"Chaganooga"

Yes, I spelled the title of this post wrong. But, that is the way Jack pronounces Chattanooga so I thought it was fitting and it's my blog.....right? Ha!

Labor Day weekend (yes, I am aware it was several weeks ago) we headed south with the main purpose of celebrating my Memaw's 90th birthday!!! What an incredible milestone! It's especially incredible since my Memaw has been living with Type I Diabetes since she was in her 30's. She has recently begun to have some more medical issues and the doctors flat out told my mom and aunt that they just aren't really sure how to handle a 90 year old diabetic. So, this was a very special weekend and I'm so happy I got to be there! It is tough living 6+ hours away from family especially when we have so much fun with them all!

Happy Birthday, Memaw!!

This is Memaw with Tatum and Caden. Caden is my cousin's new baby. Memaw calls them both Cadum (she just combines their names). Clever.

During the party, the older boys got to play on the slip n slide and it was entertaining for HOURS! Jack kind of skipped over nap that afternoon and then laid down on the couch at 4:30 and slept for almost 2 hours. He didn't even have many problems going to bed that night after that. He was exhausted!

Jack and Brody had a lot of fun together inside too!

You know - saving the day and all!

Sunday morning we went to church with my parents and aunt.

Then, it was off for a fun adventure! Papa drove over from Murphy to see us and he brought along Andrea - one of the teenagers from the church there. So, Grandaddy, Papa, Andrea, and our family all headed to the Incline Railway. It was a little drizzly but we could still see pretty good from the top. This was Jack's first time to ride the incline and the first time for me since I was probably 7 or 8. We had a blast!

Waiting in line...

Riding up...

It is one mile STRAIGHT up the mountain! Crazy!

At the top we walked around and went over to the Battle of Chattanooga park. Thankfully, Papa has a national park card that got us all in for free! Jack was thrilled to be able to tour the cannons! Or, as he says it - "canyons!"

Proud Papa with Jack and Tatum!

The 4 of us.....not sure what's going on with Tatum in this picture! Ha!

Jack - on top of the world!!!

Papa with Andrea and Tatum! We were so happy to have Andrea with us on the adventure! Jack and Tatum both love her!

Ready, Aim....

FIRE!

After our ride back to the bottom we went downtown to get some yummy pizza at Mellow Mushroom! The next day it was back in the car to drive deeper south to see Grandma Dottie and Gigi in Alabama!

We enjoyed a great visit with them and then headed north a little bit to spend the night in Athens with our dear friends, The Sandersons! Tropical Storm Lee was in full force so we drove through A TON of rain! We decided NOT to drive in it again on Tuesday so we stayed an extra day with our friends and came home Wednesday. It was a whirlwind trip but so much fun!