Amelia

Here is Amelia in Tennessee with the Mississippi River behind her and Arkansas behind her.

Also: growing out bangs is hard work.

The tram ride

The tram ride over the Mississippi River was very exciting. I wasn't prepared for 2 of our kiddos to suddenly be nervous and not want to ride. But, ride they did and I think they enjoyed it?

The highlights of the ride included:

1. Going over the place where our minivan was parked. Very exciting.
2. Seeing a giant pyramid. Very mysterious, this pyramid of Memphis.
3. crossing the Mississippi River. It's big.
4. Seeing the bridge we drove over last night. This bridge connects Arkansas to Tennessee.
5. Passing another team coming from the other direction.

Monorail ride

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!"