Okay, sooooo, it has been a month since our vacation and I am just now getting to posting about it! Sheesh! What kind of blogger am I? .....A very busy, in school blogger! Oh well, better late than never!
We chose to go to Memphis for vacation this year. Actually, this is the first real family vacation we have taken since we came home with Mandy Rose. Somehow, China was NOT a vacation!! Although worth it!!! We took off from Wichita on the road to Memphis bright and early on Saturday morning. At a stop for lunch at Cracker Barrel, I got this cute pic of Mandy Rose! She has since decided that she wants to be a witch for Halloween. Gotta get going on finding a costume!
Our first activity in Memphis was a trip to the Zoo! I had read that the Memphis Zoo was really terrific....had pandas too! So, it was high on our list! This is a rare shot of Gary (he hates the camera), but I thought it was really good!
The Memphis Zoo is really a fantastic one! It was incredibly hot, but the ability to see some of the animals up close and personal, like this male gorilla, were amazing!
In the China exhibit, we came across this Buddha statue. Photo op!!! Mandy Rose did NOT want to sit next to this guy, but forced a smile so Momma could get a pic! Gary thinks it looks like him! LOL!
The biggest draw to the Memphis Zoo was the fact that they had panda bears. This is the closest zoo to us that does! We had been talking about seeing them for weeks! Of course, Mei Mei and Le Le were both sound asleep for our visit! Mandy Rose watched them for about 30 seconds and then said, "Okay, let's go!" Ah well....best laid plans and all!
When we had lunch, we enjoyed the company of two Gibbons monkeys! They just watched us like, "What you eating? Anything good?" Then they cavorted and swung all over their ropes. It was a very entertaining show for lunch time! We actually had a great lunch (usually zoos have fried crap to choose from)! This one had the best fresh deli sandwiches! Very yummy!
After lunch, we hit the playground for awhile before venturing off to see the rest of the zoo!
One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was feeding the budgies! Mandy Rose was not the least bit intimidated by all the birds feeding just inches from her! There were hundreds of them in all different colors! So magical!
The trees were just loaded with these pretty little birds!
A magnificent bed of black-eyed susans also screamed "Photo Op"! This was the best one I could get though. Little Miss Mandy Rose was extremely hot and tired by this time!
Just minutes later she was crashed out in her carseat! We hadn't even made it out of the parking lot hardly!
Day Two in Memphis, we went to visit Mud Island along the Mississippi River. It has a geographical representation of the entire length of the river that we could wade through! Really nice on such a hot day!
Barefoot and water...what more could a little girl want?
Day Three, we visited the Children's Museum of Memphis! We got there just as it was opening, which was really quite nice. Mandy Rose almost had the run of the place. She loved pretending to fly in this REAL FedEx airplane cockpit!
She insisted on Momma being her co-pilot! There were buttons and switches everywhere! Amazing how pilots learn what each one does!
Another favorite at the museum was the grocery store. They had little carts and items you could choose to purchase.
The really cool part was checking out! Mandy Rose scanned her "purchases" just like at the real grocery store and then an actual receipt was printed out for her! She kept going back to shop for more!
Practicing her dental skills!
Ooooh.... a puzzle! Her favorite activity!
Next, she became a fire chief! She was even pretending to shift! Can't reach the pedals, but she has the concept down!
After all the kid-oriented activity, we spent the afternoon at the National Civil Rights Museum. With a four year old in tow, we couldn't devote as much time to reading all the placards as we would have liked but it was an extremely thought-provoking experience. They have an actual city bus in the museum with a statue of Rosa Parks. Of course, Mandy Rose is too young, but I still tried to explain to her a little about what these images meant. The museum is housed in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April 1968. It was moving to stand outside his room and view the balcony where he was shot.
The Lorraine Motel, Memphis.
The next day, we ventured out of Memphis and further east. We visited Corinth, MS and then went on to Shiloh. Shiloh is the site of a Civil War battle in April 1862. Gary has been several times. He took me there for the first time 10 years ago. While we were driving around, we came across Rhea Springs where I had taken some great pictures of Gary all those years ago. Only seemed appropriate to capture Mandy Rose in the same spot! Wow! How much life has changed for us!
Momma and Mandy Rose at Rhea Springs!
One experience that was new for all of us was hiking the trail to see the Indian Mounds. It had always been closed before.
The native peoples built these mounds roughly 800 A.D. They carried the the dirt from surrounding areas. I guess, originally, the finished product was covered with a layer of red clay to really make them stand apart. The tops of the mounds were reserved for temples, ceremonial sites, and for the homes of the higher ranked members of the community. It was really cool to see!
All in all, it was a fabulous family vacation! Mandy Rose is still talking about all that we did a month later! I love creating memories with her like this!
One great thing about visiting Omaha was getting to visit two of the families from our travel group! The kids just went to playing like they had known each other for years and us adults got in some great conversation!
Hannah W., Mandy Rose, and Grace O.....aren't they all just beautiful?!
This visit lit the fire under us to have a reunion of our whole travel group! It is in the works for next summer in Colorado! We can't wait!
