13 Things to Do in Chattanooga

July 31, 2008 By 8 Comments

Chattanooga is only about a couple hours drive from Atlanta. We have been there once for a day out with Thomas The Tank Engine train ride. But we are planning to go back there again. Here are some of the fun, family-friendly things to do in Chattanooga.
1) The Tennessee Aquarium: This is one our must-do list our next trip to Chattanooga. The aquarium is situated right on the waterfront in Chattanooga downtown with small water creek between the two buildings. The ticket price is $19.95 for adult and $12.95 for child (age 3-12). There are also several combo tickets for IMAX, River George Explorer and Creative Discovery Museum.
2) Inclined Railway: Hop on the trolley-style railcars that take you up the side of Lookout Mountain in one of the steepest passenger railway. It was a really fun experience when we went there last year. Once you get to the top, you can enjoy the view from the Lookout Mountain and check out the little gift shop there. You can purchase ticket online for $14 per adult and $7 per child (3-12). They also have Lookout Mountain Triple Play ticket (including Incline, Rock City & Ruby Falls) for $42 per adult and $23 per child.
3) Creative Discovery Museum: Check out the hands-on children’s museum. Especially now till September 28, you will get to have the adventures with Clifford The Big Red Dog. The ticket price is $8.95 for anyone older than 2 years old. However, we consider getting a member with the children museum since one of the highest level of membership is the nationwide level that allows you to enjoy free admission to various children museum nationwide through the Association of Children’s Museum reciprocal program.
4) Rock City: Go up the Lookout Mountain and check out Rock City featuring massive ancient rock formations, gardens and see 7 States (on a clear day)
5) Ruby Falls: Hike to Ruby Falls, the 145 foot underground waterfall beneath the Lookout Mountain’s surface.
6) Bluff View Art District: Take a nice stroll in this historic neighborhood filled with restaurants, coffee houses, art gallery or take a break at one of the gardens, plazas or courtyards.
7) Walnut Street Bridge: Cross the Tennessee river on one of the longest pedestrian bridge from Chattanooga’s downtown to the North Shore. Enjoy the leisure walk over the river.
8) Coolidge Park: Take a break and bring the kids to the Coolidge park to enjoy the restored 100 year old carousel and an interactive play fountain. Admission fee is $1.00 for adults and $0.50 for children 12 and under.
9) Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum: All aboard!!! Go ride with the TVRail that offers a wide variety of rides to suit your needs. Check out the schedule and price online. Also check out for special ride like Day Out with Thomas or North Pole Limited during special events.
10) Chattanooga Choo Choo: Stay in the one of the coolest hotel. The Chattanooga Choo Choo by Holiday Inn offers the train fanatic a chance to sleep aboard an authentic train car. Oh.. Mr. Z had a blast last year when we stayed there. He couldn’t stop asking when the train will move. The hotel area also features several trains that they can enjoy and nice garden in the middle of the area. Lovely.. lovely place!
11) Chattanooga Nature Center: For the nature lover, this is a great place to visit. Explore the Blue Heron boardwalk, Wildlife Wanderland and Discovery Forest Treehouse. The admission fee is relatively low $7 for adults and $3 for children (4-11)
12) Southern Belle Riverboat: Take a river cruise along the scenic Tennessee River on the Chattanooga Riverboat. With current promotion of Kid is free for every paying adult, it’s a great deal. There are several types of cruise to choose from ranging from sightseeing, lunch or dinner cruise. There will be one that suits your need.
13) Chickamauga Dam Reservation: Picnic by the Dam and enjoy the view. For the outdoor enthusiasts, enjoy fishing, boating and swimming at this no-fee reservation.

Chattanooga Things To Do

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Tennessee, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

WW – Wat Phra Kaew

July 30, 2008 By 9 Comments

Wat Phra Kaew or The Temple of the Emerald Budha is Thai most sacred buddhist temple. It’s located within the grounds of the Grand Palace and one of the most visited tourist attraction in Thailand. We went there on our recent trip to Thailand. It was HOT!!!

