Kelsey's Bike

Speaking of meeting major milestones- look who can ride a bike now! Practicing on our street was a hot mess because it's a construction zone while the city replaces all the main water lines. So Dad had the brilliant idea to take me to the school track. Best day ever! 

Ryan's Big Boy Car Seat

My baby brother isn't a baby anymore. This week we said goodbye to the infant-toddler car seat. He loves being more grown up. And we love him being accidentally hilarious.

He told Mom on the first night after riding in the big seat that "This was a great awesome day".

The Picture On The Stairs

Here are the annual pictures on the stairs- can you believe how big we are getting?! Shout out to Marmee for always coordinating our clothes! Here are the old ones for comparison, starting with 2009:

2011:

2012:

2013:

Now it's Christmas 2014 and we have grown into graceful elementary school rock stars:

The boys were dragged into our picture tradition last year. We missed Colin this year- he's a handsome middle school baseball star now, so it may be difficult to convince him to sit for these in the future.

Here's Colin in the back from 2013:

  Jakob is still a good sport, but we know he'll probably hit that Bored Face For Pictures stage that all teenage boys go through. His Dad, Uncle Jake, was an expert at making posed frowny faces.

We love love love these boys. And their blooming personalities.

We hope they grow up to be just like their silly Dads.

Mom says they've been ridiculous since 2007.

Family Fun

It was nice to be in a different climate for a few days, breaking up the weirdly hot and sweaty December days we've had in Florida. Cloudy, cool, and rainy was actually refreshing. Plus, it forced us into indoor activities like this awesome trampoline center. 

Taylor Swift on the loud speakers, foam pits, trampolines everywhere. This place was paradise! The moms loved doing old cheerleading jumps with us, and the dads loved lunch at the local craft beer brewery next door. 

We've decided that the renaissance happening in Chattanooga is great- it's turning up cool Colorado mountain style architecture. And transforming all the men into lumbersexual bearded Avett brother clones. 

We got to spend a little time with Mawmaw. She'll be 93 next month, and sassy as ever. She remembers lots of details and stories from her past, but has a hard time remembering new things. Mom says that's normal when your brain is over 90, so we just have to smile and nod when she tells us she likes Marmee's coconut macaroons for the fifth time. It makes her feel happy to have somebody to talk to, even if she forgets stuff sometimes. 

At dinner Mom tried to pump her for juicy details of her courtship with Pawpaw in the 1930s. All she would say is that she liked him because he was funny, and there was a trail of broken hearts among the other girls when he chose to marry her over them. Mom showed me her favorite picture of my great grandfather. He was a gentle, quiet dairy farmer, and his animals loved him.

 

Then we had a nice laugh at her second grade school picture.

Our visit was too short, but packed with good times.

Civil War History Lesson

We got to be tourists in Chattanooga Saturday. We took a ride on the Lookout Mountain Incline, here's what it looks like in the spring on a sunny day:

One mile straight up the side of the mountain, only a little bit scary at the top when you feel like the trolley-train is going to snap off the cable.

We made the best of our time waiting with our cousins.

While our moms grappled with their fear of heights and fear of holiday catastrophes caused by human error. Mom says when you get old and have children, you suddenly worry about everything, all the time.

It's nice to be young and just live in the moment.

Especially when that moment is filled with your favorite fun people.

At the top of the mountain is Point Park, an important site in Civil War history. It is part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park, dedicated in 1895 as the first national military park (followed by Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg). Our parents geek out over stuff like this.

The view of the Chattanooga valley and Tennessee River is beautiful.

And the cannons are wicked awesome.

We explored some of the park, with our moms shouting at us to be careful the whole time because there are no fences. If you step off the paved trail you fall off the side of the mountain. Simple as that.

We were careful for the adventure hike.

The air is thinner up here, makes us do crazy things...

Like flashing our friends with our Batman undies, 

and twerking.

Dad rounded out his immersion in Civil War history by doing a long run in the Chickamauga Battlefield. The area is named after a branch of Cherokee Native Americans who lived there, the Chickamauga people. They called the mountain Chat-a-nu-ga, which is where the city got its name.

Mom grew up around here, and remembers all the ghost stories. The Battle at Chickamauga Creek resulted in the second highest number of casualties in the war (next to Gettysburg). Dad didn't see any Confederate or Union soldier ghosts near Snodgrass Hill, and he didn't see Old Green Eyes on the trail. Just lots of deer.

Happy New Year!