A Man's Man and a Lady's Man

I think it has been sufficiently noted that Sam and Nate are different in almost every way imaginable. There are the obvious physical differences. Sam is darker in skin tone, hair color, and eye color while Nate is larger in stature, for his age. There are differences in what they like to eat. Nathanael would be happy to eat fruit all day while I have to blend Sam's into a smoothie and, lately, even then it's a battle. And there are differences socially.
Sam is my man's man. From before the time he could walk he gravitated to cars. Cars have always been his favorite toy. He even began enjoying car magazines as a toddler. He loves monster trucks. Now, as he's getting older, he LOVES sports. Sometimes he would rather watch ESPN than cartoons. And when it comes to choosing friends, Sam would never be caught playing with a girl! He has had his little gaggle of guys since he was about 18 months old and they are pretty solid!
Nathanael is a total lady's man! While Sam has always had his boy group, Nathanael is surrounded by more girls that are his age. But he certainly doesn't seem to mind being in the company of the ladies!
Now don't get me wrong, he is incredibly masculine. While Sam chose cars as a little wee one, Nathanael was always in search of a ball and a stick from as early as I can remember. He is a total dare-devil and risk taker. That child has had more bumps, bruises, bloody lips, and near tooth-through-lip incidents than I can count. And he loves to play with his little man friends too. But he certainly knows how to work the ladies! He's a total rico suave. All the time, when he talks to me, he addresses me with "hey sweetheart", or "you're my babe", or "hi sweetie". Boy does he know the right times to use these phrases, too! If he knows he's about to get scolded for doing something naughty, he'll quickly pull out a "hi sweetheart. Give me a kiss." And who could be mad at that?! The other day as we were driving by a sweet little friends' neighborhood, he recognized where we were and started talking about her. He said, "I like Eva. Eva's pretty." And at night, when we discuss what we did that day, regardless of whether he actually saw them or not, he will always say, "played with Eva, played with Riley, played with Myah...." and run through the list of all his favorite gals.
It will be interesting to see, as they grow up, if these little personalities remain the same! If so, I think some dads might want to lock their daughters away. My boy is going to be one smooth-talking Romeo!

Our future Olympian

On Monday Nathanael finally got to start his first sport: gymnastics! I have been wanting to put him in classes for a while now, but I finally made the plunge when a deal came along on LivingSocial. I figured I couldn't pass it up. Nathanael is so full of energy that I thought gymnastics would be perfect for him! When I called to schedule him for his class, the instructer agreed to allow him to try the 3 year old class (he's 2 1/2) instead of the mommy-and-me class, but if he didn't do well (behave himself), he'd be bumped down. Well, after class she didn't tell us to never come back, so I guess we get to continue on in the class we're in!
I'm pretty sure he had fun. And he did a good job. He just can't help himself; he had a hard time waiting his turn and sitting still during the stretches and instruction. I can't wait to see how he does next time!

First Day

Today was finally Sam's first day of school. We enjoyed an extra week of summer, that the public school kids didn't get, before sending him off to school. But today was his big day. He was excited, but also a bit shy.
I decided to walk him in because he's still my little boy and this was his first day at a new school. There is a car line in morning and afternoon, but I figured for the first day surely other parents would also be walking their little ones in. Don't people like to take those precious first day of school pictures? Well, apparently not. I didn't see any other parents parking and walking in. All of the staff that I encountered on our journey into the school seemed quite confused by the fact that I was walking him in. Oh well, atleast I got my pictures!

Sam's teacher this year is Mrs. Karpinski. He only has ten children in his class. Can you even believe that?! His report of the day didn't have many details. Just like last year, all of my questions about his day are always met with "I can't remember". So, his summary went a little something like this: He is friends with all the boys in his class, yet he can't remember their names. He didn't talk much. He got to go to science where they raced oil and dish soap on a tray. Oil won, as Sam guessed that it would. He went outside for recess where he played with his friend Tyler and one other boy from Tyler's class. He had graham crackers and lemonade for snack. And he likes his teacher. Here's hoping for a wonderful year!

