In mid-November, just before Thanksgiving, we took a fun road trip up to the Chattanooga area to get some fun time outdoors before the holiday madness. We took our trailer with us and camped at a
KOA that was technically in Georgia, but only twenty minutes outside Chattanooga. The best and most surprising part was how much fall color was everywhere on the trees!! It was so beautiful and I just couldn’t believe it was still around that late in the season. Such a wonderful surprise!
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| This crappy phone picture cannot do justice to how rich and vibrant the colors were on this drive! |
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| Look! We have kids–plural!– in the back seat. Better get used to the car, Ellie… |
The boys took their mountain bikes up and I found a really neat park,
Enterprise South Nature Park, that had separate mountain biking trails rated by difficulty. They took off Friday morning to go mountain biking while Ellie and I stayed behind and explored the trails around the campground (which were quite lovely and peaceful).
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| So excited! James couldn’t wait to use his mountain bike on something other than our backyard. |
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| Chris says James was awesome on the trail! He was really impressed. Way to go, kid! |
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| Ellie naps while I enjoy the peace and quiet among the trees. |
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| Leo had a great time at the doggie playground. He loves a good slide. |
After mountain biking all morning, Chris wasn’t feeling super well, so he laid down for a bit and James, Ellie, and I took off on the campground trails around sunset. Walking through a forest is decidedly one of my favorite things to do. Doing it with my favorite kids was just fantastic.
There is no shortage of delicious places to eat in Chattanooga and we enjoyed some really tasty meals while we were there. One of our favorites was dinner at
Urban Stack. If you head that way, we definitely recommend a stop there. Breakfast at
The Bitter Alibi was also really good and their menu offers more creative brunch options than the usual fare.
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| James just wanted a squeeze while we waited for our food. |
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| Taking a turn holding his little sister. He’s so loving with her. |
Saturday morning we headed into downtown Chattanooga and explored a local farmer’s market. We picked up some amazing
BBQ sauce and hot sauce from a stand there that we are still enjoying.
In the afternoon, we headed up to Lookout Mountain for some cool weather hiking.
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| Ready to go! Wishing we had remembered a backpack… |
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| Leo loves hiking and he has definitely missed the mountains. |
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| I sincerely love trees. |
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| A gray day, but a beautiful one. |
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| I love this picture! My two favorite guys sharing a moment in nature. 💕 |
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| Eating on the trail. Loves being outside. Our girl fits right in. |
Back at the KOA, James enjoyed jumping on the giant jump pillow, playing in the arcade, and riding bikes with other kids at the campground. I’m not sure he would have cared if we left the campground at all. He made friends with another boy just across the road from our trailer and had dinner and S’mores with them one night without us, which he thought was just “so awesome”!
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| Pretending to meditate in mid-air. Silly kid. |
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| Ellie just chillin’ in the camper. |
As most of you know, I had a miserable pregnancy with James, sick with
hyperemesis gravidarum for a large chunk of the time. Since he was going to be born in the winter in Utah, I bought him a little fleece bear suit to stay warm that was just ridiculously cute. So many times when I was super sick in bed, I would look at that little bear suit and remember why I was going through that misery and how worth it it would all be once he was here. I loved seeing him in it once he was born and I kept that little suit just in case I was ever lucky enough to have another little one to put in it. On this trip, I got to see my adorable little girl in it as well, and I am reminded yet again how lucky we are to have her.
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| My blue-eyed girl rocking that bear suit. |
And because it’s so cute…
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| My sweet boy all snuggled into his bear suit (February 2009). |
