Chattanooga, TN

OK, I've been told that I'm not blogging frequently enough, so I am trying to catch up on some posting. I will then strive to stay up-to-date! (Anything to avoid doing math research!)

Philip and I went to Chattanooga in August. I didn't realize that it was only two hours away! It was just a quick one-night trip, but was a lot of fun. We went up Friday night and went to a murder mystery dinner theatre. We tried too late to get a reservation for the dinner cruise on the river there, so we had to settle. Let's just say that it was extremely cheesy at best. On Saturday, we met a few people from our photography class there to photograph the aquarium. We got some great shots in the butterfly house!

Our new photography classes start this week. I am taking (with my friend Stephanie) a portrait class, so if you want to be one of my test subjects, let me know! :) Philip is taking an infrared photography/pinhole camera class. You'll have to ask him if you want to know what that's all about. :)

Adoption update: Apparently Alabama DHR lost our homestudy, but magically found it when our social worker called to nag them. So hopefully we can finally get approval from them this week, and our HS can get sent to CIS. We'll keep you posted!

Pensacola Visit

After I had spent a week in Mobile, Philip came down and met me in Pensacola to spend the weekend with his family. His brother Daniel only gets to come home from Miami once a year, so it was good to spend time with him. He brought along his friend, Natalia, and her two sons, Sebastian (8) and Carlos (3). They were both just too cute! Although Carlos was a little wary of having 3 poodles around (my mom-in-law also has one), he eventually warmed up to them. He had fun learning their names and saying over and over, "Ellie, black! Maggie, yellow!" followed by some stuff in Spanish. Sebastian was a great translator for us. :)

We went to the Naval Aviation Museum, where you can climb in some cool planes and buy astronaut ice cream. According to Philip, the latter is something that must be done when visiting the museum, or else the trip is a bust. I think there must need to be some nostalgia behind the experience in order to enjoy it fully, because I thought it was mostly just gross.

According to the museum, it is one of the top ten tourist attractions in the state of Florida. I thought that was pretty impressive, considering the number of amusement parks there. Then that got me thinking, what would be in the top ten tourist spots in Alabama? Definitely Bryant Denny stadium! Yea, football season is here! I guess that's another post.

Adoption Update: Our homestudy is still at Alabama DHR. Then it will be forwarded to USCIS. After we get approval from both of these agencies, we will be able to send it to Colombia!