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Filed Under: Thailand

Blueberries in Bloom

July 29, 2008 By 5 Comments

Ah.. July is almost over and it’s almost the end of the Blueberries season. I have been checking out various pick-your-own farm from pickyourown.org. This is a great website with list of farms that have pick-your-own fruits and vegetable. The site is updated regularly. So check them out for your own picking pleasure.

Mr. Z is a blueberries lover. He can eat the whole quart in one sitting if I don’t stop him. Funny thing is he loves to eat the frozen blueberries more than the fresh one. So picking our own blueberries and then freeze it will be a perfect thing to do.
So we had decided to go berries picking this past Friday. We had to take the car to the shop in the area near the Berry Patch farm. We left early and dropped the car off at the dealership, a quick breakfast in Chick-Fil-A and we were ready to rock and roll. The farm wasn’t too far from the dealership. We got there right around 8:30am. It was the overcast day so it was perfect. Not too hot for the indoor family like us.

The owner gave us the quick instruction and warned us about some of the poison ivy in the field. Hmmm.. poinson ivy? No one told me that there will be poison ivy. We just need to be more careful when we picked.

The ground was still wet from the morning dew. So it wasn’t very enticing for Mr. Z and Miss J.. They didn’t want to get their feet wet. Kids! There were plenty of blueberries for us to start picking and eating. Since they don’t spray their trees with pesticide, they said it’s safe to eat off the tree.. Yum yum… I have learned a few things about blueberries. For one, it’s not as easy as strawberries picking that we did a couple months ago. This is hard work people!! No wonder it costs so much for such a small container in the grocery store. The tree has sharp branch and you can’t really use any machine to pick it. You have to pick it one by one by hand… Imagine that!

We spent a couple hours there picking. Well, mostly Mr. Rojo did the picking. We ended up with over 2 lbs for the whole pick and the best part was it only costed us less than $5. Afterward, we let the kids play at the swingset they have setup near the entrance of the farm. It was a really nice day. When we left, there were a lot more people rolling in. So if you plan blueberries picking, I suggest plan to go there early. Otherwise, there might not be any berries left for you to pick.

Filed Under: Activities, Family

13 Ways to Be Green and Save your Green ($$)

July 24, 2008 By 12 Comments

There are a lot of people including myself that thought or still think that going green equal spending a lot of money. But recently, I found out from my own experience that going green is actually helping to save your green bill in your own pocket. Here are 13 ways to go green and save your money.

1. Go for more fuel efficient car – Well, without having to explain it I think this one is a no brainer. Not only we help reduce the pollution but we will also help our own wallet. We sold our mini-van about 6 months ago and opted for a smaller and a bit better gas mileage. Oh.. how we glad we did that even before the gas price rises up to over $4/gallon.

2. Increase A/C temperature by 2 degrees – We use fan at night and set our thermostat to 78 degrees. In the beginning, I am afraid it might be too hot. But so far no one complains. Our electric bill remains the same even though the unit price has increased.

3. Wrap up our water heater – With the investment of about $15 for the water heater blanket, I will be able to save on our energy bill for that amount within a few months. Lower energy means less pollution and also saving on our high energy bill.

4. Change to CFL light bulbs – We started off with the most used room like our kitchen table, bathroom and laundry room. The saving has also shown. We still have a few more rooms to change as soon as I can get it together to do so.

5. Brown bagging with style – Packing your own lunch by far the most recommended way to save money. But if you want to pack your lunch with style why not bring your own utensils as well. Not only you will feel better eating from the real spoon and fork but you will help reduce the plastic consumption as well.

6. No more bottles of water – We bought Brita water filter pitcher. Just fill up with our water and put it in the fridge. Voila.. We have our own water without wasting on the plastic bottle. If we want to go out, we fill it up to our reusable bottle.

7. Forget the gym.. just run – After a few months of paying the gym membership that we haven’t used, it’s time to pull the plug. Mr. Rojo started running instead. With an investment of a great running shoe that costs about the same of one month of the gym membership but it sure will last longer than one month. We have saved on the gym membership and gas on driving there. I guess now I need to get my runnin shoes out and join Mr. Rojo.

8. Use cold settting for washing machine – We hardly use hot setting for our regular loads of laundry anymore. I find that our clothes are just as clean with cold setting. Plus it will use less energy when we forego hot water.

