Grandma T came to see us again. It has been since November that we saw her, which is extremely too long, but we are happy when we get her; no matter when it is.
The kids wanted to go and play the games at Chucky E Cheeze. Here all three of them are trying to beat the gorilla that vibrates you to death.
Anytime my mom takes the kids to Chucky E Cheeze, she has to have a portrait with them. It has become a tradition.
On another day, we took Grandma T to the Knoxville Zoo, an attraction she hadn't experienced here yet.
We picked a great day to go. It wasn't too hot and the threat of rain kept the crowds down. Plus, because the heat was mild, the animals where more active than I have ever seen in all the times we have gone to the zoo.
I loves these two with all my heart. They are best friends, even if they do fight a little bit.
As we neared the otter exhibit, the rain decided to be quite prominent. Luckily I brought my big Tennessee umbrella to the rescue and the four of us huddled underneath it for 30 minutes while it rained. The otters loved the rain and since all the other patrons cleared out, cause they didn't have an umbrella, we saw a spectacular show by the otters. They were so playful and active. We huddled together, under the umbrella, and ate our lunch while enjoying the otters. It was a memory in the making.
Once the rain stopped, we resumed our tour of the zoo and headed to the amazing splash pad.
This has got to be the best splash pad ever. It is huge and arrayed with many different types of ways to get wet.
Taryn was in heaven. She played while Tyson, Grandma T and I sat and watched.
We had a visitor about 20 minutes into our water play. A man tapped Tyson on the shoulder and told him to turn around. When he did, he got a big surprise. There was a lone black snake slithering towards us. We all froze and then an instant later we moved, quickly.
They called in a snake wrangler and he quickly took the snake away. We later found out that it wasn't a zoo snake, but a free one, who had slithered into the zoo.
Walk like an Egyptian. They have a brand new lion exhibit and it is pretty cool.
We ventured to the gorilla area and the rain came back. So we hung out, staying dry in the gorilla cave. One small gorilla was caught outside when the downpour hit and he stayed as close to the glass as possible. This was great for us, cause we got to seen him eat and play by the glass. Then the gorilla jumped up and ran, slipped, down an embankment and headed to his indoor area as fast as he could go.
We followed him towards the chimpanzee area where those monkeys where so playful. There was one younger monkey who was throwing shoes at all the other monkeys, trying to get them to play with him. He finally got the reaction he wanted and was chased by many monkeys, who had enough of his playful ways. We watched the whole spectical until the zoo workers found us and told us that they were closing down the zoo because of a tornado warning. Ha ha ha. And here we were just hanging out at the chimps area, completely unaware of any severe weather.
We took Grandma T to her first minor baseball game.
She loved it and again the weather cooperated. We weren't too hot and could enjoy the game.
We even got a surprise later on at the end of the game. They had a fireworks display. How fun! It totally made the night so special.
This lady is my best friend and I hate living so far away from her, but we make up for it when she comes to visit. We party hard and run, run, run to get in all the play time we can.
The kids adore Grandma T, and count down the days till she comes everytime.
Having fun with Grandma T.
I was especially glad when Grandma T took over the piano practicing. Sometimes this can be a battle between Tyson and I, but he listens to her more than me. It was so nice for the break. Thanks mom!
I haven't had a second to even work on my front yard and it looked really scary. (I should have taken before pictures but I didn't want to remember how bad it looked.) My mom has a green thumb and a knack for making my yards look fabulous. She took me to Home Depot and we bought an array of flowers to plant. Now up to this point the weather had been cool, but the minute we walked outside to plant, the sun reared her head and we caught her full force. I am used to the humid conditions and so my sweating was down to a minimum, but my mom was a sweat ball. Yes, it was hot but we produced a great looking front yard. Thanks again mom! I wouldn't have done it without your help.
I even trimmed up my front bushes and they look so nice,
Like all good things, they do have to come to an end. Grandma T's visit, even though it was 8 days, was not enough. We all shed a tear when she got on the plane and we miss her like crazy, but she will be back soon for Tyson's baptism in September, yeah!
