Spring break tripSSSS

We squeezed in a short trip over spring break to Chattanooga.

Ricky got off work that Friday and we took our time and hit the road East. We got there really late due to getting stuck in multiple traffic jams, but we made it none the less and were thrilled with our motel room. I used Hotwire to book our room this time and I will for sure be using them again. For $85 a night we got a room with granite counters in the kitchen (yes we had a KITCHEN!) complete with a dishwasher, dishes, refrigerator and stove. It was the nicest motel room we have ever stayed in and at a great price. The other great thing was the continental breakfast. Seriously that sounds crazy but they had the best breakfast! We had the biggest array of food to choose from and it changed daily. Country ham, biscuits, sausage gravy, bacon, hashbrowns, fruit salad, fresh fruit, pastries, eggs, plus all the typical things like breakfast bars, cereal, waffles, donuts, pop tarts....ok, clearly food impresses me :)

Any way, Saturday we got up and went downtown and walked the river walk, visited the aquarium and had lunch.

 So glad we got this little trip in. Being an "Oxy family" has taken some getting used to. Glad his schedule has slowed down some and he could get away with us, but even on our trip there was alot of time that looked like this:

Waiting on Dad....explaining why he can't come into work lol

 Ahh...this man! He makes me happy to be his wiffle!

Beautiful day in downtown Chattanooga 

My cheesy children

After lunch we drove up the mountain and went thru the Cave at Ruby Falls (not any of us cared for this as it was super crowded and we are spoiled after being to Cumberland Caverns).

That evening we went to Rock City (which I just love and was excited about from the last time I went...18 years ago~ woah that sounds weird).
They were having the neatest event that we just happened to come at the right time for. Fairytale Nights at Rock City was really our favorite part of the trip. Everything is the same as normal except all along the paths thru the venue they have fairy tale creatures set up. It was fantastic. And it was not overdone and thankfully not at all crowded like Ruby Falls had been. The actors all spoke with old english accents and spoke to the kids and addressed them as "your highnesses or you majesty". The kids got crowns to wear and were treated as royalty everywhere they went.

Royal family

Fairies

The smart brother from the Three Little Pigs

Serious pose

The kids and Merlin

Me and the King of the Trolls.

 When they met the King of Trolls, he gave them "Magic Stones" and told them they were to help them be protected from bad dreams. The troll king was one of my favorite actors. He was just cool :) My other favorite was Little Red Riding Hood...she was cute and spent a long time talking to us. Of course we had to keep an eye out because she told us the Big Bad Wolf was lurking in the woods. We nearly missed him tho, as he was disguised in a nightgown and night hat looking very grandmotherly indeed.

The kids and Ricky both picked out the Wicked Queen from Snow White as their favorite.

When we got done that night it was super late so we grabbed a bag of Krystal burgers (yeah we fancy) and went back and piled up on our beds in our room and ate.

The next morning we all slept really late, had another fabulous breakfast and the motel and then packed up. We took our time coming home (thanks to more road work and traffic). We (and by we I mean not Ricky) passed the time by singing loudly and badly to every song we knew. Ricky may bring ear plugs on our next trip :) We pit stopped in Nashville and shopped around Nashville West and had lunch at Red Robin (one of Ricky's fave spots). Then we made the last leg of the trip home to unpack and get ready for the rest of the week.

It was a short trip but a great get away!

That same week of spring break I ended up on the road alot. Me and the kids went to Jackson on that Tuesday, Memphis that Friday and Murray that Saturday morning, followed by Paris that Saturday night and LBL that Sunday afternoon. Whew, spring break was full and fun, but wow I was give out by the end of it. It was time to go back to work and school so we could all get some rest! Ha