9. Don’t buy books. Use the library card – I admitted I have never been to public library before in Florida. Until recently I didn’t know how to get a library card. But now we check out children books from the library all the time. Not only we save money from buying the book, we are reusing the books so less trees will be killed to make those books.

10. Going slower – Gasp.. This will be one of the thing that Mr. Rojo probably never thought I would have done. Driving at speed limit. I have the thing for getting to my destination with the less amount of time possible. But lately, the gas price that clocks in at more than $4/gallon really got me rethink my driving. So I tried to drive slower.. really slower.. at around 65 mph. And guess what it does help me to get more miles from my car.

11. Grow your own organic vegetable – With the increase in the awareness about organic food, you can easily find organic herb and vegetable from the home improvment store. So it’s not that hard (for people with green thumbs at least) to have your own organic vegetable garden. I did try and I think if I would have bought those plants instead of seed I would be more successful.

12. Use reusable grocery bag – If you shop regularly at Whole Food, you might already know that not only you will help the environment by using your own reusable grocery bags but you will get some money for using it as well. Whole Food gives back 10 cents for each bag your bring when you shop there. Not bad.. If the bag cost $0.99 it will only take 10 trip for it to pay for itself. What are you waiting for.. Go get your own bag. :)

13. No more birthday invitation card – I recently have been using evite for the kids’ birthday invitation. It has so many benefits that I don’t think I will ever go back and use typical invitation cards anymore. For one, it’s Free. And we don’t be wasting the paper to send the card. Also we typically get better response whether they will be able to make it or not. And it has so many designs that I can pick from.. What not to love!

Filed Under: Saving

WW – Phromthep Cape, Phuket, Thailand

July 23, 2008 By 7 Comments

The view of Phromthep Cape in Phuket. It’s the most photographed location in Phuket. We took this picture during our trip to Thailand over 4 years ago. I can’t wait to go back there again.

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Filed Under: Family, Thailand Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Building Houses with Atlanta Habitat for Humanity

July 21, 2008 By 4 Comments

This past Saturday Mr. Rojo and I were childless. We left the monkeys with the grandparents while we were out building the Habitat for Humanity house. This is our 2nd year volunteering with the Habitat through our company. It was such a great experience. Last year we helped built a home for a single mom with 2 children. This year we helped built one of the first townhouse in Atlanta. Typically, Habitat built mainly single family home in the Atlanta area. But as we all know the rising cost of land, it has become more expensive to find more afforadable land. So this year the Habitat starts a new project to build townhouse. I am so glad to be a part of this great project.

The day started early at 8am. The site was in the downtown area so for us we had to leave at around 6:30am. There was a paving project on I-75/I-85 that closed 4 left lane.. so we avoided the traffic by going on the local street thanks to our faithful Magellen. We got there right at 8am. Our company and a few other companies worked together on these townhomes. They also provided breakfast, snacks and lunch. After a quick breakfast, we met up with the home leaders who were there to facilitate and assign tasks to all the volunteers.

Before we started, they gave us the safety drill and the background on each of the homeowner. One of the main thing that a lot of people might have the misconception about the Habitat is that the house is free. But it’s NOT. Homeowner, not only has to go through strict background check and financial check, they also have to put in sweat equity of 250 hours with the Habitat. The homeowner is paying for the mortgage themselves. The house is NOT free. However, the price is more affordable due to the help from volunteers to help lower the cost of labor which typically accounts for more than 60% of the home price.

This week was week 6 in the building phase. Each home typically takes about 7 weeks from start to finish. So most of our tasks this day were painting inside and outside, putting up the shingles on the roof and touch up on the porch. Mr. Rojo who afraids of height actually volunteered for the roofing task. And I was so proud of him since he did it! I was working on various painting tasks mostly outside touch up. It was hot. I was in pain after the long hot summer day outside. But there is this sense of accomplishment knowing that what I did today makes a difference in a family life. We will sign up again next year. We are addicted. It’s very addictive doing the work with the Habitat. It was a great Saturday!
So how was your weekend?
Filed Under: Activities

13 Organic Food We Eat

July 17, 2008 By 7 Comments

I have started buying more organic food for several months now. I know.. I am one of those people who like to follow the trend especially if it’s a good trend. So here are food that I have replaced with Organic items.

