{Chattanooga}

Today we took a wonderful mini road trip and headed to Chattanooga for the day. We began our afternoon by eating our weight in chips, guacamole, salsa, tacos, beans, and queso dip at a funky little Mexican restaurant that Ben has been telling me about for a while.  Luckily we had lots and lots of exploring to do at our next stop- the Tennessee Aquarium- and we walked at least some of it off!

We spent a little over two hours marveling at the fish, sharks, penguins, turtles, otters, octopus, and alligators. The aquarium was surprisingly empty for a weekend afternoon, and we didn't really have to deal with crowds. The pictures above just don't do our afternoon justice. We all had a wonderful time.

We ended our time in Chattanooga with a little exploring of the downtown area, which was full of little shops, bakeries, bars, and parks. After such a huge lunch, we weren't hungry for dinner but wanted to have a little something before making the drive back to Knoxville, so we popped into an ice cream shop and delighted the kids with ice cream cones for dinner. I wish I had a picture of Drew's face as he enjoyed his chocolate ice cream cone. :)

The drive home was pretty quiet-

as was the rest of our night once we got back. Quick baths and books and then three worn out kids went right to sleep.

I don't think I could have picked a nicer afternoon for our family to share together.