October has been a busy month thus far. School work, piano, cheerleading, and church activities have kept us hopping! The kids did have their annual fall break this month, but for the first time we were all in different directions. It kinda made this momma crazy for about a week!
Hannah has been wanting to participate in a mission trip with our church for a while. So this year for fall break we decided that she and Kevin would go on the mission trip to Texas with a team from our church. The team was all set to go to Texas until our associate pastor decided the Lord was leading them to stay here and help the flood victims that lived only an hour away. Kevin and Hannah were gone Sunday evening thru Friday evening. Kevin got to experience a different type of mission trip. He got to turn his medical brain off and participate in some physical labor--pulling up hardwood floors, removing sheet rock, and shoveling mud out of houses. Hannah was part of the ministry team that made gift baskets to hand out as they visited in the community. She was well taken care of by Mama Mel and Grandma Marsha (two of the ladies from our church who were on the trip, who I asked to watch out for her)!
Hannah actually missed 3 1/2 days of school to go on the mission trip, so while they were gone, Alli and Aaron were still in school for a few more days. On Wednesday afternoon, I dropped Alli off at her friend's house. Our friends, T & T asked if Alli could go with their family to Universal Studios and SeaWorld in Orlando for the fall break weekend. Alli had an awesome time. She rode lots of rides and got completely soaked by Shamu! Thank you to T & T for letting Alli tag along! Alli returned on Sunday evening that weekend.
Well, by Wednesday evening, it was just me and my boy. To be honest, he was pretty upset that he couldn't go to Orlando with Alli and her friend. He kept saying that Alli's friend was his friend too. "She hugs me, too!", he would say. I knew I would have to have something special planned for us. So on Thursday, after his much needed hair trim, we headed to Chattanooga for an over night stay. Late Thursday afternoon we headed to the movie theater for "Toy Story 1 and 2" in 3D. He loved it. I did too, but three hours in a dark, cool theater tends to make me really sleepy. So, yes, I dozed off a few times. After the movie, we ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, P.F. Changs. By the time we finished, it was time to head back to the hotel. After getting dressed for bed, we laid in the bed and watched "Ice Age 3" and "Up". However, Aaron didn't make it very long after "Up" started. He was so tired!
The next morning after breakfast at the hotel, we drove over to the mall and visited Build-A- Bear. We now have a polar bear named "Snowen". I got to shop for just a few minutes. But as I had promised, we made our way to the aquarium. It was my quickest trip thru the aquarium. Aaron wanted to play outside and we also saw "Under the Sea" at the Imax theater. "Under the Sea" had been playing for a few minutes when Aaron says, "Momma, when is the movie going to start?" I said, "Aaron, this is the movie." He was just a little disappointed, but I thought it was pretty cool. Later as we were playing by the river, the rain drops began to fall. We got caught in a little downpour. We ended our day with a little Ben & Jerry's. Yummo!
