RTT: Our Last Valentine's Day Weekend as a Family of Two! (Friday & Saturday)

J and I decided to spend our last V-day weekend as a family of two in Chattanooga, TN. We had a great time! Here is the timeline and what we did:

Friday (the 15th):

• I worked on schoolwork all day, washed laundry, cleaned the kitchen, washed the dishes and packed while J was at work.
• I packed up food, treats and toys for Sabrina and Reba and dug out their medical records.
• When J got home, I quickly showered and dressed and we loaded up the girls to take them to the Madison Animal Care Hospital for boarding. *notes at the bottom*
• After we dropped the girls off, we headed to Jaybee's church for the annual birthday dinner. The food was amazing! They served green beans, ham (which I don't eat, so J got an extra helping), mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole (so good, I had seconds!) and a roll. Everyone at our table could tell they were sitting with a pregnant woman since I was stealing green beans off of J's plate and I cleaned my plate and had seconds of mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole and another roll! For dessert, they had an entire wall in the hallway that was lined with tables full of all kinds of cakes! There were so many to choose from, but I chose a chocolate cake with a cherry on top, coconut cake (to die for!) and a mandarin orange cake that was super-moist! They were all so yummy and I definitely got full!
• After most everyone was finished eating, the church members put on little skits, sang and told jokes. I really enjoyed myself and my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much! Thanks again for inviting us Jaybee!
• When we left the church, it was already almost 9! We stopped by Wal-mart to get a few things for the weekend, including: new loofah for me, travel containers for shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face soap; candy, drinks, nutty-butty bars (which I've been craving lately...), air fresheners for the car and a couple of cd's.
• By the time we got home, finished packing, fed Toby and J cleaned out his litterboxes, it was after midnight. It took forever for us to go to sleep. Mainly because we couldn't shut up or shut our brains off and J eventually ended up going to the couch so I could sleep.
• We got up at 5:30 ( I think...that was a couple of days ago, so I can't be sure! haha) and showered, dressed and loaded the car. I spent a little extra time loving on Toby while J was packing the car up. We ended up leaving late because J couldn't find the cigarette lighter charger adapter thingy, so that we could plug in more than one device at a time.
• We stopped by McDonald's and grabbed some breakfast on our way out of town.
• It only took about two hours to get to Chattanooga and although we forgot about the time change difference, we were still there pretty early. We went straight to the Tennessee Aquarium and bought tickets. (FYI, they're giving a 50% off discount to students this month!) With the IMAX, both aquariums and a backstage pass for the Ocean Journey, it ended up being only about $60! Not bad for two people!
• We were going to get something to eat before we went into the aquariums, but no one was open yet for lunch, so we went ahead into the River Journey building. I cannot express how much I love the aquariums! I could go every month and never get tired of seeing all the different fish and animals! I'm like a little kid. :P

The smaller turtle was swimming close to the bigger turtle the whole

time we were watching them. It looked like the little one was trying to

get a kiss!

 

Nemo! 



• After the River Journey, we went to eat lunch. We wanted to eat at TGIFriday's, but the wait time was 45 minutes or more, so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings instead. It was really good and I was starving. I had the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wrap, which I always have. The lady was so sweet, she brought me a huge handful of celery to munch on while we waited for our food. I honestly have no clue what J ate, since I was so absorbed in my food. Haha.
• We played games while we ate. J played some kind of poker and I played the Lunchtime trivia. I won...twice. Although, I played by myself the first time. Haha!
• After lunch, we went to watch the IMAX movie. It was so pretty to see the different ocean creatures up close. Some of them were really scary though, like the eel. J fell asleep during the movie and I had to keep nudging him. Also, they told us to move into the middle of the theater with no empty seats, because they had sold out of the show. So, I was sitting to very large lady who kept hitting me with her elbow.
• After the IMAX show, we headed back to the aquarium to tour the Ocean Journey. J was so tired and it was so incredibly hot in there, that we really just cruised through so we could get out sooner. Plus, it was so crowded! I have never seen it so busy there before. We did spend a little time at the Ray tanks, so I could pet them. I never miss that opportunity!
• When we left, we had to walk all the way back to the car which was parked in the lot in front of the River Journey building. As we were walking through the parking lot, I spotted a $20 bill under a van. I grabbed it before the wind could carry it away. There was no one around, so I just kept it. J looked to see if there was more and he found $2! (Which we would need Sunday!)
• We got to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express), checked in and immediately stripped down and put on our swimsuits! I was more than ready to swim!
• The pool room was WAY TOO HUMID so J cracked open the door to the outside and stuck his flip-flop in so that it couldn't shut. It cooled off after awhile and it was more tolerable. I stayed in the pool a good hour or more. J could only handle so much of it. It was a salt-water pool, so to my tired pregnant body, it felt really great!
• After I had a craving for some milk while swimming, J went to the front desk to get me some milk and to get his phone from the room so we could listen to some music while I swam. When he came back, we looked outside and it was snowing! It didn't stick, but it was really cool to see it snowing outside while I was in a swimming pool inside!
• After I got all pruney and super-tired, I got out and we rushed upstairs to finish drying off and decide where to eat for dinner. I laid down in the super-hard and uncomfortable bed and fell asleep for an hour or more. J let me sleep while he got dressed and left the room for awhile. When I woke up, he was back and I had a bad headache. I dug out my one reserve of Tylenol and took it to try and relieve my massive headache. It didn't really help that much, so I went ahead and got dressed for dinner.
• We headed towards the mall about 10 miles away to find somewhere to eat. We didn't see anything along the way and ended up eating at Red Robin (YUM!) which was attached to the mall. It took forever for our food to come out and I was starting to feel really bad. By the time the food got there, I was already really nauseous. And then, to make matters worse, they brought me my chicken sandwich with onions on the plate which really made me sick. The waiter had to take it away to remove the onions and replace my lettuce and tomatoes that had been touching it. I ate several of J's sweet potato fries while I waited for my food to return. When our waitress brought my plate back, I scarfed down my sandwich and ate a few fries. I finished my chocolate milkshake (which was really just vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and not enough of it...) and I was ready to go.
• We went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We watched a little TV while we waited for more pillows to be brought up and then tried to sleep. I say try, because I was so uncomfortable! The mattress was so cheap, the springs were stabbing me in the hips and shoulders and everywhere else! I probably got about four hours of sleep before I woke up for good at 7:30 (30 minutes before the alarm went off...of course) with another headache.

This post is already really long, so I'll continue our weekend recap tomorrow with Sunday and Monday. :) I'm not really sure if this post constitutes random, but I'm going to say it does! If you're thinking of any random thoughts, be sure to write a post and then link up at Stacy Uncorked!