Growing up

This week I've been feeling a little depressed. Not in a laying-in-bed-and-eating-twinkies-all-day way, but just...well, sad. Sam's growing up. And it has happened too quickly. Next week he starts kindergarten. Not public, all-day kindergarten, but private, half-day kindergarten. I chose this option for several reasons, not the least of which is because I don't want him to grow up this year. I'm sorry, but he's still my baby and I want to keep it that way......for one more year.
I worry about making the right decisions for my children. How can I ensure that they will be happy, well-developed, and their personal best? How can I protect them from all the bad that is in the world, that we choose not to allow into our home? I worry that no matter how much we teach them at home, they may still be more affected by what they hear, see, experience at school.

I know I can't stop him from growing...and from experiencing the world. But, oh, if I could just preserve his innocence a little longer. So, I'm going to try. I'm going to savor this last year. This last year that I still have my boy at home for atleast half the day. I'm going to keep teaching him, cuddling him, taking him to the park, and enjoying him so that this time next year maybe, just maybe, I'll be ready to let him go.

Chattanooga: Not Just For Rednecks!

Wednesday was our final day in Chattanooga. We spent the entire day downtown at the Creative Discovery Museum. When we first walked in, I had my doubts about it. I thought we had wasted our money because it didn't look like it had much to offer. Boy was I wrong. The displays were not as spread out as at our Children's Museum in Greenville, but as a whole, they seemed to be more age appropriate and interesting for the ages of my children. We stayed until half an hour before closing time and even then, we had to beg the boys to leave.
There were so many wonderful exhibits. The first area was all about water. The boys got to don fisherman-appropriate clothing and hone their skills for a future on Deadliest Catch. Or maybe they'll be shrimp boat captains. Cutest dang fishermen I've ever seen.


The boat had several levels, and at the top it turned into a climbing playground contraption. Nathanael is typically very fearful of climbing apparatuses. Once upon a time, he climbed to the top of a Chick-fil-A playground and refused to come back down. He camped out in a corner and cried and cried and cried. My good visiting teacher happened to be there at the time also and offered to climb up and bring him down. I let her. And she earned angel wings that day, because when she brought him back down we realized he was so scared that he pooped his diaper while he was up there. But, I digress. At the museum, Paul assisted him in climbing around and he did just fine.
Next we moved on to the water area. Sam decided it was a much better water area than in Greenville. It was all about rivers. Paul demonstrated how river locks work and there was a drawbridge and much more.
But the fun had just begun! There was a section all about dinosaurs and I dare say that the cutest fishermen in the world would make even cuter paleontologists!


There was even fun to be had atop the roof! There they had several displays of simple machines. But it was kinda hot and the real fun was yet to be had back inside.
The boys' favorite exhibit, by far, was Bob the Builder. You should have seen Nathanael's face when he got to put on a tool belt and hardhat! Oh wait, you can see it!
He carried around those tools for HOURS! No kidding. Lunchtime came and he was wearing his tool belt and hardhat. We decided to take the shuttle back to the hotel for some lunch. Then we went back to the museum for more Bob the Builder time. It was a great, great day for the boys. They even had a "kitchen chemistry" class that Sam was able to attend and a story time, complete with puppets that the boys got to assist with.
We really enjoyed our vacation in Tennessee this summer and can't wait for our next adventure!