1. Milk – This was my first priority when we started out. Since the kids drink a lot of milk.

2. Egg – I originally went with Cage Free eggs but then my more-informed friend told me that it wasn’t that much different between Cage Free and non-Cage Free since the definition of Cage Free means chicken get certain hours of cage free. So I decided to go all the way Organic instead of paying premium for Cage Free.

3. Strawberries – Miss J loves strawberries! And it’s one of the top Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables.

4. Grapes – I admitted sometimes it’s hard to find organic grapes. But whenever I found one, I grap it.

5. Apples – Apples are great for lunch box. And again it’s one of the Dirty Dozen.

6. Salad – I bought Organic salad from BJ. A large box for $4.79 isn’t bad. The price is very comparable to normal salad bag from Publix.

7. Pancake – I made pancake in a big batch from organic flour. It’s actually cheaper than buying frozen pancake from Eggo.

8. Pasta sauce – I scored a good buy from Big Lots for Organic Pasta Sauces. It is a good quick and easy dinner for us.

9. Blueberries – I bought a big frozen blueberries from Costco and used it for pancake. Sometimes Mr. Z just munched on it like a snack..

10. Frozen Green beans – Costco has such a great selection of organic food and one of my favorite is frozen green bean. I swear it tastes better than conventional one.

11. Strawberries Jam – Ok.. I admitted I bought this on a whim at Whole Food Market but I think it’s a good buy. Since strawberry is on the list, I figured the jam will be too. Plus we don’t use it a lot so one bottle last us for a while.

12. Chicken Broth – The price for conventional chicken broth vs organic one is very comparable. I think it’s worth the investment.

13. Diced Tomato – With great coupons and sale, I stocked up on Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomato. We used that in a lot of our recipes so it’s a really good buy. After all, I paid less than buying conventional diced tomato.

Filed Under: Family

Movie, Moonlight and Starry Night

July 17, 2008 By 5 Comments
What could have been more fun than to watch a movie under the moonlight and the stars. We did just that last Saturday. In our town, we had an annual North Georgia Film Fest which is a part of Georgia Movies in a Park series that was sponsored by Northside Forsyth Hospital. It was an outdoor family-friendly movie festival over a course of 3 days in Cumming. Each night was featuring a free movie on a huge 70 foot Airscreen inflatable movie screen. Along with various pre-movie activities like Clown Circus show, face painting, inflatables jumping slides and moonwalk. There were also various vendors on-site selling drinks, ice cream and hot dogs.. It was a really fun family night.

I have heard about this since last year. We didn’t make it last year. This year one of the movie was ‘Horton Hears a Who!’. We haven’t seen this movie so I thought it would be a great family outing. Plus it was on the Saturday night. Perfect!!

The pre-movie activities started at 7pm and the movie started at dusk. I *was* planning to get there by 7-ish.. But as typical, we didn’t make it there till 8:30pm. It was a little humid in the evening so I thought in hindsight it was good that we didn’t go there too early. Or we might have packed up and left before the movie even started. After getting the kids in their PJs and packed up our car, we got to the park. The parking lot was almost full. I packed a lot of candies, popcorn, snack and drinks. But I forgot the most important thing – Insect Repellent. So after we settled down, I went to get the kids their Slushee.. and then headed out to the drugstore to pick up Off!.

I got back just right in time for the movie to get started. The weather was so perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, not humid.. with breeze throughout the night. We enjoyed our popcorn, drinks and movie under the moonlight. What a perfect Summer night! Before we knew it, the movie was ended and it was time to head home. I was expected that Mr. Z would fall asleep as soon as the movie started. But he wasn’t. He stayed up and watched the whole movie. And after the movie, there was also a Guitar Hero competition. It seemed like a fun night for the teens to hang out as well.

