Hangin' with my little buddy

My youngest brother and I have always had a special relationship. We're 14 years apart, so we pretty much skipped the whole fight-with-your-sibling drama and settled into a special kind of close bond from the start. It's more like an aunt/nephew relationship--except we live under the same roof. He's my little buddy and always will be--even when he's eventually much taller than I am. 

Holidays 2010

One of my all-time favorite pictures with Isaac. It captures his personality perfectly. The picture was supposed to be a "normal" one, but Isaac decided to go for a crazy pose as Mom clicked the picture.

Christmas 2003 (now this is a flashback--braces AND the beginning phase of my crazy hair!) 

A few weekends ago, my parents went out of town on a weekend getaway, so Isaac and I got to spend the whole weekend together. I thought about tons of different fun things we could do that Saturday and it took me forever to finally narrow it down.

Isaac has always enjoyed science and it's a subject we connected over early in his life. When I took biology my freshman year in college, Isaac somehow discovered my textbook and lab manual (I can't remember whether I found something interesting and showed it to him first or if he saw me studying and came over to see what was inside the book) and loved to look at them with me--at the age of 4. He would point at the pictures and say things like, "What's that?" and "How does that work?" He even begged me to help him dissect something (the dissection diagrams and pictures were some of his favorite parts of my lab manual). At the end of the school year, I sold my biology textbook but since I couldn't do anything with my marked-up lab manual, I gave it to Isaac and he kept it for years. 

I thought about taking Isaac to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga since he would absolutely love it and it's something I've wanted to do as well. But practicality won out and I decided it would be best to stick closer to Knoxville. A strong chance of rain eliminated a trip to the zoo, but then I remembered another "scientific" option nearby that Isaac hadn't experienced: the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.

Here are some snapshots of the fun we shared that day, starting with a trip to AMSE.

Writing his name in Braille

Exploring the KNEX exhibit

He wanted his picture taken on the model rocket in the Y-12/ORNL exhibit. He surprised me with how much he knew about the history of Oak Ridge. He apparently recently watched a National Geographic documentary about the Manhatten Project on Netflix with my dad.

Having fun with the interactive exhibits

Although Isaac had never been to the museum, he'd seen advertisements for it that included pictures of the "hair-raising" atom generator presentation. So when he heard that they were doing a show that afternoon, attending it definitely had to be a priority on our list. We went and listed to the explanation about how the generator works and when they called for volunteers to try it out, Isaac was first in line.

Of course, I had to do it, too. I let another woman with long hair go first to see if it made her hair static-y and crazy afterwards and when it didn't, I went for it. It was crazy! You can't really feel anything, but it really does make your hair stand on end! But oddly enough, after I pulled away from the generator, my hair flattened back nicely into its former state.

We enjoyed some Chick-fil-A for lunch and delicious frozen yogurt sundaes at Menchie's, then headed down to campus for Game Time in Tennessee. UT's athletic department chaplain, some current and former Vols and Lady Vols and dozens of local churches were involved in the free event. It started in the afternoon with a mini sports camp for kids inside the Vols indoor football practice facility. The kids could take part in football, basketball, soccer or cheerleading training sessions with actual UT athletes. We got down there toward the end so Isaac only had time for one session and he chose soccer. I was impressed with the event. They wrapped up the sports camp with some testimonies and an altar call and the main event that evening included a presentation of the Gospel, some more testimonies and a free Christian concert in Neyland Stadium. But the evening events would have made for a really long day for Isaac, so we headed home after the sports camp and wrapped up the evening after dinner by watching Megamind.

We were both worn out by the end of the day, but had a lot of fun. I know I'll cherish the memories we made for years to come. :)