Rogers Family Vacation: Day Three

On day three of our vacation to Chattanooga, we actually ventured away from the city. After about an hour and a half ride, we arrived in Sweetwater, Tennessee, home of The Lost Sea Adventure. This was probably what I was most excited for. Growing up, it seems like every vacation that my family ever took, we did a cave tour. I always loved it. I'm not sure I even realized Paul had never been in a cave before! What a deprived childhood!
Well, upon our entrance into the cave, it appeared that two of our party were a bit nervous. Don't let those smiles fool ya; it's in the eyes.
Nathanael's nerves continued to get the best of him for the first half of the tour,
but as we got closer and closer to boarding the boat in the underground lake, he started to loosen up and get excited.
Although this particular cave doesn't have very many impressive cave formations, the lake certainly makes it worth the visit. And our guide made the tour enjoyable with his humor. At one point he told us he was going to turn out the lights so that we could experience total darkness. Holy moly! That was crazy! He said that if you stayed like that for 2 weeks, you would go blind because your retinas would be working so hard to find light that it causes a violent vibration in the back of the eye and causes blindness. I don't know if this is true or not. I googled it and couldn't really seem to find a sufficient answer. But, I do know that in the few minutes he left the lights off, I felt claustrophobic and my eyes started to hurt. Paul felt so uncomfortable that he pressed the buttons on his iphone just to be able to see some light. I guess we could have gotten Nathanael to march around to provide us with some relief, since his shoes light up when he walks. So anyway, total darkness (which, by the way, can only be experienced in a cave or one other place, though I can't remember what he said) is neat to experience once, for like a minute, but more than that would be complete torture.
After that fun little episode, we arrived at the lake and loaded onto two small boats. The lake is really impressive and the boys loved watching the fish. They keep it stocked with trout and during the tours they feed the fish, causing them to go crazy, jumping out of the water and such.
After leaving the cave, we stopped for lunch, which was less than desirable, and then headed for some yummy dessert at the Mayfield Dairy.


Typically when we get ice cream we all share one or two items, instead of each of us getting our own. I'm not sure why we didn't do that this time. We must have just been like kids in an ice cream store, wanting everything we could get. I guess I didn't realize how much ice cream we were each truly eating, and unfortunately this would come into play later in our journey back to Chattanooga.... But we certainly did enjoy our treats; the boys both got birthday cake (SO good) and Paul and I both had O'Charley's Carmel Pie. Then it was on to the tour of the facility. In order to go into the factory, we all had to wear hairnets. Who knew hairnets could be so fashionable?
Or maybe they aren't.... Anyway, the tour wasn't terribly long, but it was still something different to do and pretty neat to watch some of the manufacturing process. We also learned that Great Value (or Walmart) milk is actually Mayfield, just minus one final step that Mayfield milk goes through. And if you're interested, the final step is for the milk to pass through some sort of vacuum machine that supposedly pulls out any smell or flavor in case the cow ate something like onions. I'll take my Great Value milk for $2 cheaper, thank you very much. Milk is milk, if you ask me.
After the tour, it was time to make the hour and half trip back to the hotel. About 40 minutes away from our hotel, disaster struck. And this is what that disaster looked like:
Sam started coughing. From an early age, that has always been his vomit trigger. So when he wouldn't stop, we knew it had the potential to end badly. I gave him some water to drink and he took a few sips and then started crying. "My tummy's empty. My tummy's empty." We were confused. Paul thought he was crying because he wanted to vomit but couldn't because he didn't have anything to vomit. Oh no, he just meant the opposite; his tummy was TOO FULL! Paul started commanding me to get a bag. Well, with all the chaos, I couldn't think of what was available to grab. I leaped into the backseat and grabbed the only bag I could think of- a grocery bag with a brand new, open bag of peanut M&Ms and a brand new, open bag of Skittles (such a sad waste). The bag caught some of the vomit, ruining the candy for no good reason, because I was too late and the vomit went all over my hands, Sam's clothes, his car seat, the floorboards, my camera bag, EVERYWHERE. It was not a happy time. But, my biggest concern after it was over, while Sam and I sat there in his puke, was not the terrible smell or how we were going to clean it up, but the sad look in his eyes. I just hope that he doesn't forever remember being yelled at for puking in the van, because he's more important than that.

