grass stains: Good times on Signal Mountain

Last weekend we drove up to Chattanooga to visit our friends Honor and Doug and their three kids, Haley, Hannah and Jackson. The weather was supposed to be crummy, but it was supposed to be about the same in Birmingham, too ... and wouldn't you rather endure blah weather indoors with friends than locked up in your own house with no healthy distractions for your kids?

We arrived too late on Friday night to do much of anything other than set up our Pack-and-Play for Jake and the air mattresses for the big boys, so it was pretty uneventful. However, once everyone was settled in, we realized we were in for a loooooooong night. Jake, who is pretty much the most easygoing baby in the Entire History of Babies -- and who will sleep in any contraption in any location without fussing -- would absolutely NOT go to sleep and stood up in the PNP and just screamed his lungs out. Did I mention that he's teething?

Since this was so out of character for him, we eventually gave in and put him in bed with us, which led only to writhing around, more crying, fuss-fuss-fussing all night long ... and precious little sleep for anyone. I couldn't be frustrated with him, because clearly he wasn't acting out; it was obvious that he was in some sort of pain. We mixed some Miralax into his morning bottle, because we thought it might be constipation, and that did help a little. We also gave him a little Motrin, because of the teething and the fact that he was just getting over bilateral ear infections. But still, he looked like this at regular intervals:

It occurred to me that, because we were on Signal Mountain, the altitude might be bothering his ears, which were already compromised by the infection. It's a little under 2,000 feet in elevation, about 800 feet higher than the "hill" we live on in Birmingham, but you never know. Maybe that 800 feet makes a big difference to ears.

Once the Motrin kicked in, we all piled in our cars and took off for the local park. Everybody went ... Jack:

Haley:

Hannah:

Nathaniel:

Nicholas:

And Jakey:

Our boys LOVE this park. It has zip lines, which may well be their favorite play equipment EVER, as well as a huge slide that is all manner of fun. (It's super-tall, but it's a fairly gradual descent, actually.) The kids zipped and zipped and zipped ...

... until they decided it was time to slide.

Jake started out going down with Nathaniel and Nicholas from about halfway up the slide, and it only took about three slides for him to get REALLY excited about it.

When he got to the bottom, he'd grin and reach back toward the top of the slide, and soon he was going it on his own.

Where did my baby GO? He's all grown up!

We also put Jake and Jack on it together toward the end, because what's cuter than that? Although Jack is four months older than Jake, he was a preemie and is only about 2/3 of Jake's weight.

I guess heavier objects travel faster down slides.

Even when the weather isn't great, Chattanooga is still a beautiful town ... we walked down to an overlook on the side of Signal after we left the park, and the view was still stunning, even on an overcast day. Doug and Grayson took the older kids down a steep path to explore in the woods while Honor and I kept the "babies" with us up on the overlook.