Big Orange Country!

The four of us took a road-trip to Knoxville over the weekend!  Chris planned this trip - for ten years he worked every Saturday January-March, so he was excited to be able to travel on a February weekend!  He carefully picked this weekend because the UT basketball game started at 5pm on Saturday.  We thought that was a good time for Lucy and Eli...we were hopeful they would be entertained by eating concession-stand dinners and enjoy the game!  Another important piece of the weekend plans was the hotel with the indoor, heated pool...it was a big hit after weeks of snow and crazy-cold weather! 

Lucy hasn't stayed in a hotel since Amy and Matt's wedding in June 2008.  She was totally baffled...bless her heart, when we travel we're usually with our families, so she kept asking "who is going to meet us here?"  We didn't tell her about the trip much in advance because we were afraid the weather would cancel our plans...so, she didn't have a lot of time to sort her thoughts.  She kept calling our hotel room "the apartment."  On the drive to Knoxville she asked "who is going to pick our room?" and "is our room upstairs or downstairs?"  Of course, they thought the continental breakfast was awesome...they visited with the other guests and thought the elevators were great!  After breakfast, Lucy said "are they going to bring us lunch?"  The funniest comment was Saturday night...after a day of sight-seeing on campus, the basketball game and fun in the hotel room, she said "what time is our flight home tomorrow?" 

They loved window-watching from the hotel room - even though it looked out over a parking garage. We had lunch at Copper Cellar, then Chris and I were excited to visit the newly-remodeled Ayres Hall!  We visited the AOII suite...it still hasn't fallen into the sink-hole or been condemned (do our UT friends remember that rumor?)  It was fun to tell Lucy and Eli about our friends that they know who we met while at UT! 

 The basketball game was a huge success...even though Lucy (with her orange bow and shirt) said "I hope Alabama wins!"  We expected to give them dinner, but they were so exhausted from a day of no naps and general hotel-excitement that they just sat on our laps...like they were sedated...no bathroom requests...no food demands...just chilled out and watched the game, scoreboard, band, dancers, and other 21,000 fans!  We did leave with about 7-minutes left in the game...which made me laugh because my Dad raised us to believe "it is not who wins or loses...it is who gets out of the parking lot first!"  Chris suggested leaving early since it was a close game and everyone else was staying...we made it to a restaurant in time to see overtime! 

Completely unrelated to our trip to Knoxville, I wanted to share these two pictures...

The above picture is from Thursday.  I picked Lucy up from school and she explained that one of her classmates had a birthday and brought muffins to celebrate.  Lucy said "I know you didn't have a muffin for breakfast, so I save you my last bite."  And, indeed, when I looked in her lunchbox, there it was...her last bite.  Oh, that girl just makes me smile!  

Next, I forgot to share this picture back in January.  It is from our trip to Charlotte.  We weren't sure if Eli would be up for walking through the airport with his own suitcase, but he loves to be "big" and do whatever his sister is doing.  Lucy's doll "Baby Rebecca" is on her back and I love how confident they seem as they take these first steps to explore the world.  Of course, I was very close by and we have many fun years before independence, but you have to start somewhere, right?