Oh it’s meal planning time again.  Today’s meal plan has taken me a while to make.  I’m just not feeling it today.  I’m tired!  Busy but fun weekend!  Here goes on the meal plan:

Monday: Thai chicken, salad, brown rice

Tuesday: Poppyseed Chicken, broccoli

Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs

Thursday: BLTs

Friday: Dinner out

Saturday: Taco Pie 

Sunday: Crock Pot Quesidillas

Last week, my family and I visited a city that my husband and I hadn’t visited in about a decade.  I don’t think any of the kids except my oldest have ever visited it.  I’m talking about Chattanooga, Tennessee.  I had forgotten how beautiful and fun the city of Chattanooga is for the family.

For starters, we stayed at The Embassy Suites Hotel.  I didn’t realize when I booked the trip, but this is actually one of the top hotels in the United States!  We were so super impressed.  The prices were very comparable and to top it off, it included a FREE hot breakfast with omelette bar and snacks/drinks in the evening.  During our trip, all we had to pay for was our lunch!  Everything else was covered.  This was perfect for our family and all the hungry mouths to feed.

The first day of our trip, we visited the Chattanooga Visitor’s Bureau and they graciously provided my family with a media pass so we could check out some of the attractions and tell all of you about our adventures.  I wish we would have had more time visit as so many of the attractions sounded like fun!  You can visit their website to check out the attractions, restaurants, and hotels in the area.

Next we headed up to Rock City.  It’s just a short and beautiful drive from downtown.  It was drizzling a bit but that didn’t deter us!  Rock City generously provides ponchos during rainy days so you can still enjoy the sights.  We had a blast maneuvering all the rock obstacles and squeezing through the narrow paths.

Working my way though the tight squeezes was a feat while baby wearing!  Whew!  Random tidbit of info for yall – my husband actually proposed at Rock City during a day trip while we were dating!  It was so nice to go back and relive that moment together and with 5 children in tow!

The only downfall to visiting Rock City in the rain was that you couldn’t see the view below very well.  You could, however, see lots and lots of fog that made it seem like we were up in the clouds.  It was very beautiful, regardless.

It was lunch time after this so we ventured to the local Wendy’s for a bite to eat.  My husband decided he wanted to check out something different, so we went to the International Towing and Recovery Museum.  I had never seen so many different tow trucks in all my life!

Next up, we took the short drive over to Ruby Falls.  Ruby Falls is a 145-foot waterfall is located deep within Lookout Mountain.  At this attraction, you ride a fast elevator deep underground and then walk a ways to get to the falls.  It was easily walked by all of our children.  The tour guide was excellent and taught the kids different things about caves as we journeyed to the falls.  Interesting tidbit – the laser show at the falls is created by the same company that does our local Stone Mountain show!

After these 2 attractions, we were pretty much beat.  We went back to the hotel for some much needed rest.  The next day, we packed up our hotel room and ventured to the Tennessee Aquarium.  I have to say that I really like the layout of this aquarium much better than the one here in Georgia.  It flows very smoothly from each exhibit to the next.  The kids loved the touch tanks so that they could touch a shark, sting rays, and other creatures.

My favorite animal at the aquarium is the leafy sea dragons!  They are so cool looking!  My kids preferred the sharks and otters.  My youngest daughter’s favorite was a fish she called a cow fish!  lol!  It looked like a catfish but was white with black spots like a cow!  Very interesting looking.

We had a great visit to Chattanooga.  We made some great family memories as well as learned a lot about history, caves, and animals!  We cannot wait to return.  We definitely will not be waiting as long to return!

For more information about Chattanooga, please visit ChattanoogaFun.com.  You can also find out more on the Chattanooga Facebook page or Twitter.