticket office..

was in the gift shop.

This one’s for show.

The train’s a coming.

It’s pretty grand.

Mom, did you ever think you’d see your luggage in a museum?

We road 3 miles through part of Chattanooga and a tunnel.

Then we stopped at this train yard and turn around.

The turn table was the highlight of the show.

They said back in the day

4 guys would turn the train by hand

Now it’s powered by the little red engine room in the left corner.

The train balances on some mega bearings.

And turns all the way around..

While the engineers hooked it back up to the other end of the train..

We got to look around the yard.

They keep everything they can for parts as there aren’t any new parts in production.

The kids thought this “hippy” train was cool

and actually asked me to take their picture with it.

Some More S’mores!

April 4, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

For Mike’s Birthday

He chose camping

Which means fun in the out of doors

Roasting Marshmallows

And making S’mores

Judi brought her music theory homework.

A full moon.

I wasn’t up for camping in tents this time. So we got cabin J.

Most of the campers brought their RV’s.

See the reflection in the window?

Joel noticed that no one was outside while we were making s’mores
and playing games and asked where they had all gone.
I answered, “In side.. watching TV.”
We agreed that that wasn’t real camping.

Our cabin had two rooms. One for Mama and Papa bear.

I was sure to bring plenty of blankets.

And a room for the kids with two bunk beds.

You can’t see it in the pictures but the cabin had a pretty good amount

of floor space where we played a game of chicken foot.

Our oldest didn’t come, so Princess J stole his mattress to make a double thick one.

She was very proud of this trick that she learned

from her youth pastor, Tammy, in Florida.

It was cold the first night and we were very glad to have space heaters.

The second night a rain storm blew and blew all night

and we were very glad to have a real roof over our heads.

The best weather for tents is warm and dry.

Sweet Sixteen Getaway Part 4

January 7, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

For the grand finale pictures of the hotel at night.

Lights

Dancing water show.

70′ gusher

Lighted tree.

Stained glass nativity

with an inner glow.

Jesus has the sweetest smile.

Happy Birthday Judi!

Sweet Sixteen Getaway Part 3

January 7, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I am not a big mall person. Judi likes malls so I go.

But the Opry Mills mall was very impressive.

It has a merry-go-round in the food court.

It has an Aquarium restaurant with a 200,000 gallon tank

and a game room where you can pet stingrays.

We actually ate at Tony Roma’s. It was very good.

One of the first stores we went in was Gibson’s Showcase.

They had a window where you could watch them build guitars

and mandolins.

Joel and Judi went straight for the basses.

Judi would like an acoustic bass.. they had one on sale for $600.

I wonder if she’s willing to pay for half.

We surprised ourselves by doing most of our shopping at Outdoor Word.

We found Judi a red 4 in one coat 30% off.

She hasn’t owned a real coat since we moved from IL.

And Mike and I found wind chimes for our back patio.

Sweet Sixteen Getaway Part 2

January 7, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

If you’ve never been to a Gaylord (http://www.gaylordhotels.com/), you should visit one. We’ve been to the one in Dallas, too and they are impressive. They come complete with a mini shopping mall and restaurants. Although you don’t have to spend the night to visit, be prepared to pay for parking. They are a great place to take a walk and pictures on a cold winter or hot summer day.

This antebellum house is restaurant.

Indoor Waterfall

The thing that motivated us to go was that we heard

that they have the best Christmas decorations.

Bigger than life nativity.

I am still getting the hang of self photographing.

Must remember not to tilt my head.

A little better.

One of the kids’ favorite words is “Haagen Dazs.”

They love to say it with a heavy accent.

Our first time to actually try their ice cream.

I got the coffee mocha chip. It was perfect.

They had orchids growing in their trees.

We had these growing in our yard in FL.

They had a whole 30 ft Christmas tree made out of poinsettias.

Sweet Sixteen Getaway Part 1

January 7, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

For Judi’s birthday Joel, Judi, Mike and I went to Nashville to shop at the Opryland Mills mall and see the Gaylord Opryland hotel and to eat some great food.

Our room hid behind the palm trees.

See Mike sitting on our balcony?

It was a really nice room.

The pictures on the wall reminded me of my flower pictures at home.

Mike said he wants to live in an atrium.

Can’t complain about the cold.

You could see the “river” tours passing by below.

My Birthday weekend in GA

October 3, 2009 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

For my birthday Mike took us to GA to see our friends from IL who just moved back there and to visit our church in Montgomery. We had a great time. The kids stayed at my friend, Ranae’s house. We’ve known their family since I was pregnant with Judi and she was pregnant with Victoria. The kids get along great.

Mike and I stayed at Sugardoodle’s Playhouse, a cabin in Pine Mountain, GA. It was very nice. All their cabins had red heart shaped jacuzzi tubs and were decorated with fun antiques.

Our A frame cabin was surprisingly large inside.

Our neighbors were a little creepy.

We had a picnic at FD Roosevelt State Park.

The kids decided that the amphitheater was a great place for a sword fight.

Then on the trail they found even bigger sticks to play with.

All together now.

The park map was not to scale. After hiking for what seemed hours according to the map we were still only half way around the 3 mile loop. We got a little lost and decided that it was time to consult the map.

Found this beautiful view of the lake.. then discovered we were only about a block from Ranae’s van.. just in the other direction. Yay! a place to sit.

For dinner that night Scott grilled out for all of us tired hikers. The food and fellowship were great!

Labor Day Weekend Explorations

October 3, 2009 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

The best thing about moving is exploring new places.

Labor Day Weekend we took the kids to the Unclaimed Baggage Store.

Mike and I had a hard time remembering it’s name. We kept thinking it was the Lost Luggage store. And thought that that would be a better name.. two Ls and all. But when you think about it… “Lost” implies that they greedily grabbed up your stuff to sell in their store before you could find it, while “Unclaimed” implies that you didn’t want it any more. At the same time “Luggage” gives the idea of something valuable and “Baggage” the idea of extra weight or something you need to get rid of from your past.

Then from there we went to Buck’s Pocket State park.