48 hours in Chattanooga

Perhaps your remember our Last Year's visit with friends and how we had an AMAZING time??

Well, we decided that it was so much fun that we had to do it again and this year we chose Chattanooga. We missed Jeannie and her awesome kids (Germany, anyone?)  but they live much further away this year since Jeannie is doing important things at Ole Miss. 

First stop: Discovery Museum.

In case you didn't realize it from his constantly worn-homeless looking fireman jacket, Max takes role playing very seriously and doctoring Reese was no exception. 

But, even taking care of his cousin cannot trump playing with water. You know these water hoses got a lot of attention from the firefighter himself. 

I am not sure if it was Max's large head size or his weak aim, but the attempt at learning about levers did not go very well. 

Anderson is more or less a teenager in most situations. He does have fun, but also will absolutely refuse to cooperate when all of the other kids are posing in the giant beehive. Well, all of the other kids except Reese who just lost her hive spot thanks to Max. 

Second stop: We hit up the hotel for swimming & pizza. It's been so long since our friendship began and, even though we do see each other that often, it is so great to still have these girls. 

I think Max went the entire weekend without resorting to grumpiness. 

He is in his element when he is eating pizza with bigger kids.

Since it was Eli's birthday, Skye planned a celebration for him and we totally benefitted from the festivities. 

To save money, Nicole & I split a hotel room that was actually way bigger than a normal one because it had a pull out couch, too. The boys & I snuggled it up in this comfy time....until I had to sneak away in the middle of the night and take half of Reese's bed because sometimes there can be too much comfiness. 

Also, for the second night, the boys & I moved into Skye's room. My boys and Nicole's girls could NOT get along. Mostly, it was Anderson & Lily. They love each other so fiercely, but they are 2 of a kind in every way-intense, competitive, protective of their siblings, unable to settle for less than the absolute best*-and they just cannot spend too much time together. #cousins

These 2 save our sanity every time. 

Day 2 brought more festivities. 

We visited the Chattanooga Zoo, which was super cute and just the right size for our visit. 

Perhaps most importantly, Anderson found a roadrunner! He was so, so excited to show me and I had to, of course, document the occasion. BeepBeep!

The zoo had roaming peacocks and they were for sure the hit of the time. 

My kids definitely did some stalking of them. 

We spent an entire weekend together and we got exactly one high quality picture with a few of the kids. 

Anderson was SO pumped when the peacocks started opening their feathers. He took at least 500 pictures on my phone, all complete with his finger on the side. 

Lunch with the cousins. 

Anderson is always in his happy place when he is around animals of any kind. 

Nicole is also in her happy place in settings like this. 

Noni sent them money to pick out goodies in the zoo gift shop, which was a huge win. 

One of the greatest things we did was hit up an AWESOME splash park-it was amazing and only $2/person!

Lily & Anderson dominated the obstacle course/water thing. This is definitely where their intensity/drive pays off. Most kids their age were falling off, but these 2 were in it to win it. 

This is a picture that I will use in August when he is complaining about school to remind him of his AWESOME summer. 

Just some boys having breakfast in a hotel room. Notice the Glover/Cossio/Glover/Cossio pattern. 

A snuggle moment with my favorite tornado. 

Because we are delusional, we took these guys to see "Finding Dory." I am not sure how/if/when she was found because we had to leave the theater to hang out in the lobby. I realized a character in "The Secret Life of Pets" is named Max and I quickly became obsessed. 

Also, Reese. I know. Cuteness overload. 

And, to end our trip, we splashed down these awesome and totally random water steps!

We had such a blast and cannot wait until next year!