Creative Discovery Museum

There are very few times that I go an entire day without checking my email. Yesterday was one of those days. It was kind of a shock to actually look at my email at 10pm and realize that I have projects that need attending! Oops... It's a good thing nothing was on a tight deadline.

Daniel took an extra day off for the long weekend {he had some comp time he needed to use} and we met up with my sister and her kiddos to go explore the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga.

 

We actually met in South Pittsburg and dropped our car off so that we could have some extra time for visiting on the way there, and we got to ride in the mini van to decide if it is something we would ever want... 

I am in the "NO mini van, NO station wagon, NOT EVER" camp. 

While Daniel is in the "don't let the preferences of your 20-year-old self determine the needs of your 30-year-old self" camp. Either way it is a discussion is for another day.

 

It was a rainy Tuesday, kind of perfect for taking two babies and a 3-year-old to roam around a kid's museum. 

It was good for Izzy to be able to use up some of her abundant energy and it will be great in a year or two when the boys can really get involved in the playing.

 

Mostly they are in the observing and crawling around stage; content with basic toys and books.

 

It was nice that there were not a million kids there. I think that I would have hated it if there had been.

 

Daniel was impressed that there was a working lock in the water section.

I thought the music area was pretty cool. I really liked that it was so interactive.

 

We didn't spend much time in the electricity section but Daniel said it was pretty neat.

 

Digging for dinosaur bones was fun for Izzy. Jack just wanted to eat the sand. 

Since it was raining, we couldn't go out on the roof top, next time we go we will have to make sure we go during the week, on a sunny day, when bigger kids are in school. You can just order up days like that, right?

For lunch, we walked two blocks to The Blue Plate. In the rain. My sister, Angela, is super mom and was prepared with not one, but two umbrellas. She and her kids stayed dry. We, on the other hand, had no rain gear. At least Jack stayed relatively dry in the stroller under the shade. Daniel and I got wet. Thankfully it wasn't a cold wet.

Lunch was good. I had a BLT made with heirloom tomatoes from a farm on Signal Mountain. Daniel had the Cheeseburger with Sweetwater Valley Buttermilk Cheddar. Angela had a veggie plate with Mac N Cheese, Broccoli and Grilled Green Beans. The Grean Beans were on the crunchy side {we like ours soft} but the rest was delicious. Burgers come with chips instead of fries and we had to request slices of tomato and pickles {evidently those don't come with kids burgers}. We also tried the Fried Pickles – they were really good, not greasy at all. Our waiter did a good job of keeping us and our kiddos happy.

We walked back to the museum after lunch {in a downpour}. 

There was a tinker toys exhibit upstairs. It was probably more suitable for older kids, but Izzy enjoyed it. We also took a break in the library and let the kids crawl around.

Levi managed to pass out in the stroller for a short afternoon nap and Jack conked out for a little while in the Moby, so I would say our play date was a success.

Funniest moments of the day: 

We thought it was hilarious that my sister walks so fast that she was an entire block ahead of us on the walk to lunch. 60-pound stroller and all. I don't know how she moves this fast – I had to run to keep up with her on the walk back to the museum in the rain.

Angela took a photo of me and Jack during lunch. Just as Jack picked up a fork and I grabbed it from his hand. At least it wasn't a knife, but my expression was pretty funny.

When we were loading up to leave, I was the last person to get in the van. When I went to shut the hatch door of the trunk, all of the water that had been accumulating while we loaded the van dumped right down the front of my shorts... Good thing we were headed home!

Because One Water Heater Isn't Enough...

One of the benefits to our current house is that since we purchased a fairly new home there really aren't many improvements that we NEED to make. There are things we would like to do, but it wasn't like our first home where we gutted it upon moving in and spent 5 years HAVING to put it back together.

Honestly, after a 5-year renovation we were ready for a break.

But that doesn't mean there aren't things we wouldn't like to do and we do have a few projects in the works. However they aren't necessarily "fun" projects {aka the kind that give you warm fuzzy because of a visible difference – like new paint}.

 

One of the current projects came about like this: earlier this summer Daniel was at Home Depot and he called me to say that there was a smoking deal on a heat pump water heater that he was interested in. 

We already have a water heater. One that works.

Daniel pleaded his case: 

1) He doesn't like to be in a situation where he HAS to make a quick decision because something important quit working.

2) Our current water heater is a little on the small size for our house, and far too small to fill our garden tub.

3) The new water heater was more efficient {it uses less than half as much electricity as the old one}, and would save us money in the long run.

4) He could hook up both water heaters in tandem so that if one failed, he could bypass it and we would still have hot water. The second water heater would be off most of the time, but could be turned on to use the {giant} garden tub, or when we have company.

5) The current water heater has been in the house since it was built... Adding a second water heater and using the old one as a backup would prolong the life of the original one.

6) The heat that the heat pump water heater is being pumped out of the air, which means it is pushing cold air out into the garage {an extra plus}.

So I agreed.

Personally I am more interested in getting our back porch screened in, but if the new water heater saves us money, I can get on board with that.

So he made the purchase and brought it home.

It is huge.

Then he informed me that he wanted to build a platform to put both water heaters on. This would provide him with more storage space for other items {like our miter saw}.

Since Daniel is an engineer and overbuilds everything, I trusted that he would do a good job with this... I just wasn't sure how we were going to lift two water heaters 3 feet off the ground.

That is where the engine hoist comes in. We use ours for all sorts of things: tree stumps, lawn mowers, water heaters, air compressors, oh and let's not forget engines. It actually comes in pretty handy at least a couple of times a year.

First Daniel built a smaller platform to lift the water heaters with the engine hoist.

I was given the task of putting my weight on the other end of the platform to keep the water heater from tipping over during the lift. 

The first {and smaller} water heater almost gave me a heart attack when it started to tip a bit once we lifted it off the ground. Thankfully Daniel was able to get it under control and guide it into place.

The second {bigger} water heater was much easier since we had already gone through the experience and knew what to do. The biggest issue with it was moving it from the garage, through a normal sized door into the utility room. 

Now both water heaters are in place... Daniel is happy that we will save money and I am thankful that we can mark this practical thing off the list and move forward on the more "fun" project of screening in the back porch.

*For reference, far left of the photo is an air compressor (the black tank); in the middle is new heat pump water heater, and to the right of it is the old electric water heater – which is about half the size of the new one.

Birthday Celebrations Continue

Daniel's birthday was low-key, but living closer to family gives us more opportunities for quick day trips to celebrate... even if it is just a quick lunch and cupcakes.

We enjoyed our quick visit, though Jack struggled through the last hour. Next time, we will bring the pack n play so he can squeeze in an afternoon nap.

It was Daniel's birthday, but Jack might have stolen the show... Just a little.

Daniel's sister picked up cupcakes from The Painted Cupcake in Nashville. We sampled the Lemon Drop, Strawberry Fields, Always Chocolate, Cookies and Dreams and Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes. All were excellent. Favorites were Always Chocolate and Strawberry Fields, but all five flavors were all delicious.

We will have to keep them in mind the next time we want a really great cupcake.