The Chattanooga Choo Choo...

Our last little get away before Baby G's arrival was a quick trip to Chattanooga.

He's a little young for white water rafting this time, but thanks the the Children's Discovery Museum, he'll be ready when he's older!


Unexpected free fun-- playing in the fountains in the park... now if only we'd brought a change of clothes...


Ok, so taking a two year old on a swinging rope bridge is probably as scary for him as it was for his parents... maybe we'll try the stone bridge next time!


This kind of fun is more our style.



Raise the roof? Or hold it up? Either way, we got to See Rock City!


You can't read the sign by my head very well, but it says "Fat Man's Squeeze." I'll have you know, I squeezed just fine!


Pax's favorite part of the Tennessee Aquarium.


Even through glass, it's intimidating to see a shark swim by your family...


My favorite flowers and my favorite little blond guy-- glad we got to spend some special time before we grow into a family of 4!

Daddy's Hooker

For his birthday, my parents got Travis a bike rack to carry his bike on the back of the car. Paxon was totally into the process of assembling it and attaching it to the car. He wanted to know all about it and what it did. Travis patiently explained that it was something that went on the car that he could hook his bike on and drive it somewhere different to ride. He even got out his bike (and Paxon's tricycle) and hooked them on the bike rack to show Pax how it worked.

Pax, very excited about the new equipment, responded, "Daddy, I like your hooker!" Not to worry, though, I am not in the dark about this situation...Paxon came in the house and told me all about "Daddy's hooker." Let's hope this one doesn't come up at preschool...

Onomatopoeia

The other day while traveling in the car, we were enjoying the dance party remix of "The Ants Go Marching." (If you don't have kids, you are thinking, "Never never will I listen to that" and if you do have kids, you are probably thinking, "Oh yes! I know that one!"). In this version, the song revs up for each new verse with the words "crash-boom-bang!" Pax thinks this is very funny and kept asking "what that mean?" after that part of the song. Apparently, my initial answers were insufficient for our inquisitive child. He kept asking me about it over and over, so with a bit of sarcasm, I finally switched my answer and explained that those words were onomatopoeias and gave a brief explanation of other words that qualified as onomatopoeias (e.g., Moo, Pow!, etc.) as well as other words that don't really qualify (e.g., floor, tree, mailbox). I thought this might at least distract him and we could move on.

Well...Paxon LOVED the word "onomatopoeia" and talked about it the rest of the way home. I didn't think he really got the concept, just a fun new word to say. Besides, teaching metalinguistics to our two-year-old is not really on the priority list no matter how precocious he is. A few days later, we were walking out the garage door and as I pulled it shut quickly, I said, "BANG!" Pax promptly turned around to me and said, "Mommy, that an onomatopoeia!" He then went on to name several others: crash! Oink oink! Pop!

And it occurred to me again it has so frequently lately... he is such the little sponge right now and is absorbing so much of what we say (and do) lately...SLURP!

You Must Mean Someone Else

Conversation between Pax and me in the kitchen just now as we discussed becoming a big brother and our family.

Pax: You a big sister, mommy?

Me: Yes. I am a big sister. Uncle Jeff is my little brother.

Pax: Who your sister, mommy?

Me: Aunt...

Pax: Jayna?

Me: Well, no, Aunt-

Pax: -Jen!

Me: Yes! You got it, kiddo.

Pax: Who your mommy, mommy?

Me: GiGi.

Pax: You must be talking 'bout a different GiGi. GiGi (is) my GiGi.

Thanks for sharing Pax. She'd probably agree with you.

Indian-ah-polis

Our kid loves to go some place, so March was a good month for him. We visited family in Indianapolis or "Indian-ah-polis" as Pax calls it. Of course, a trip to Indy isn't complete for us without a visit to the children's museum. It's a great one if you are ever in the area. There happened to be a Bob the Builder exhibit this spring at the museum, so Pax stayed busy with his tools all morning.

Ok, admittedly, here I'm just playing with the effects on my camera. Do you think it's the camera or that mirror that makes my stomach look fat?

We also got to visit with Travis's cousins Jason and Amy and their cutie pie Nick. Last time we saw him he was only weeks old. This time, he gave Pax more of a run for his money sharing toys.

Which leads us to the real reason we were there, Travis's cousin Matt married a lovely Indianapolis bride Lauren. Now we have even more family to visit when we are in the area!

Travis and Pax with the Garner aunts

The Bigger House at Gallatin-burg

Three years ago, my dad's side of the family rented a big house in Gatlinburg and gathered to celebrate my Grandmother's 80th birthday. Travis and I planned a trivia game "about Grandma and her life" with one of the final bonus questions being, "How many great-grandchildren does Grandma have?" and only my savvy siblings figured out that we were announcing our pregnancy with Pax. This year, we gathered to celebrate Grandma again, with 4 more great-grandkids in tow than last time. I can hardly remember our family without these little ones with us!

When I told Paxon that we were going on a trip, he of course wanted all the details. He was so excited about all of us staying in a BIG house together and referred to the location of the big house as "Gallatin-burg" all weekend. 27 people in one house for 4 days could spell disaster in some families, but I'd say as for me and my house, we had a great time!

Who's excited about the mountains?

Posing with the family

How cute are these guys?

Have any of you played Wii Dance? I'm not much on video games, but this one is totally worth the wasted time. Note that the Girten blood line is participating...while our spouses giggle about being related only by marriage.

Gone, but not forgotten

I haven't forgotten about this blog. Just have had a couple of busy weeks with our project. It's a very different kind of interesting than my usual funny stories about Pax and our family, but feel free to check out what we've been up to the last week or so on our other blog: www.fivetofivethousand.wordpress.com.

I promise to come back here soon with pictures and funny stories... we've got a ton to share!