#44 Visit Safety City

Hey, Knoxville parents!  If you haven't taken your kids to Safety City yet, you should try it.  They can bring their bikes, scooters, tricycles, etc. and ride around the miniature city.  There are traffic lights and signs that the kids have to follow. You can even bring in your own lunch.  There is a playground on the other side of the parking lot as well.  Our boys love to go.

The day we went was ridiculously hot. But they have several shaded areas with fans for parents to sit.  They even have a couple of sprinklers the kids can ride by to cool off.

Safety City is free and the staff there will even adjust your child's bike helmet for them.  If you are planning to go, keep in mind they are only open to the public on Mondays and Thursdays.

#37 Play in the rain

I am a bit behind on our bucket list posts.  We have marked a couple of things off our list, though.  We have had ample opportunities to play in the rain around here.  I haven't done that in years and had forgotten how much fun it can be.

#33 Watch a Sunrse

This was taken on our last morning at the beach.  We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5:30 a.m. so that we could watch the sunrise.  It was well worth the effort.  There is nothing like watching the sun rise over the ocean.  Perhaps watching the sun set over the ocean would be as spectacular, but I've never been to the Pacific, so I couldn't say.

So far, this is my favorite bucket list experience.

#18 Collect Seashells

Well, this was an experience!  Not quite the experience I'd planned however.  As a parent, you never can tell which activities will be a hit and which ones will flop.  Miniature golfing was a huge hit.  Collecting seashells, not so much.

Our seashell-collecting adventure ended almost before it began.  Cut abruptly short by an angst-ridden 6-year-old, the above shells were the only ones collected before we headed back in from the beach, with tails between our legs.

#28 Play Miniature Golf

Myrtle Beach has more than 50 miniature golf courses.  So what better place to cross mini-golf off our list than here?  Dennis was very skeptical about taking the boys golfing at their tender ages.  Perhaps that's because he is still scarred from our miniature golf outing with Lennon when he was two.  Let's just say he was not a fan of the game at that age.  And the other golfers were not fans of us for bringing him.

As it turned out, it was a fun-filled afternoon with minimal damage to our psyches and no damage to the golf course property.  Well, unless you count the ball River through into the lagoon.  Or the one he threw into a raised flower bed too high for us to reach.

Lennon loved the game this time and seems to be a natural at putting the ball.

River enjoyed throwing the balls (did I mention he lost two of them?) and pushing them into the hole with his plastic club.

He was also a fan of running around the green.

The course was beautiful and had a waterfall you could walk behind.  I forced my children to pose for a picture behind said waterfall. 

I was only able to get a smile out of Lennon after sternly forbidding him to smile.

There was also a great lookout point.

For Dennis and me, miniature golf is all about competition.  It's the only sport where I stand a chance at beating him.  Therefore, I must post the scorecards of our two games.  I won a game and he won a game.

Despite our savage rivalry, fun was had by all.  And Lennon has been begging to go back and play again ever since.

#5 Put my toes in the sand

 This is what the boys were doing, while I had my feet in the sand: