HAPPY TGIF

Ready to take a trip down rambling road?? Ready or not here we gooooo.......

Yesterday morning I had a hair appointment...no drastic changes, just a trim and color update...and I took the boys with me. They were excellent! I had to tell you that little tidbit of info because let me just tell ya....it don't always go down like that with the Fox boys. We were at the hair salon for about an hour, and they behaved like little gentlemen......probably because I threatened their lives on the way in.....BUT, I will give them both the benefit of the doubt that they did on their own accord. ;-)

I told them that we would have some "simple fun" today IF they were good for me during MY time.....it would make THEIR time that much better.

My hair salon is in downtown Kingsport on Broad street. I LOVE downtown Kingsport. So many neat little things to see and do.

So after we left the salon....we left the car were it sat and we walked. It was such a beautiful day!
Our first stop was a nice little place called Discovery Ice Cream. This was our very first trip there. That place is just crazy cool! They make their own ice cream in the store. They even have a robot that can fix your ice cream for ya. That was right up Jarrett and Blake's alley! We all got 2 scoops a piece. Jarrett and Blake both had 1 scoop of Cookies-n-Cream...1 scoop of Cookie Dough. I had 1 scoop Peanut Butter Cup and 1 scoop Double Chocolate Fudge. Can you say YUM!!!!! They have a little seating area outside the ice cream parlor.....so we chose to sit outside. It was very nice and relaxing. We saw a few of Jarrett's friends while we were sitting out there.....which thrilled Jarrett because he had just said earlier in the day he was missing his friends at school.

After we finished our ice cream.....we visited a HUGE furniture store that is going out of business. It's called Paul Bellamy Furniture. Of course the boys didn't want to go in there at first, but once they got in there they had fun. We tested out all the mattresses and some of the nice leather couches. Jarrett was cracking me up because he was looking at all the prices and saying.."Wow, Mom this is a great deal!!!". For you local blog readers.....they DO have some INSANE deals right now.....I'm sure it will only get better as time passes. So if you are in the market for furniture, you certainly need to go there first! They have 4 floors of wall to wall furniture. Like I said, if you ARE in the market for furniture you would be like a kid in a candy store!!!! That was my totally unsolicited commercial for the day.

Oh...and one more thing......this was so cute.....as we were leaving the store Jarrett said..."Just think Mom, I didn't want to come in here at first...how foolish of me!" I just stopped walking and laughed. I love my boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love how they can stop me in my tracks with laughter at any given moment. =-)

After the furniture store we headed to the public library. I had originally planned to go on Tuesday, in fact, I posted that we WERE going that day. But, I changed my mind when I looked on my calendar and saw that I had a hair appointment yesterday. The library is only a block from my hair salon. Gas ain't cheap you know.....so I thought it would be "foolish" of me to go on Tuesday.

We completely enjoyed our time together at the library. We have only been to the downtown public library a couple of times, once on a field trip and once on our own......we normally go to the one near our house. We got all signed up for the Summer reading program....and Jarrett also decided to do the Magic Tree House Book Club. He LOVES those books. We were at the library for 2 1/2 hours!!!!! We checked out 21 books.....yes, I said 21 books! I told the boys our #1 priority is to keep all those books together and return them on time.

So while we were at the library Blake played on the computer for an hour....that was the time limit. They had several educational games that he enjoyed. I also read him a couple of books....that's all he would sit still for =-). They also have puppets at the library that you can play with and put on your very own puppet show. He and Jarrett played with those for quite some time. It was cute...they were in there own little world.

Jarrett sat down and READ a Magic Treehouse Book while we were in there. It was 68 pages long and he FINISHED it. This library program has little incentive prizes that are given with the different amount of books that you read during the Summer. If you read 30 books this Summer...you get several different prizes. That's what Jarrett said he wants to do....read 30 books. That makes me SMILE =-)!

So we leave the library and take a trip to Micky D's. They ate and then I let them play on the playground....which I don't normally do. I HATE the playgrounds at McDonalds! They are normally so N-A-S-T-Y! The one we went to today had a little sticker on the door leading out to the playground that stated....that it was sanitized on a weekly basis by a cleaning company. This made me feel a LITTLE more at ease......It actually looked pretty clean. Who knows.

They played and had big fun. So we were on our way home and saw the Chattanooga Choo-Choo! No, not the actual train. It's a jet dragster!! It was at an APPCO Gas Station. It is one of MANY we will see tonight at the Bristol Dragway's "Night of Fire". APPCO is one of the sponsors. So I turned around and went back to the station to see it.....Jarrett and Blake got to get an upclose look, along with an autograph from the driver. They were thrilled. Me, not so much.
Ok...the drag races aren't exactly MY cup of tea by no means, but my boys, that's another story. So MOMMA is going to the dragraces!!!! Can I get a YEEEE-HAAAAAW!! LOL!!! Jarrett and Blake are soooo excited. I'm excited about it too....just because their going to have a blast....I can't wait to see their faces. I will take my camera and take LOTS of pictures. It's all about the BOYS (including Michael...he loves that stuff too) tonight......Momma's just along for the ride!!

Ok.....that sums up our simple, local, not using much gas or $$$ day of FUN, just spending one on one time with my boys.
Sorry, no pictures....I'm going to have to start keeping my camera with me at all times! We had lots of Kodak moments today.

Oh and one more thing. Changing the subject slightly.
Wednesday was my first day back to the gym. I ran on the treadmill for 2 miles (I didn't want to push it) and took my usual muscle flex class. So far...so good. I made sure to stretch really well before and after. I also took my anti-inflammatory meds when I got home. Hopefully my knee issues have cleared up....for the time being.

Ok...here's the really big news...for ME anyway....I will be running in my first road race Sunday @ 1:00! It's a 5k....so hopefully I can finish that with no problem. I'm really excited about it. There's going to be 5 of my running buddies participating with me. We are really looking forward to it!!

Ok...let's talk about the question of the day from yesterday. You buncha CHICKENS!!! LOL!! I'm kidding...just kidding...don't get mad at me =-)
I understand...I guess...I just haven't gotten that OLD yet! Again...I'm just kidding!!!! I plan to ride roller coasters when I'm 80...as long as they will put my walker in a safe place while I ride. Those things are expensive and I don't want it to get stolen! I'm serious about that....NO kidding!
I can't believe most everyone that commented yesterday has visited CEDAR POINT! I want to see some pictures y'all!!!! Now I want to go that much more. Thank you for sharing your thrill seeking stories. That was alot of fun.

Sheeeew!! This was a long one wasn't it!!! My fingers are tired from all the yaking! I hope you hung in there with me until the end. =-)
HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEKEND!!!!!!!