Monorail ride to Mud Island

Next up was a visit to Mud Island Park. There was a walking bridge or a 2 minute monorail ride. The video is too long to post, so here is the link to a video of us going over the river.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvwk_zNMd6c


Sent from my iPhone

Memphis day #1, morning

John and I looked at a number of resources before going to Memphis, but didn't actually make a formal plan of what we were going to do until the first night in our hotel.

There was a lot to pick from, but it quickly became clear that most of the attractions were not appropriate for the kids (Beale street Jazz bars and a Civil Rights Museum for ages 13 and up) or really expensive. Elvis's home tour was going to be close to $25 per person, which would put our family of 5 over $100. The tour would have been very interesting for John and I, but we both could envision trying to keep the kids from touching items, out of restricted areas, stopping from running indoors and general kid like behavior that is frowned upon from people trying to listen or enjoy a quiet tour. It just wasn't going to be worth it this time. Maybe when they are older?

So, we settled on some Civil War sights, a Mississippi steam boat museum and a huge park to play at for the afternoon.

We got up and helped ourselves to the free breakfast before hitting the road. We ended up finding a parking spot near Confederate Park at the Memphis Welcome center. We stopped in to look for any other attractions/maps/coupons. They had some huge statues of musicians from the Memphis area.


From there, we hiked up a very steep hill to Confederate Park. This was a very small park with a few tiny signs marking it as a Civil War sight. From my memory (which isn't that great), the people of Memphis gathered at this spot as the battles of the Civil War drew closer. Controlling the Mississippi River was of high importance. The major battle for Memphis, took place on the Mississippi River early one morning with a crowd of people on the hill above the river looking on. Before the battle, the area was controlled by the South. The battle was a short one here and was only fought on the water. The citizens observing had expected a win for the south and made their way home quickly after a surprising loss. Memphis was held by the North for the rest of the war.

We walked confederate park and then took a short little walk to explore a little further on the river front. I always forget things appear much closer on the waterfront. There was a very interesting building close by- maybe. 10 minute walk. It became clear after 15 minutes of walking that it was much, much further. Thanks to technology, John was able to pull out his phone and determine it was an art museum/gallery AND it wasn't open that day.

Fingers

Gemma came sliding into our room just before 7 am on a Saturday. I'm sorry to say that I didn't jump up and greet her with a song and dance routine, but I was sleepy still and my bed was snuggly and warm.

She crawled all over me (John too, but he is better at staying asleep than I am) demanding breakfast, music and a dance party.

I an effort to delay her and give myself another few precious moments tucked into my bed, I asked her how many fingers she had.

Gemma held up all her fingers, spread wide. She carefully counted. She has improved greatly recently but I still heard her double count a few of the fingers.

After a few moments, she crowed: "I have 8 fingers!"

I giggled to myself and told her that she did a great job. It was a great job, but she missed a few fingers. She should have 10 fingers.

I started counting her fingers for her, starting with her thumb on her right hand.


Then she gave me an extremely condescending look for a 3 year old. "That is not a finger mom! That is a thumb!"

It took me a few moments, but slowly her meaning became clear.

The correct answer is that she has 8 fingers and 2 thumbs.

I showed her, didn't I?

Sent from my iPhone

I Win...

We had been driving a long time and Amelia and Gemma were playing an I-Spy game. You say "I spy with my little eye, something (add a color)." It was Amelia's turn and she said she saw something orange. Gemma couldn't figure it out so Amelia told her "the sunset". Gemma said "It's not orange it is yellow!" They then started arguing about it. We were nearing the end of a long drive and Kelly and I told them to stop it and do something else. They stopped and Gemma said "It is my turn. I spy with my little eye something yellow".


Amelia answered "The sunset."

Gemma replied "You are right!"

Girls slide at rest stop

The hair! The hair!!

Fall break to Memphis

Most years, the school builds into the calendar a short break in October. Last year, we went to Chicago. We enjoyed that so very much, we wanted to try and do that again. However, we missed the reduced price deal and then Chicago didn't work out.

We always like to take the kids to places they haven't ever been, especially new states. I think kids need to see different parts of the country (and world) to understand how different and similar people are in different places as well as the differences in the landscapes. Anyway, we like to travel and we love exposing our kids to new experiences.

The criteria for the trip is that it has to be within 5-6 hours driving distance, be within the small budgeted amount we determined, allow us to see something new or visit a new place we haven't been before or show the kids something we have seen before, but want them to experience.

The top contender this time was Chicago, but when it landed outside of the budget parameters, it was off the table.

The next two contenders were Oklahoma City (never been there or to Oklahoma), Memphis, or Nashville.

In this case, Memphis was the winner! We made a long weekend of October 15-18.

So, we packed the van and hit the road for Memphis.

Here are the kids at the a rest stop close to the border of Missouri and Arkansas. It was very close to the New Madrid fault line, which is very interesting topic of you are looking for an Internet rabbit hole to fall into.

Amelia and William are different

All kids are different. Even siblings are different. William and Amelia have always had some similarities, but I have always been struck by how individual they are.

This year, they have been selected to participate in some enrichment class work. They go one day a week to a different school building and have some enrichment class time. As they are so close in age, they frequently end up in the same classes together. One day they brought home the same worksheet about joining a circus that was identical. See how differently they think?