Celebrating the 4th- Chattanooga

Matt and I really wanted to do something fun for the 4th of July. So we got an amazing deal on a hotel in Chattanooga, TN and headed out. The drive down was kind of crazy. We Friday after Matt got off work, which meant driving through Nashville in rush hour traffic. :( But we made it and Will didn't fuss too bad. With the time change we got there about 8:30 or 9 pm. We were supposed to go straight to the firework show that they do on the river. However, it got canceled because it was raining. :( So instead we headed to our hotel. We were so excited because we got to stay in a Marriott for about $75, which was about half off what other rooms were going for. We ended up being on the 12th floor so we had a nice view. My pictures at night didn't turn out well because of the rain, but here are some pictures from the morning...

Here is also a pic of my sweet hubby and super cute child!

The next morning we were hoping to take Will to the 4th of July parade. Again, canceled because of rain. :( So we moved on to the next phase in our trip... The Aquarium!. 
We have heard so many things about the Chattanooga Aquarium we were pretty excited to go. We got there about 15 minutes before they opened so we did some walking around. It really is pretty there. The aquarium is right on the river.

 The beautiful river and bridge. Wish we could have gone for a walk on the bridge.

 Look! I found a leaf! :)

 Can you find the squirrel?

 Super Tall Will!

The grounds of the aquarium are pretty cool. They have done some landscaping art...

There are two buildings that make up the exhibit. The first building is salt water and tropical, the second is fresh water. 
When you go in you take an elevator up to the top floor and then work your way down. At the top there is the touch pools that have rays, starfish, and a couple other type beings. 

 It was crazy humid but so pretty.

 Will didn't actually get to touch one, but he had fun playing.

So pensive. :)

On the top floor they also had some pretty cool birds... and some rays that you couldn't touch.

The last part of the top floor we almost missed. Matt took Will down the escalator and I was waiting for the elevator for myself and the stroller. While waiting I noticed a door that we did not enter. So I called down to Matt and told him to come back up. Boy am I glad I did! It was the most amazing thing ever. They had a butterfly room. There were soo many butterflies of all sizes. They also had some mice and lizards that they let run around, but I only saw flashes of them. 

 They had these strings of fruit everywhere. Turns out butterflies like oranges and grapes. :)

On the next floor, you are started at the top of a HUGE tank. The tank pretty much fills up the 3 or 4 story building. They also had some penguins. :)

 Watch out! :)

 This is from the bottom of the tank looking up. Crazy huge!

After getting the salt water experience, we headed out to the fresh water building. The fresh water tour took you along a river. I am not as big on the freshwater fish but they had turtles and some really big "River Giants". 

On our way over Will got to have some more fun outside...

Again, you go up to the top and work your way down. 

After our adventures through the river, we went to go see an IMAX show about sharks. Unfortunately, it was in 3D and Will wouldn't wear the glasses, so he didn't really watch the movie. He got bored after about 10 minutes so I took him out while Matt finished the movie. After all that we were super tired and hungry so we headed out for a walk to get some yummy food from T.G.I. Fridays and then got in the car and headed home. Luckily, Will was kinda worn out and fell asleep on the way home. The rain was still coming down pretty bad and there were a couple of times when I had to slow way down going through the "canyon". But once we were through it was smooth sailing. :) Even though things didn't quite go as planned we had fun and it was nice to get out and do something.