Memphis weekend

So here I am again, blogging about "the weekend before last". At least I'm not blogging about Christmas, even though I just got those pictures off of my camera card last week!

Dave had worked some crazy hours so he arranged a long weekend and we took off on a little getaway. We decided Memphis would be fun, and thanks to some advice from my friend Sarah (Memphis native), we had the best route and some great places to visit.

We started with the Memphis Botanic Gardens, where they have a new area called "My Big Backyard". It was awesome. Lots of hands-on, fun stuff to do and lots to see. The design was magnificent, I couldn't get over it. There were all kinds of fun little touches, many of which were made from natural and recycled materials. The only downside was that it's not quite spring. I'm looking forward to seeing everything in full bloom in the Spring.

The boys loved this spider web:

This patio area was so cool, I can't even describe it. You just have to go there:

We also hit the Memphis Children's Museum, which was so much fun. The boys have not met a "kid masim" they didn't like. Jon loved this basketball hoop in the toddler area:

This was just an amazing feat. Terminix had this bug exhibit going on, and there were these two big bugs walking around. Jon wasn't sure at first, but then he really liked this grasshopper! This was the second time we ran into him, and he picked Jon up and gave him a hug and Jon didn't CRY! In case you haven't been around Jon much, he is a very happy, friendly kid, but very nervous with people he doesn't know. He doesn't like anyone to pick him up or get too close, but if he's with mom or dad, he'll say hi and talk and flirt- just keep your distance! So this was a Kodak moment, for sure!

I wish I had gotten a picture of the outside, but this was a FedEx jet that the boys just didn't want to leave. They thought it was great fun. It was mounted up high, you had to climb stairs to get up to it, and there was a a slide to get back down. The cockpit was just full of dials and knobs and switches- they had a blast "flying" the plane!

Christopher always loves the grocery store part of any children's museum. He carefully selected his items, then had fun at the checkout, ringing everything up. He was quite serious about the whole process.

This store had a deli counter at the front, and Ben enjoyed filling Daddy's lunch orders. You can see Chris here going through the ingredients- but the funny thing is, he wasn't making up trays and plates, he walked off with things like slices of ham and lettuce thrown into his cart with his canned goods. Funny kid.

Jon loved this part too, but he didn't really want to shop much, only push the shopping cart around.

This area had dress-up clothes and a stage- another favorite of theirs. They had fun putting on some shows while we were the only ones in that part. As you can see, there was a green screen, but the camera and monitor weren't working. 

We found another green screen area with a working set up, and they had a lot of fun watching themselved on the big TV monitor on the wall.

It was funny to watch their heads float when we'd drape them with the green capes...

As if all of that wasn't enough excitement, we spend an afternoon at the Memphis Zoo! They had a lot of cool exhibits and the boys loved everything.

There were different areas set up to be different parts of the world. We enjoyed the China area, and saw our friends from "Kung Fu Panda" like Panda and Crane :)

Jon loved walking around and checking everything out. He loves animals.

The sea lions were so cool. The boys thought this was "awesome" that they got to see this one so close up.

This was Chris, much of the day. Lagging behind, "checking his map". He likes to lag behind. Come on Chris!

While visiting some monkeys, Ben heard some birds calling and started calling them, and telling us- listen, I can call the birds, and he'd make the sound they were making. Then they would "call back" and he would be so proud! 

That day was long and fun. It was beautiful and sunny and just a little bit cool. We did a LOT of walking and we had some tired boys on the way home. The trip was fun, can't wait to do the next one!