It was a fun fun night. We will make this our annual summer activity. Maybe next year we will make it to pre-movie activities. Also note to self, don’t need to bring the whole pantry of snacks with me.
Filed Under: Activities, Family

WW – Sunset in Paradise

July 16, 2008 By 14 Comments

During our recent Carnival Cruise, we enjoyed our last day on the cruise with this beautiful view of the Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean…

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Filed Under: Carnival Cruise

Handyman In a Making Part 2

July 14, 2008 By 4 Comments
This past Saturday we took Miss J and Mr. Z to Lowe’s Build and Grow clinic. It’s Lowe’s bi-weekly program for kids. It’s similar to our previous visit to Home Depot Kids Workshop. Lowe’s provides tool, apron and all parts for parents to work on a small project with their children.

We got there about a quarter after 10. There were a lot of people already there working on their projects. We handed the gentleman who supervised the whole thing our paperwork that I printed and signed online. Basically, it’s the waiver form just to make sure that we won’t sue them if we happen to bang on our own thumb. The gentleman then handed us the building kit, children size hammer and Lowe’s apron.. Gosh.. I love this. I wish I could get one for myself.

We found the empty space and started our project. This week project was the race car. It looked a bit complicate but they did have an instruction and model for us to follow.

Well, I’m not a handyman by trade so I made a small mistake by putting it one of the panel for the car off from the original plan. No biggie.. We were able to pull it out and started it over again. The project didn’t take long to complete. We got it done within 45 mins. I’m sure you can do it faster with bigger kids. But we just wanted them to do it themselves and enjoyed the process.

After we had finished, we (the kids) received their certification and badge for this week project. It would have been even better if the badge has self-adhesive sticker. Now I would need to sew it on their apron. Me and crafty stuff doesn’t really go well together.

So if you have no other plan on Saturday morning, be sure to check out Home Depot Kids Workshop or Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinics for low cost and fun activity for the whole family.
Filed Under: Activities, Family

50 Places of a Lifetime By Intelligent Travel

July 12, 2008 By 5 Comments

Today I read the blog on Intelligent Travel on this post – ’50 Places of a Lifetime’.

What a great post. It has inspired me to look at what is my own list so far. I was amazed at how many places I have seen and how many more places I have yet to see.

The list includes the link to National Geographic site for each city with detail ranging from hotel, restaurant, entertainments, must-do lists and photo gallery. This will be my must-check before we plan any big vacation. I’m a sucker of completing a list. So I will have to try my best to check this one of mine!

Here is my list. I have managed to see 20 out of 50 places. I guess it helps that I lived or live in 3 of the cities.

Atlanta – My current hang out. A great city of the South.

Bangkok – My birth country. There is no place like home and there is no food like Thai food.

Beijing – Oh.. Beijing.. I would love to go back there to shop on Silk street.

Boston – Bean town. I went there over a decade ago. So a lot might have changed.

Chicago – The Windy City. And they are not joking about that. I went there during Winter.. Duh.. What was I thinking about!

Dublin – A quick side trip on one of my business trip. Lovely country.. Really…

Florence – I don’t think you can go wrong with any city in Italy. Just the history alone will make you feel smarter already.

Hong Kong – With our recent trip to Hong Kong, I still want to go back there again. The food along will be so worth it.

Las Vegas – The Sin City. Do they provide daycare in the hotel? :)

London – It seems like a lifetime ago when I visit the Big Ben. It’s about time to revisit.

Los Angeles – With the biggest Thai population in the US, I can get my Thai food fix from here. If only I live closer!
Miami – Our old playground. Ironically, we went there only a few times whenever we have guests. So recently, we just had to become tourists ourselves.
New York – I was there in 1997 for the countdown in Time Square. I did!!! And I don’t think I will ever do it again. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime-experience. Let’s just say I have a very small blader.
Paris – City of Romance.. No I didn’t go there with Mr. Rojo. It would be nice.

Philadelphia – It was Mr. Rojo playground when he was young(er).

Rome – I had such a wonderful time there with my mom and my little wanderlust brother.
San Diego – My favorite city in California. Ok.. maybe after San Francisco.
San Francisco – I think San Francisco is the most romantic city. And I went there when I didn’t even have a boyfriend!
Singapore – Hmm.. Orchard street.. shopping.. food.. clean..
Washington D.C – I can’t wait to go back. That’s all I can say.

