Perks of being an educator

I realize that I have many perks as a teacher.  I get summers off, two weeks at Christmas, get paid little to nothing, get yelled at by parents via phone and email, work nights and weekends, spend more time with other people's children while sacrificing time with my own... oh wait.  I just realized not all of those are perks.  Bitterness aside (can you tell it's mid semester and I'm getting weary?) this past couple weekends involved Thank A Teacher Week.  And so businesses in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg offered awesome "free passes" for teachers and a guest.  And because Melissa is such an activity hoarder, we managed to snag not one but two free activities on Oct 4th!

 We set out early Saturday morning to make sure we seized the day.  Lucy was pumped - she wasn't sure why exactly but she did run circles around the house saying, "Sissa, Max, Anderson!"

My favorite thing about this photo was that our friend Chelsea saw it and her reaction was, "Just looking at this picture exhausts me."  I mean, these faces just spell trouble.  Amazingness but trouble nonetheless. :)

Wonderworks was our first stop and it was really fun.  They had tons of interactive exhibits, such as this soccer ball game, and we had a great time exploring.  It was a miracle though that we even made it through the entrance though b/c the entrance for Wonderworks was actually a bridge over a dark tunnel that had lights that moved.  Basically, the damn thing was an optical illusion from hell that had both Melissa and me wondering if we were going to crash into the side of it with our strollers.  It was touch and go there for a minute.

 They had a flight simulator thing that made me wish Andy was there to show us how to fly it :)  Lucy spent the entire time wiping it down with a baby wipe.  She's a bit of a germ-a-phobe.

 This giant piano made me wish we were in Big.  Heart and Soul!

Lucy wiping down more of the exhibit.  She was...difficult for most of the day but that can be attributed to the fact that she insists on doing everything herself.  And she has her own plan for the day so forget about any attempts to direct her.  She has mastered the word "no."  I honestly love this willful independent streak and curse it at the same time.  Her insistence on doing everything herself is frustrating but I know will pay off in the end.  Plus, I love the bossy nature of her personality.  It affirms the fact that she was not switched in the nursery and is in fact my daughter :)

There was Laser Tag which I didn't get any good shots but I will say thank goodness for dressing Goose in white that day.  Jack had fun b/c this was basically a fancy version of hide and seek :)

 I sent Andy this picture of an interactive exhibit that took up a good 10 minutes of our visit.  Once I convinced Jack and Anderson to press their faces into the screen, it was like a Han Solo Frozen in Carbonite montage.

After a quick lunch in McDonalds, we hoped in the car and took off for Ripley's Aquarium!  This was our 3rd visit to the aquarium and though it was packed, it was still really awesome.  Jack is really loving learning about new animals and strange creatures while Lucy gets a huge kick out of seeing crazy fish and sprinting into large crowds to give her mother a heart attack.  They loved the shark tunnel a lot - whoever came up with the idea of a glass tunnel where sharks can literally swim on top of you is genius.  I've never heard more oohs and aaahs from Jack in my life.

He got to pet some slippery sea creatures.

Including jellyfish!  This was super cool and a little scary considering the woman manning this exhibit told the kids, "Be sure to just pet the tops otherwise you will get a nasty sting!" Have they met  4 year olds???

Such big boys outside the aquarium.  We are so lucky to have friends like the Glovers in our lives.  Pretty sure I would have lost my sanity years ago without Melissa.

I tried to get them to pose but finishing the snack was more important.  We have taught them well :)

An awesome day was had by all and this made me so grateful to be a teacher who gets fun perks like this.  It also helps to assuage the working mom guilt when (thanks to my job) I can do free stuff like this with my children on the weekends.  Quality over quantity.  That's the name of the game these days.  And Saturday was definitely a quality day :)