Big boats

The University of Tennessee Knoxville sits on the banks of the Tennessee River. Neyland stadium is in walking distance and eye sight of the river, which makes the river a prime tailgating spot. Just across the street from the stadium, on the river, are a couple of restaurants, and a lively boardwalk which is popular for folks with yachts and other large boats to tie off and get into the Volunteer spirit. This group is called the Vol Navy. During football season from my side of the campus it isn't unusual to see these big boats making their way to the river tailgate area. Gavin likes to see "big boats." So on Friday, since we don't get to rush home to see daddy these days, we did two things. First, we went to our favorite local bakery, Magpies, and took part in a free cupcake tasting, which was a fundraiser for one of Gavin's preschool teachers. Mr. Brad is hiking a portion of the AT and raising money to fight childhood cancer, something two of his students have battled. I don't have any photos of this experience because my arms and hands were full of toddler and cupcakes. Gavin enjoyed the pumpkin spice cupcake and I enjoyed the Guiness chocolate stout cupcake. These were mini cupcakes, so there wasn't any danger of spoiling our dinner. After dropping a few bucks in the fundraiser tip jar and saying hi to Mr. Brad we journied the few miles back to campus and made our way down to the boardwalk.

Parking was CRAZY. I think we found the very last spot in the furthest corner of the lot. We made our way through the tailgating crowd and onto the boardwalk. Gavin was in awe of the "big boats."



There are several splash-pad type areas on the boardwalk and it was warm enough for G to kick off his shoes and ask me to take off his shirt. He ran back and forth into the waterfall, never quite fully immersing himself and having a grand time. Then it was off to run the ENTIRE length of the boardwalk, stopping occasionally to check out the boats. Man was this mama tired at the end of the night.



We made it back home thirty minutes before bedtime. Just in time to get a good night's sleep in preparation for Race Day (see post below).