Most of my conquer on this list was done before kids and family and marriage and housework and mortgage.. Needless to say, I really want to go back again with Miss J and Mr. Z. I want them to see the world and learn about different cultures, to open their mind and their eyes to all kind of possibilities.

And here is the rest of the list that will be on my to-do now.

Amsterdam
Athens
Barcelona
Berlin
Budapest
Buenos Aires
Cape Town
Dallas
Delhi
Dubai
Istanbul
Jerusalem
Madrid
Mexico City
Montreal
Moscow
Mumbai
Prague
Rio de Janeiro
Seattle
Seoul
Shanghai
St. Petersburg
Stockholm
Sydney
Tokyo
Toronto
Vancouver
Venice
Vienna

I have to say I like this list much better than the famous 1000 Places to See Before You Die book. It’s nice to have a huge goal in your life. But come on.. 1000 places? I’m tired just to read it and I didn’t even start my trip yet.

50 places are more manageable. Maybe.. just maybe after I’m done with my list of 50 places then I will move on to the bigger list like 1000 places.

So tell me.. what cities you have been? And what would you like to add to your list?

Happy traveling!
Filed Under: Blogging, Travel in Asia, Travel in Caribbean, Travel in Europe, Travel in North America, Travel in Pacific

Around the Blogosphere

July 8, 2008 By 2 Comments

Another round of Carnival this week.. Check out these fun and interesting carnivals that I have participated!

Georgia On My Mind presents Georgia Carnival Edition #39. Check out posts from Georgia bloggers ranging from The Peachtree Road Race, Savannah Family Fun and The Outrigger Island.

All Rileyed Up presents Carnival of Family Life.

Sounds Money Matters presents Money Hack Carnival #19. Check out the Independence Edition.

Tip Diva presents Carnival of Tips

Sqawkfox presents Festival of Frugality. Sqawkfox did a great job with this fun festival. The Bare Necessities edition will get you thinking about ways to live frugally.

Filed Under: Blogging

Celebrating the 4th of July

July 4, 2008 By 5 Comments

Happy 4th of July!!

What a fun day we had this year! It might be something about living in a small town that make me want to participate and check out all these activities that they have to offer. We have never been to any parade when we lived in Florida. Don’t know why.. Maybe now that we have kids we want them to experience different things growing up. Or maybe the small town has its own charm that attracts us more..

Today we woke up earlier than our usual routine for a holiday. We headed out to downtown Cumming again. This time it was for the 4th of July parade. And it wasn’t just a typical parade. It was the Steam Engines parade. Anyone who knows Mr. Z knows that he is obsessed with steam engine. He would have a blast here.

We got there right in time to catch the beginning of the parade. I have had several tips regarding the noise and yup.. It’s L-O-U-D.. We didn’t get there in time to get the ear plugs. But we brought with us one of Mr. Rojo headset. It did help Miss J. Ironically, Mr. Z didn’t seem to mind the noise at all.

The parade was really long. I was amazed at how many steam engines participated. Each one has its own style. Some look so new. You will think they just roll it out of the dealership. Some look so old and you will think that they just come straight from the field. I think I enjoyed seeing it as much as the kids.

There were other types of engine in the parade as well. There were Golf cart, horse carriage, tractors and Firetrucks. One of the firetruck was an antique firetruck from 1937! How neat is that!

My favorite one has to be this pink engine. It’s not the steam engine but who can resist the pink tractor! We need more of these cute color tractors on the field. Imagine how the cows would react if they see pink tractor. :)

If you ask my kids what they did on the 4th, they will say.. getting a lot of candies.. Candies were thrown almost constantly. Make sure you look and duck when you see it coming. These little piece of sugar are a real weapon. Mr. Rojo got hit a few times. :)

By 11:30am, we were done. It was a great day in Cumming. We were tired and ready for a nap. But.. no.. we didn’t nap.. We headed out again to the Outlet mall for some shopping therapy. I wouldn’t think we were in retail troubles seeing how many people shop there. Must be tourists!

So how was your 4th of July? Let me know what fun things you did with your family.
Filed Under: Activities, Family, Travel in North America
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