Our First Family Trip

With Ayden's third surgery quickly approaching, there were some things we wanted to do before it got here. One was to make sure we took some family pictures with all four of us. (I know it's morbid and negative to want to get that done before his surgery because we might not get the chance afterwards, but I believe it's also being realistic.) Another thing we wanted to do was take Ayden to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Allison and I have been there a few times. Though not overly large, we think it's a pretty good one.

Because of a lengthy work trip I went on back in April, I had accumulated a recreation/comp day, which turned out to be perfect. We wanted to go to the aquarium during the week, before school was out for the summer, to minimize the crowd we would encounter. But going on a weekday would mean I'd have to take a day off work, and I've been hoarding my vacation days for many months in anticipation of Ayden's hospital stay (I carried over the maximum I could from last year and haven't taken a single day off so far this year). With the rec/comp day, I could miss a day of work with burning a vacation day. So, off to Chattanooga and the aquarium we went.

This was a milestone event for Ayden (and for his parents). This was the first time we had traveled with him outside of Nashville. While it was barely a two hour drive, it was a big deal for us to finally get to do it. Also, because the interstate to Chattanooga briefly drifts into Georgia, the trip was not only the first time Ayden had left Nashville, it was (technically) the first time he had left the state.

Best of all, we had fun. Ayden was very well behaved in the aquarium. We spent a couple hours in it. He walked the whole time, without complaint. He stopped when we asked him to stop. Although I think most of his enjoyment came from simply getting to walk around and be a kid, he did occasionally stop and actually look at some of the exhibits. His enjoyment was our enjoyment. The sense of normalcy was very nice.

Brogan remained quiet for a while. He did eventually get cranky (i.e., hungry), so we ended up hustling our way through the second building (there's two buildings to the aquarium - one based on oceans, the other on rivers). We went back to the car, did some diaper changes, fed Brogan, then walked over to one of our favorite burger joints - Cheeburger Cheeburger - for lunch. After lunch, we headed for home.

Ayden fell asleep before we were even on the interstate, but he was so wound up from the day that he only slept for 30 minutes. Even when we got home, he was wired. Though it made him a bit difficult to deal with that night, and even some into the next day, it was a small price to pay for the chance to see him do something a "normal" kid would do.

It will be nice to get to do this type of thing on a more regular basis.

And now for the pictures (with more after the page break):