We are now embarking on the second leg of our trip. I’ve been getting very little sleep at night. I think Alan is lacking sleep too. My sleep at night feels more like naps. Alan, Erin, and I have been sharing a king size inflatable mattress. I am either woken up from by butt hitting the floor because the bed deflated or from a leaky diaper (and the diaper is not mine). Eeww…I know. At least starting tonight we’ll be in a regular bed. I do what I can to protect myself from the diaper issue.
I finally went through over a thousand pictures Alan has taken since we arrived. It took me nearly four hours to re-size and delete photos. I have uploaded photos from the family picnic here. The family picnic was a blast. My only regret is that we didn’t take portrait pictures of all the family that was there. I had this great idea to have a group photo and have it blown up to put on our family picture wall at home. Instead I’ll need to put together a photo collage of the event. So we have lots of pictures of Crandell with either food in his mouth or looking very serious. I don’t think the picnic wouldn’t have been the same without him. Crandell did everything. He prepped food, grilled, and cleaned up. Crandell, I hope you know that is not why you were invited!! I appreciate everything he did.
I guess the Seattle rain finally caught up with us in Nashville. We woke up Tuesday morning to lots of rain. It’s not the Seattle drizzle though. It’s the warm southern rain (well, “warm” is relative I guess). Tuesday we spent the day with Granddad Ryan. We were going to take the kids to a local park in Murfreesboro but the rain washed that idea right out the window. All of us hung out at Granddad and Granny’s house. Granddad introduced Erin to candy corn. They are now called “carrots.” I guess baby carrots will be off her menu for awhile. At least until candy corn is out of season.
On our way back to Nashville we stopped in a town called Smyrna. We stopped because there was a Super Target. To our surprise there was a Chick-fil-A down the street. Alan had a few requirements for the trip. They were to eat at Waffle House, Chick-fil-A, Cracker Barrel, and Krystals. Yes, Fitness Together would not be pleased with these choices but I am doing the best I can. I can attest that Cracker Barrel’s chicken salad was horrible; At Chick-fil-A I did splurge on an original chicken sandwich (with extra pickles of course) and I ate only a few fries; We haven’t succumbed to Krystals yet (thank God); and finally Waffle House…well, let’s just say salads are not an option because the restaurant’s last food inspection grade was an “87.” Of course the day we went to Waffle House was the same day that Aunt Jenny took us to a place called Bar-B-Cutie. Yeah, that place wasn’t a salad restaurant either.
Nashville is a pretty cool city. Sunday night Meemaw watched the kiddos and the adults who stayed for another night all went downtown. We had dinner and a few drinks at the Wild Horse Saloon. When we started walking down Broadway a fundraiser concert let out around the waterfront. I guess a few celebrities decided to hang out downtown. We heard people talking about which bars some celebrities were hanging out at. I have been out of the country music scene so a nice gentleman had to explain who Big and Rich were to me. Either Big or Rich was in one bar. Some dude named Dirks Bentley was somewhere else. Then again all this was here-say so whether it was true or not, I wouldn’t know. Then I heard a name I recognized, Gene Simmons. Yep, the KISS man was hanging out at a place called Paradise Park. He was in a second floor suite which the windows opened up to Broadway. We stood on the street looking up at him as he hung out on the balcony. Considering it was Gene Simmons the crowd wasn’t too big. However he stood on that balcony for a long time. After I told Alan that he wasted enough pictures of Gene Simmons, we all assumed he may have been paid to hang out there. He didn’t look like he was enjoying himself but definitely wasn’t shying away from the attention.
So now we leave the big lights of Music City behind us and on to more serious matters. Tonight we’re staying somewhere near Roanoke, VA. We drove in the rain all day. The kids did really well in the car ride today. We left around 9AM and it’s now 6:30PM local time. We’re in a hotel that has internet access, an indoor pool, and serves a hot breakfast. Couldn’t get better than that!