Rogers Family Vacation: Day Two

On day two of our vacation, we rode the Incline Railway to the top (and back) of Lookout Mountain. Again, there was not a large crowd, and we were able to promptly board the train for our 1-mile climb up the mountain. It was a really fun ride. The last little bit of the ride up was incredibly steep and I think Sam got a little nervous, but the view was incredible.
At the station on top of the mountain, we were able to climb even higher to an observation deck where, it is said that, you can see seven states on a clear day. That sounds impressive and all, but does it really matter? I mean, can you really tell the difference between the landscape of Tennessee and Georgia from an observation deck? How would you know you're really seeing seven states? Oh well; again, the view was amazing.

Nice hand placement, Natey....
We really had no expectations for what we would find atop Lookout Mountain. We just didn't know what to expect. But after leaving the station, we enjoyed a nice walk through a quaint little town. The weather was amazing, 8 degrees cooler than in the valley. And the quiet streets were lined with beautiful old southern houses.
At the end of the main street, we came to the Lookout Mountain Battlefield. It is a beautiful military park with lush grassy areas that would have been perfect for a picnic, more fabulous views, monuments, and neat hiking trails. And Sam got his first history lesson.



Had we come prepared, I would have loved to have gone on the 2 hour hike to the Cravens House, but instead we took a much shorter hike that took us to the tiny Ochs Museum. It consisted of a few glass cases that held old war relics such as guns and the like. Apparently there was also a display of some packages of crackers that the soldiers ate and the next day, out of the blue, Nathanael made mention of the "cracker museum". I, having not even noticed the crackers in the glass case, and Paul, not really thinking about it, didn't pay much attention to him or even register what he was talking about, but Sam just quickly responded, "no, it was the Ochs Museum." Funny boys. The Ochs Museum can be seen behind the boys in the picture below.
That evening, after Nathanael took a nice nap, we took the shuttle downtown to Coolidge Park. What a wonderful park!! I wish Greenville had something as nice. Our downtown children's fountains do not compare to the ones the boys were able to play in at Coolidge Park. And there was also an antique carousel, which we all enjoyed. And that was the end of activities on our second day in Chattanooga.

Welcome to Chattanooga, now give me all your valuables!

Our visit with the Gardners was the midway point on the road to Chattanooga. In Atlanta, we also made a stop by the temple. Nathanael had been begging for months (or atleast weeks) to go see the temple, so since we were passing by we obliged him. Unfortunately, the closest we could get was to stand and look from across the street.
Then we were on our way to our hotel. We stayed at a Marriot in downtown Chattanooga. The hotel was comfy, though not completely family-friendly. We stayed on the 14th floor, which was nice because we had a view of the mountains and the boys enjoyed riding the elevator, or gator as Nathanael called it.
Chattanooga's downtown has a fabulous amenity- the electric shuttle to take you wherever you need to go. Unfortunately the downtown also has a good share of sketchy individuals. Shortly after we arrived at the hotel, we needed to catch the shuttle to get to our first activity, an evening cruise on a riverboat. As we walked out of the hotel and were walking to the shuttle stop, Paul noticed an individual who was following, sneakily, behind us. He told me to wait a minute and stepped back closer to the hotel doors. As we did, he came creeping around the corner and then started acting really suspicious. We decided to go back inside through a set of doors on the side of the building and the creepy guy came quickly up behind us, right inside with us. It all made me very nervous, and I feel fairly certain that if we hadn't gone back inside those doors, and ended up directly in the hotel lobby, he would have done something.
We were eventually able to safely make it to the dock and board our cruise. It was a 2 hour sunset cruise. It was quite nice in that we had the boat largely to ourselves. Vacationing the week before school starts proved to be a wise choice; we didn't encounter large crowds anywhere we went. The boat was rather slow, the sun was rather hot, and the sun never did set during our time aboard the ship, but it was still nice to do something different.



After a ride back to the hotel aboard the shuttle, we were off to bed on our first night in Chattanooga.