Circus Time

On Saturday I got to do something I had never done before - go to the circus.  Somehow I had missed this childhood rite of passage (although I do remember watching Circus of the Stars on TV which was awesome).  My brother and I decided to make up for that missing piece of our childhood and take the kiddos to the "Greatest Show on Earth."  I do have to say it was pretty awesome!!!

 The kiddos were so excited (well most of them - I guess it is not cool for 8 year old boys to be excited about anything).

 The show was amazing!!!  We all loved it.  There was so much to see - so stimulating!

 There were some amazing "dancing" camels.

 Our seats were really high up in the arena so we were above the high wire but we had a great view.  I just knew they were going to fall at any moment.

 My favorite were the elephants.  They were so cool to watch.  Who knew such big animals could do sum amazing things.

 Ben loved the tigers.  It was just scary to me.  Who would want to be in a cage with 16 tigers?!?  Crazy!!

Kate loved the acrobats and mermaids that hung from the ceiling.  Perry was fond of the poodles who did tricks.  It was all so much fun to watch.  So glad we were able to go and enjoy the circus.

Spring Break Part 4

We still had a whole week of relaxing fun ahead of us once we got home on Monday.  The week was full of playing, staying up late and having fun!!  On Tuesday, we ran a bunch of errands that we needed to get done.  To reward the kids for having a good attitude through the errands we went and played on the playground at Ben's school.  It was a gorgeous day!!!!  

 Wednesday we met up with the McClures at the Botanical Gardens.  Once again, it was a beautiful day!  We had so much fun exploring the gardens while they were in full bloom.  Everyone else in the city had the same idea though and it was super crowded but still fun.

 Thursday morning I had to work (you know I do have to do that sometimes) but in the afternoon Micah and Paige came over for playdates.  They played all afternoon and stayed for a pizza dinner.  They all had so much fun.

 Matt left on Wednesday morning to go to HOPA in Austin TX.  Hate that he was gone during our fun week but it made for a relaxing week for all of the rest of us.  The kids love sleeping with me when Matt is gone.

 Friday we went on an adventure with Granna and Grandaddy to Sci Quest.

It really was the perfect week.  Lots of activity but also some down time.  We got lots of extra sleep and are not going to be ready to wake up early on Monday morning.

Spring Break Part 3

Monday we woke up and checked out of the hotel before heading over to the Memphis zoo for one last adventure.  

 The day was absolutely gorgeous with perfect weather and a fun zoo.  The crowds were really low so we got to enjoy the zoo all of the zoo easily.

 The usual picture of me with the kids and the flamingos.  I think we have a picture like this from all sorts of zoos.

 We went to a really cool bird show where we saw lots of birds flying.  We even heard this parrot sing.  Ben really wants a pet parrot.

 The kids got to take a ride on a camel.  They loved it!a

 We saw a sea lion show.  It always amazes me how much these creatures can do and how funny they are.

 They had an amazing exhibit on animals of Yellowstone.  We got to see some amazing grizzly bears.  I could have sat for hours watching them.  It was a beautiful area.

 The zoo even has a few panda bears.  It really was a great zoo.

 The kids finished up the day playing hide and seek on the playground.  So much fun!

We stopped for hamburgers before heading out of town.  It was such a great little getaway.  Fun to explore a new city and build some great memories!

Spring Break Part 2

Sunday we set out to explore Memphis some more.  Kate wasn't feeling great so she and I hung out at the hotel a little longer.  Matt and Ben explored downtown Memphis including taking a tour of the pavilion at St. Jude.  So glad that Ben got to see the amazing work they do there.   

 We all then headed out to see the famous Peabody ducks!

 The kids thought it was really funny that there are real ducks in the hotel!  We rode up to the roof on the famous duck elevator.

 We watched the ducks march out of the fountain and into the elevator.  It is so funny to watch!

 We then took a stroll down Beale Street and got some dinner.  It was a perfectly, perfect Memphis day!

 We finished up with a swim in the pool at the hotel and watching the Food Network (since we don't have TV at home this is a big treat for all of us)!

Spring Break Part 1

We have had a wonderful Spring Break and thankfully it is still going on!  Matt had to be out of town for a meeting for part of the week but we still wanted to do something fun.  We have pretty much exhausted most of the places about 2-3 hours away (Birmingham, Nashville, Atlanta, etc.).  I did some research and decided a trip to Memphis might be fun.  So on Saturday we packed up and headed out for a few days of fun.  

 First stop on the way into town was Gus's Famous Fried Chicken.  It was really good and a great way to kick off the trip.

Then we headed over to Graceland!  Ben read an Elvis biography a few months ago and has been really interested in Elvis since then.  

 Can I just say it was a bit crazy.  There were so many people (like more than Disney not to mention how expensive it was) and we had to wait a long time in line but finally made it to the mansion.

It is not all that impressive looking from the outside.  Just a big house built in the 1930's.  

 We each had our own ipad that we got to watch/listen to a self guided tour.  It was really neat because the kids got to interact and learn a lot along the way.

The house is stuck in the 70's which makes it really fun to look at - carpet on the ceiling and crazy wallpaper on the walls.  It was like a time capsule.  

 The famous jungle room was really crazy!

 We got to tour all of the grounds including getting to meet all of the horses.

 There were lots of gold records and other Elvis memorabilia to check out.  

 We also got to see some of the many cars that Elvis owned.  Even though it was crazy (and we were there with every redneck in the U.S.) it was still fun and the kids really enjoyed the adventure.  We can check that experience off the list!

 We finished up the day with some Memphis BBQ.  You can't go to Memphis and not have BBQ.  We actually ran into one of Ben's buddies from school at the restaurant which was really neat.  It was a super yummy dinner!

It was a great first day of our getaway.  More to come...