2 Years Old

Just for fun, I put up Sophie's 1 year picture so we could really see how much she has changed. The physical changes are obvious: she's taller and more grown up looking, and a year ago she wasn't even walking. Now she runs, jumps, skips, twirls, and occasionally throws herself face down in a full blown tantrum! The other changes are not so obvious until you spend time with the big girl herself. Sophie is quite the talker. She loves to tell stories and tell you about everything that enters her brain, even if it's the middle of the night. She is still very affectionate, and she has become quite a daddy's girl recently. And did I mention how smart she is? This is not meant to brag, but Sophie has got some brains on her! She can count to 14, knows most of her colors and a lot of shapes too. I think my favorite thing about her right now is when she says something that I had no idea she knew. The latest example that I can think of is when she saw me opening a package. She came over and said, "Mommy, scissors not safe for babies." Pretty cute! We don't have the current stats for the birthday girl since she doesn't go for her check up until next Friday. Check back for the official numbers!

This is the end...

We ended our time in Chattanooga by visiting the Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park. The zoo was small, but we got to see some animals that we don't have at the Tucson zoo, such as a red panda and a chimpanzee. We also were able to use our Tucson zoo membership to get in for free! After the zoo we headed up to Nashville to spend one more evening with Andy's friend Jay and his family. The next day we met up with Grandma Ann and Papa at the Nashville zoo, which is also a reciprocal zoo with Tucson. We didn't get to see a whole lot at the zoo due to a series of Sophie meltdowns, but we did see something quite amazing. There was an elephant habitat with a "swimming pool." We were watching and waiting to see if the elephant might get in, and Sophie kept yelling "get in Dumbo!" Just as we decided to move on and check out the giraffes, the elephant went in the water and splashed around. It was a beautiful sight. After that we decided to call it a day and say our final goodbyes before heading to the airport. I hope that we get to visit that zoo again someday and say hi to "Dumbo!"

Children's Discovery Museum

One of the well known treasures in Chattanooga is the Children's Museum. This place is so great that we could have spent several days there, but we waited until the 17th, which happened to be the day that the new Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit opened. Some of the favorites at the museum included the splash zone, the big yellow house (where the kids literally get to "play house"), the dinosaur bones digging area and of course the entire floor dedicated to Clifford. The museum even has a library with comfy rocking chairs and books that you can check out! This museum is a must see for those visiting eastern Tennessee.

May Birthdays

The whole reason we went to Chattanooga was to celebrate the May birthdays in the Gieseke family. The birthday boys and girls were: Cori (uncle Mike's girlfriend) on May 1st, Lauren turned 1 on May 2nd, Sophie turned 2 on May 17th, Papa Clark on May 28th, and Zoe turns 1 on May 29th. We celebrated in the traditional way with dinner, the Happy Birthday song and cake. Happy Birthday everyone!

International Towing and Recovery Museum

While in Chattanooga, we heard rumors that this museum was a hidden treasure. One morning we headed there to find out for ourselves, and it turns out it's a great place! While I'm no car buff and know nothing about the towing industry, I found the trucks to be interesting and...beautiful - really! The girls had a great time too, although Sophie spent most of the tour begging to "ride it" and "drive it." They did have one truck that the kids could sit it in, plus an entire fenced off area with miniature cars and trucks, and coloring books. And they gave each girl a goody bag with mini trucks, stuffed toys and candy! This turned out to be a pleasantly surprising side trip!

Tennessee Aquarium

Today we visited the Aquarium here in Chattanooga. We've been to lots of aquariums, and this one was definitely one of the best. The girls had a lot of fun watching all of the interesting sea life. Sophie especially got a kick out of seeing "Nemo." It was fun to show her all of the fish that are in the movie. There were seahorses, blue tangs (like Dory), giant sea turtles, sharks, jelly fish and more. There was also a penguin exhibit, so Sophie was thrilled to see "Pablo." Zoe and Lauren had fun being parked in front of the giant tanks and watching all the fish swim. The aquarium was so big that we had to break for naps and return in the afternoon. We highly recommend that anyone visiting the Chattanooga area make it a priority to check this place out!

Mother's Day

This year we didn't do anything exciting for Mother's Day. We were in Franklin, Tennessee at the Embassy Suites, so we enjoyed their free breakfast. Then we packed up and headed down to Chattanooga for the big Gieseke reunion. Andy and the girls got me just what I wanted for vacation: a bunch of gossipy tabloid magazines! We don't have a lot of pictures from the day, but here are two of the girls showing off their new outfits from Grandma Laura's trip to Boston. Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!

Greetings From Nashville

We have been living in the southern style the past few days in Franklin, Tennessee, which is just south of Nashville. Andy has an old buddy Jay who lives here. He is married to a great gal named Amber, and they have two beautiful children: Shelby will be three in July and Cooper is 15 months. The girls had a great time playing with their new buddies while Andy and Jay had fun discussing fatherhood and the "good 'ol times" before wives and children! I hit it off great with Amber and appreciated the company and hospitality while in a new town and while recovering from a long trip with kids in tow.

Birthday Favors

Today the girls went to a birthday party for their friend Tyler from play group. He turned 2 years old and had an "Under Construction" themed party. All of the kids got their own "hard hats" and Home Depot aprons filled with plastic tools, stickers and party whistles. Both girls had a great time, and Sophie is becoming really good at saying "Happy Birthday!"

Happy Birthday Lauren